People in Uganda usually     1     guests to enjoy bananas.     2     the guests come, they usually give each of them a cup     3     delicious banana juice. After that they have the banana dishes for     4    . The most popular banana dish is matoke（乌干达蒸香蕉）.

The delicious matoke is     5     of the oldest dishes in the world. A legend（传说）says that Kintu brought matoke to the earth. Ugandans think that Kintu was the     6     man on earth.

    7     do you cook matoke? First, people peel some bananas and place them in banana leaves.     8    , they steam（蒸）them for about one hour and then mash（捣碎）     9    . Finally, they     10     some sauce, fresh fish or meat. Do you want to enjoy this delicious food?

Smashed cucumber(拍黄瓜) salad is one of the most popular cold dishes in China. You can find the green dish     1     from restaurants to homes. Even Americans are trying it.

According to The New York Times, some restaurants in New York have     2     the dish to their menus in recent years.

Why is this dish becoming so popular? One reason is the special flavor it     3    . Smashed cucumbers can hold onto flavors and seasonings(调料) more than sliced cucumbers. “Just change the way you break down     4     ingredient, change the way it feels and tastes. It’s cool.” said Danny Bowien, a cook at a New York restaurant.

How the dish     5     also interests people.     6     takes only five minutes to make the salad. The cook smashes fresh cucumbers with the flat side of a knife. The strong smash makes the cucumbers different     7     and sizes. Then any seasonings can be added. In China, people use garlic, vinegar and oil to make the cucumber delicious. But American cooks prefer common     8     ingredients like yogurt, honey and lime.

The     9     of smashed cucumber salad abroad shows that we should try to adapt(适应) to local conditions     10     spreading Chinese culture across the world.

People drink tea daily in China. China is the home of tea, which has more than 4,000 years of history. Of the     1     major drinks--tea, coffee and cocoa, tea is drunk by the     2     number of people in the world. Tea from China, along with silk and china, began to be known by the world     3     a thousand years ago and has been     4     important Chinese export(出口产品) since then.

Tea     5     are produced mainly in the south of the Yangtze river, such as the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian.     6     of the warm climate and rich soil there, the tea trees can grow     7    . Longjing, Wulong, Pu’er and Tieguanyin are all famous kinds of tea. Over the past centuries, Chinese people have developed     8     unique(特别的) tea culture, which includes tea planting, tea-leaf picking, tea making, tea drinking     9     so on. Tea is also a popular topic     10     is often mentioned in dances, songs, poems and novels.

What do you know about Mars? What does it look like?

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun in our solar system and is     1     after Mars, the Roman God of War. Its diameter（直径）is 53% as long as     2     of the earth. Mars goes around the sun at a distance of about 228     3     kilometers. You can     4     which planet is Mars because it is bright red in the night sky. It looks like a red and orange ball. It’s very beautiful. But during spring and summer, the surface of Mars is covered by strong     5    . The gravity on the surface of Mars is about two     6     as strong as it is on earth. So a person who weighs 90 kilos on earth weighs only 36 kilos on Mars. The temperature on Mars is     7     -138°C and 28°C. The air has only 0.13% oxygen.

It     8     a spaceship about eight months to reach Mars from the earth when the two planets are the     9     to each other. Scientists are still     10     for more information about Mars.

How much should we walk each day?

You may have heard that walking 10,000 steps a day is good for your health. But do we     1     need to walk this much to stay healthy?

In fact, doctors have never said that one     2     to walk 10,000 steps a day. An     3     for a Japanese pedometer (计步器) first suggested doing this     4     the 1960s. They hoped that people would walk     5     and buy their products.

However,     6     10,000 steps a day is definitely (肯定地) good for one’s health, according to Live Science. It can help people reduce their blood pressure and lose     7    . But it is not something that everyone has to do.     8     you can’t walk so many steps, you don’t need to.

US doctors said people should have two and a half hours of moderate (中等强度的)     9     a week, such       10     brisk walking (健步走；快走). One can also walk about 7,000 to 8,000 steps a day. Everyone has to find what works for them.

The Silk Road is the name of different roads that long ago connected Europe, Africa and Asia. People reached these different     1     along these roads. Scientists believe people began to travel the Silk Road about 3,000 years     2    .By the time the Chinese silk trade became     3     in the world, the Silk Road covered almost 6,500 kilometers. It spread     4     Rome（罗马）to China, which is from the West to the Far East.

Traders traveling along the Silk Road     5     silk, of course. They     6     carried and traded spices（香料）, clothes, valuable stones and gold.

During its busiest period, the Silk Road allowed people from many different cultures and countries     7     each other and mix. All these peoples traveled the Silk Road, and they shared goods, stories, languages and cultures.

In modern times, the old Silk Road routes（路线）are still     8    , but now they are crossed by trains instead     9     horses and camels. There is even a Silk Route Museum in Jiuquan in China. It has     10     35,000 objects from all along the Silk Road. In this way, China protects the history of many countries and peoples.