【推荐1】In the US, the most popular way to welcome the New Year is with a big party. Some parties are at private (私人的) homes. But in recent years, it has become more and more common for Americans to go to a hotel or eating-place on the night of December 31st. There, they can eat a big dinner, drink champagne (香槟), and dance to orchestra (管弦乐队) music.

Most New Year’s parties are usually noisy. People shout and sing. And often, guests blow on small noisemakers when the New Year arrives at midnight. This tradition of noise making is believed to start centuries (数个世纪) ago. People thought that loud sounds would drive away the bad spirits (精神) of the old year.

The biggest, noisiest New Year’s party in the US takes place (举行) in Times Square in New York. Thousands of people gather (聚集) there. Some of them ring bells and set fireworks. Others blow whistles of car horns (喇叭). And at twelve o’clock, they begin to cheer as an electric sign in the shape of a red apple lights upon top of at all building.

The Times Square celebration includes another well-known American tradition. Since 1929, the band of musician Guy Lombardo has given a concert on New Year’s Eve. Guy Lombardo died in 1977. But, Bill Lombardo, has kept the tradition alive with a band concert at a New York city hotel. When the crowds in Times Square start cheering the arrival of the New Year, television cameras show the band playing the song Auld Lang Syne (《友谊地久天长》).

【推荐2】Look at the two posters about Sunshine Theater(剧院) and Moonlight Theater.

【推荐3】As the most important festival, Christmas is celebrated in many countries. People in America, Canada and the UK celebrate it in the same way. But do you want to know how Christmas is celebrated in Poland (波兰), or in Austria (奥地利)?

A group of young people wearing hanfu, the traditional clothing of the Han ethnic group, made a series of performances at Donghua University in Shanghai in November last year.

The event, including ancient dancing and singing, was held by two traditional culture clubs—Han Fu and Huayue—as was seen by lots of students.

Deng Yujie, president of the university’s hanfu club, who hosted the event, said nearly 30 students took part in the performances. Deng added that in recent years, young people have become more and more interested in activities to promote and show traditional culture.

Hanfu is part of the national clothing system. Chinese fashion emphasizes（强调）implicitness—a habit of hiding the body in clothing, especially for women. The main parts of hanfu include collars, upper clothes in the style of a skirt, jade ornaments（饰品）and a sash（腰带）.

There were more than 2 million hanfu lovers in China in 2018, according to a survey by iMedia Research, a year-on-year rise of nearly 73 percent. The total value of the hanfu industry was over 1 billion yuan.

A report made by CBN Data and Tmall said hanfu sales revenue in 2019 rose by more than 200 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, the number of online hanfu stores on the Taobao shopping platform that year reached 1,188, a rise of nearly 46 percent compared with 2018, according to the 2019 Hanfu Industry Report by Hanfu Information. The report also said that in 2019 hanfu items were mainly bought by young people, including students, with nearly 75 percent of buyers aged between 16 and 24.

What comes to your mind when you think of kung fu? Maybe the image of Shaolin monks（和尚）posing with a serious look in their eyes. But does it really present the meaning of kung fu?

Laurence J. Brahm, a documentary filmmaker from the United States, explored this question in Searching for Kung Fu. In the movie, Brahm traveled to cities in China and the US in search of the value of kung fu.

Brahm himself is a kung fu lover who has been practicing the art for more than 40 years. For him, it is more than a pastime. Ages ago, Brahm was unable to use one of his legs for two years and had to walk with a cane（拐杖）. But by practicing martial arts （武术）, he was able to recover step by step. Now, kung fu has become a daily activity for him and also the way he begins the day.

Still, there are other deep meanings in the practice. Nonviolence is one value, which is shown both in the name and practice of kung fu. The Chinese character Wu has two parts—ge, meaning “to fight”, and zhi, meaning “to stop”. So, the meaning of kung fu in Chinese is the art of stopping fighting, the art of nonviolence. Kung fu artists always greet people with baoquan. This lets each person know that there are no hidden weapons（武器） and shows trust.

“The traditional values of kung fu, actually, are in the minds of all Chinese people,” Brahm told Xinhua.

【推荐1】Whether from news reports or social media articles, you may know that 5G is coming. To help you understand 5G better, we list some facts as follows:

★ What is 5G?

5G is the 5th generation network. It is a new global network after 1G, 2G, 3G and 4G and it can connect everyone and everything together. 5G means super-fast data speeds and one can download(下载) a two-hour film within 10 seconds.

★5G will make self-driving cars possible.

For safety, self-driving cars need super-fast data transmission(传输) speeds to communicate with their surrounding(周边的) environment. 5G is just what makes self-driving cars achieve this.

★5G will change the way we work or study.

In the future, having remote working or studying ability is very important. With the help of 5G, people can have video meetings, take online classes and do other work as easily in their homes as in the offices or classrooms. It will be also easier for doctors to treat patients remotely by 5G.

★5G will change society in too many ways.

The facts listed above are only a part of what 5G will make possible. Just as in the early days of the Internet in the 1990s, few could see how it could change our life and the world. The same will surely be true of 5G.

With 5G, many things do not seem like dreams any more. Now let’s get ready to say goodbye to 4G and welcome the coming of 5G.

【推荐2】Eating is the best when it’s a social (社交的) activity. Now, in the age of the Internet and social media, anyone with an Internet connection can enjoy a social eating event.

Mukbang, a South Korean word, means “eating broadcast (吃播)”. It is an online broadcast. The host eats tons of food while talking with the people watching him or her. It began in South Korea in around 2010 and has spread all over the world.

Why did mukbang first appear in South Korea? Jelf Yang, an Asian-American cultural critic (评论家), thinks that it’s because of “the loneliness of unmarried or uncoupled South Koreans”.

He believes that eating on your own can be hard in a country like South Korea, because social eating is such a long tradition there. Although eating alone is becoming more and more common (普遍的), yet different people have different ideas about mukbang.

Alice Stride, a spokeswoman for the Campaign (运动) to End Loneliness, said she would be worried if younger people were watching people eat instead of eating with friends or families, but for older people it could be a comfort. “If you can’t get out and if you’re ill, for example, then probably that will bring you a great sense of comfort. On the whole, though, we would advocate face-to-face communication. It’s something that shouldn’t be changed.”