Hotpot is popular in China today. Did ancient Chinese people have hotpot? Ancient Chinese people had hotpot as     1     /'ɜːli/ as the Shang Dynasty. At that time, people boiled foods and soups in bronze cauldrons (青铜锅). The cauldron had     2     parts—one was the pot to cook foods in soup, the other part was a layer or a space inside the cauldron to hold firewood. But at that time, the cauldron was only for a single     3     /'pɜ:sn/ to eat from.

During the Han Dynasty, people divided a pot into     4     /'sevrəl / parts to enjoy different flavors (口味).

During the Tang Dynasty,     5     (have) hotpot was a hot thing. When people held family feasts (宴席), they would prepare hotpot. People of the Song Dynasty had hotpot     6     welcome winter.

Huoguo, the Chinese name for hotpot was     7     (mention) by Yan Mei, a poet and foodie in the Qing Dynasty, in a book about all kinds of food. At that time, hotpot was very popular. People put all kinds of meats and     8     (vegetable) into pots made of different materials, such as copper (铜) and iron.

Hotpot also     9     (become) a famous royal (宫廷的) dish, called reguo. It’s said that Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty loved hotpot so much     10     he had it for almost every meal. He once held a big hotpot feast, inviting more than 5,000 people to enjoy about 1550 hotpots.

When autumn arrives, the sweet smell of sugar-roasted chestnuts usually f    1    the air.

In China, sellers u    2    cook chestnuts in black sand on a stove. When passing by, many people want to s    3    and buy bags of shiny chestnuts on their way to school or work.

However, it is not o    4    Chinese people who enjoy eating chestnuts. In Paris in the winter, for example, chestnut sellers can be found in every c    5    of the city.

All over Paris, the smell of sweetness seems to say that one doesn’t have to walk far to buy this tasty snack.

And in the US, chestnuts are a must for the h    6    . The Christmas songChestnuts Roasting on an Open Fireperfectly shows the love for this Christmas treat people in the US have. The festival nut is p    7    in the US for a long time.

However, in the early 1900s, a tree-killing disease a    8    killed every American chestnut tree with 40 years. Luckily, chestnut trees were reintroduced to the c    9    over the following years, Chestnuts are not only famous as a treat for the end-of -year holidays, but used in many dishes. US people often use chestnuts to make sauces or jams as well — or e    10    use them to make beer or soup. Isn’t that amazing?