【推荐2】Spain is famous for its tomato festival, called La Toniatina. It happens in town Hanoi     1     the last Wednesday of August every year. During the festival there are all kinds of activities, but the     2     (excite) part is the tomato fight. It takes place at the end of long celebration (庆祝). You are encouraged to throw tomatoes in the fight. There’re many stories about how the festival     3     (begin). One of the stories goes that during the 1940’s, some friends started a tomato fight, while another story is about a local band. Anyway, everyone in Bunol seems     4     (have) a different story. Before the tomato fight, there are parades (游行),     5     (music) bands, street parties and so on.

The Yi’s New Year is a popular festival for the Yi ethnic group (彝族) in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi. It     1     (fall) on a day around November 20th every year. There are many traditional practices (惯例) of the festival.

When the festival comes near, the Yi people will start house cleaning. They think that cleaning can help them wash away bad things in the house and bring good luck     2     them. They also put firewood in front of their houses. They believe that     3     height of the firewood is a symbol of a happy life in the new year. It also shows the hard work they     4     (do) in the past year.

On the eve of the Yi’s New Year, family members come together     5     (enjoy) a big dinner. On the day of the festival, the young Yi people wear     6     (they) ethnic dresses and go to a mountainside. They join in many activities of the local New Year. Moerqin, a seesaw-like (像跷跷板一样的) swing activity, is one of     7     (popular) games among the Yi people.

New Year’s activities would not be complete without visiting     8     (relative) and friends. The Yi people usually prepare gifts such as meat, drinks, and other things when they go for a visit.

The Yi people love these practices     9     (deep) and have been trying to pass them down (世代相传). These practices show the Yi people’s way of life     10     their good wishes for a better life.

Tai chi has always been a symbol of Chinese culture and is becoming popular around the world.

One thing that makes tai chi popular is its h    1     benefits (益处). As you move, you breathe deeply and naturally, focusing your attention on your body. This helps you relax and find inner peace.

What makes tai chi even more interesting might be the philosophical (哲学的) ideas b    2     it. The term “tai chi” comes from Taoism, which states that inaction (无为) is the solution to problems. That’s w    3     tai chi movements are slow and soft. Tai chi is not used to fight e    4    . It is used to protect yourself.

Tai chi also focuses on harmony between “yin” and “yang”. This idea of keeping a healthy balance can be applied (适用于) to almost e    5     in life. It makes tai chi far more than just another martial art.

What can we do with recycled materials? For Yan Hong, 33, from Chengdu, they can become     1     /ˈeɪnʃənt/ craftwork pieces (手工艺品). She used recycled cans to make a “golden” armor (盔甲). Even     2     (potato) were used for making a model of a queen’s decoration. Then Yan posts videos of her works on YouTube. This also wins her many     3     /ˈfɒrən/ fans.

Yan Hong used to be a nurse. But after     4     (start) to make craftwork, she found her real interest.     5     she left her job at the hospital and     6     (open) her own craft workroom.

Most of her early works were imitations of items from TV series and pictures.     7     example, she made headdresses based on the series the Story of Yanxi Palace. But the     8     (far) she goes, the more she enjoys the earliest designs and traditional art forms like Peking Opera.

“Making craftwork is     9     journey that never ends,” Yan Hong told TEENS. “As a greener person, I still have so much to learn and to     10     /kriˈeɪt/. I’m just happy that I’ve found what I want to spend my whole life on.”

The traditional Chinese Longtaitou festival, or Dragon Head Raising Day, falls on the second day of the second lunar month every year. A well-known saying goes, “Er yue er, long tai tou”. The dragon is very i    1     in Chinese culture. It is said that it has power over the wind and rain.

Old people     2     (believe) that after the day of Longtaitou, there would be more and more rain, because the rain-bringing Dragon King woke up from his winter sleep. So the day of Longtaitou marked (标志) the e    3     of winter and the start of spring. Farmers believed that     4     the help of Dragon King, farming would be easier and they could e    5     for a good harvest (丰收) in autumn.

There are many     6     (way) to celebrate the festival. The most famous tradition is     7     (get) a haircut. Many believe that going to the barber’s on this day gets rid of (除去) bad luck. Among Chinese festival traditions, there is always a place for f    8    . For example, people in East China     9     (usual) eat tofu balls during the festival. They m    10     tofu and vegetable balls to wish a good wish for family and business. Other foods, like noodles, dumplings and spring rolls, are named after dragon body parts to mark the day. Noodles are dragon’s beard (longxu). Dumplings are dragon’s ears (long’er). And spring rolls are dragon’s scales (longlin).

【推荐2】The Lantern Festival is on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It has a Chinese name: Yuanxiao Festival. Yuanxiao comes from the f    1     that people call the first lunar month the Yuan Month and night Xiao. The night of the 15th day of the first lunar month m    2     the beginning of the first full moon. On the Lantern Festival, the Chinese people have the custom（习俗）of e    3     lanterns and eating glutinous（黏的）rice dumplings. There is a common saying that “Playing on the Lantern Festival.”

The custom started during the Han Dynasty, and has a h    4     of more than 2,000 years. As night f    5    , people go in crowds to the sea of lanterns: palace lanterns, figure lanterns, flower lanterns, and animal lanterns, of all types and c    6    . Some lanterns have riddles on them, which encourage people to try to be the f    7     to find the answer.

It is also a t    8     to eat glutinous rice dumplings at this time. As early as the Song Dynasty, there was such a kind of food, a round ball m    9     of glutinous rice flour with a filling of sugar and kernels. Since it is eaten on the Lantern Festival, people call it yuanxiao. The Chinese people hope that e    10     is satisfactory, and to eat glutinous rice dumplings on the first night with a full moon in a year is to wish that family members will keep united and happy.