From May 16 to May 23 in 2019, the Asian Cuisine Festival Guangzhou was held to encourage communication among Asian countries.

During the festival, there were a number of activities showing Guangzhou culture and the beauty of Asian cuisine.

Visitors have enjoyed all the best foods of Asia in one city, with a list of the 24 top restaurants in Guangzhou. Many famous people were invited to have morning tea, tasting the popular food like shrimp dumplings, beef or fish balls, chicken feet, etc.

Besides, “My Favorite Asian Cuisine” was held in Guangzhou to choose the best restaurants and dishes. A 1.2-meter-long hand-painted picture was published. The picture was about the cuisine choices along the Pearl River. Food and technology companies were also invited to show how to make traditional food by using modern technology. Visitors could buy other products about traditional food and culture, such as books, postcards and stamps.

The slogan (口号) of the festival is "Enjoying Asian Cuisine and Savoring the Taste of the Milennium Flower City".

Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, is well-known for is rich food and its culture. The director of the festival said that one would need a year or two, rather than a day or two, to fully enjoy the best of Guangzhou cuisine.

【推荐2】A large part of China experienced larger amounts of smog than usual this January and the air was badly polluted. The distance one could see was shorter than 1,000 meters in Beijing, Tianjin, and the provinces of Hebei, Henan, Shandong and Anhui. In some areas, it was down to 200 meters.

People usually set off firecrackers (爆竹) to celebrate Spring Festival. But because of the smog, this year seemed very quiet. It was really different. A man called Zhang Wei said that his friends and he hadn’t set off a single firecracker.

“We all suffered (遭受) from last month’s smog. If we don’t call an end to the firecrackers, the environment will get worse and worse.” said Zhang Wei. He called on more people to set off fewer firecrackers during this year’s Spring Festival by putting up a notice in his neighborhood.

More Chinese looked forward to celebrating the holiday in a greener way. They decided not to set off firecrackers. They also decided not to waste food .They said the new celebrations sounded fashionable.

To clean the sky, more than ten provinces including Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu have started to use national 4 standard, which is expected to reduce (减少) vehicle emission (车辆排放) by 30% to 50%. Beijing even has started to use the stricter national standard.

We still have a lot to do to improve the air quality. For example, using public transportation as much as possible is not a hard thing for us to do, but it matters a lot.

【推荐3】Does your family have old pictures? If you take a look at them, you will find that things have changed a lot. Today we live in better houses, our schools look more beautiful, and we can travel to different places more easily. All of these changes happened because our country is growing stronger. The country was founded(建立)on Oct. 1, 1949. On Oct. 1, China celebrated the 70th birthday of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Although 70 years is a short time in history, the PRC has experienced a lot during this time. Did you watch the big celebration at Tian’anmen Square on TV? It included an opening speech by President Xi Jinping, a great military parade(大阅兵), a mass parade(群众游行)and an evening gala(联欢晚会).

Xi's speech

In his speech, President Xi said that our country is becoming stronger and stronger and nothing can ever stop China from going on. China will surely keep on developing and have a more beautiful future.

Military parade

The 80-minute military parade was also a success. It was the largest military parade in more than 60 years, according to Xinhua.

Mass parade

The mass parade turned Tian’anmen Square into a sea of joy. People from all kinds of jobs danced, sang and cheered when they went through the square. Big pictures of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping passed through the square. China’s growth also thanks to ordinary people such as workers, farmers, students, actors, musicians and sports stars and so on.

Evening gala

In the evening, a great gala took place at Tian’anmen Square. Over 60,000 people took part in the gala. It begins at 8 p.m. and lasted for 90 minutes. The fireworks made the number 70 in the sky. People sing and dance together to celebrate the big festival of China.

Many Americans enjoy running in their daily life. Early in the morning, at noon, or in the evening, whether (无论) in big cities or in the countryside, all over the United States, you can see Americans running-men and women, the young and the old. People run everywhere—down quiet streets in towns or at the gym. Some people even run in their living rooms.

However, running wasn’t so popular in the past. In the 1960s, few people ran, of whom most were athletes (运动员) and healthy strong people. At that time, women almost never ran. If they did, people might laugh at them. But today all these have changed. Men and women of all ages enjoy running.

Doctors say many of the health problems come from bad habits like eating too much, smoking cigarettes or taking little exercise. They often advise (建议) people to eat less and exercise more. In fact, if you aren’t ready to change your diet, you can start running.

The hot pot(火锅) is one of the most popular meals in China. It has a long history of about 2,000 years. It used to be eaten in winter, but now it appears on tables all year round.

Apart from(除……之外) its delicious taste, there are two other important reasons for the Chinese to like the hot pot. The first one is that the hot pot is a great way to make new friends. People sit around the pot, talking, eating, drinking and having fun. The other is that the hot pot is a “healthy meal”. 吃火锅能暖身。And it can improve the blood movement in winter.

There are several kinds of hot pots in China with different soup. Two of the most popular hot pots are Sichuan hot pot and Beijing mutton hot pot.

Sichuan hot pot is famous for its numbing and spicy(又麻又辣的) taste because of Sichuan pepper. As for Beijing mutton hot pot, mutton is its main part.

When you eat a hot pot in a restaurant, there are usually two kinds of soup base(锅底): clear and spicy. A clear soup base has a quite mild(温和的) taste, which is made from seafood or meat bones. A spicy soup base usually has Sichuan pepper, which is spicy and salty.

If you have a mixed group, a double-flavor hot pot(鸳鸯锅) is a must. It has a clear soup base on one side, a spicy soup base on the other and a divider in the middle.

【推荐3】What is your dream life like in summer? Maybe it is about eating a watermelon in a house with an air conditioner(空调). Watermelons came from Africa. Later, they came to the west of China along the Silk Road. Watermelons are Chinese people’s favourite. People from other countries want to know why Chinese people like watermelons more.        

Here are two reasons. One is that watermelons have a good taste. And they have lots of vitamins(维生素) and minerals(矿物质), which are good for people’s health. People would think of watermelons at once when they buy fruits in summer. The other is that more than 90% the world’s watermelons are from China each year. In supermarkets, we can know that watermelons are cheap in China. However, in Japan and Korea(韩国), people are not so lucky. In Korea, a watermelon is about 20,000 KRW (about 100 yuan). And in Japan people think eating a watermelon can be a show-off(炫耀).

People are careful when buying watermelons. Most of them usually knock at them and the sound can tell which one tastes the best. However, there are many ways to eat watermelons. For most people, it is cool to enjoy half a watermelon just with a spoon. There are also some ways we don’t often use. For example, in Xinjiang, people eat watermelons around stove(炉子) and in Hainan, people eat watermelons even with salt. No matter how we eat watermelons, they make our summer better.

The watermelon

It’s known for all that China is famous for its tea culture. Here is a list of some Chinese tea.

In Chinese and the languages of neighboring countries, black tea is known as “red tea”. It is made from the new shoots（芽）of the tea leaves which are fermented（发酵的）and dried. It has a lovely red color. Dianhong and Yixing are popular brands of black tea.

White tea is unfermented tea that has been quickly dried. It is lighter in color than other types of tea. Popular brands of white tea are White Peony and Silver Needle.

Wulong tea, also known as blue tea, is made from a mixture of green tea and black tea. It is said that people who drink Wulong tea can lose weight. Wenshan Baozhong Tea and Dongding Wulong Tea are two famous brands of this popular tea.

Green tea is the oldest and most popular type of tea. It has been enjoyed in China for several thousand years. Green tea is made from the new shoots of the tea leaves which are dried and processed. Longjing may be the most well-known brand of green tea.

【推荐2】Coffee is the best!

Wake up in the morning and drink coffee. Yes, coffee is the drink that helps you wake up and feel ready for the day. When you are tired at the end of the day but still have a lot of work to do, coffee helps you stay awake, so you can finish your work. Coffee tastes great too. You can drink coffee from Brazil(巴西), Africa(非洲) or from Yunnan Province in China.

Tea! Tea! Tea!

Chinese tea is the best choice, if people don’t like drinking coffee in daily life! There are so many different kinds of tea. We have black tea, green tea and flower tea. You can try tea from different areas of China. There is Longjing tea from the West Lake in Hangzhou and Puer tea from Yunnan. Tea can be very cheap but there is also very expensive tea from special places. Oolong tea from Taiwan or Fujian Province can be very expensive.

Hot chocolate—the best friend in winter!

Hot chocolate is the best drink for winter days. It makes you feel warm inside. It’s also the best drink to help you sleep. So drink hot chocolate on cold winter nights. In summer, drink a chocolate milkshake. It’s delicious. Drink it and it will help you keep cool.

You can drink chocolate drinks all year round.

A cup of tea is almost a symbol（象征）of British culture. British people were very interested in a hot drink, especially if it is served with some cakes or biscuits. Here are some facts about tea drinking habits in Britain.

There is no real tea time.

All around the world, everyone thinks that British people drink tea every day at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. In fact, we drink tea at every hour of the day, from the minute we get up to the last thing before going to bed. Of course it’s possible that a British person will drink tea around the middle of the afternoon, but it’s also common to drink it with breakfast.

The perfect partner

Scones（司康饼）are a simple kind of cake, a little sweet and usually served with jam（果酱）and cream. They are excellent with tea. In the daily life, if you order a “cream tea” in Britain, you will get a teapot（茶壶）with a plate of scones.

Milk in tea

British people nearly always put milk in their tea. This seems strange to people from other European countries. They would rather drink their tea without adding anything to it. In Britain, people add a certain number of milk depending on taste, so the tea doesn’t look clear enough.

People are always surprised when I say that I prefer coffee to tea as a British person. Tea really is part of our culture, whether we like it or not!

（A）We all like festivals because we can do some interesting things on these days. I have a friend. His name is Mike. He loves New Year’s Day. It’s a big festival in China. It usually comes in January or February. His mother loves Women’s Day. It is on March 8th. She can have a good rest (休息), eat some nice food and watch movies on that day. Mike has a brother and a sister. They’re David and Anna. David is thirteen and Anna is only eleven. David likes April 1st. It’s April Fool’s Day (愚人节). He likes to play jokes (玩笑) on his friends on that day. Anna likes to eat mooncakes (月饼) so she loves Mid Autumn Festival. It often comes in September. What festival do I like? It’s Children’s Day, June 1st.（B）It’s an interesting festival and I think all the children love it!

Every year on April 7th, we’re reminded (提醒) of something: If you have health, you have hope; if you have hope, you have everything. This day is World Health Day. The day calls on (呼吁) people to care more about health.

But first of all, what is health? According to the WHO, health is about both our bodies and our emotions (情感). We all know how to get healthy. We can do exercise every day. We can eat different kinds of food. We can go to bed by 10 p.m. We can take care of ourselves when the weather changes. But that’s not enough. There is famous saying: “Laughter is the best medicine.” The mental (精神的) health is very important. So try not to keep yourself too busy with study and work all the time. Try different sports and develop your own interests. For example, learning to play the guitar after homework is a good way to relax.

Such hobbies can relax your body and mind. More importantly, they make you a healthy person.