【推荐1】Have you ever tried Shaxian Snacks（沙县小吃）? You may find Shaxian Snacks restaurants in nearly every Chinese city. But now the popular restaurant chain（连锁店）is going overseas（海外）.

Two months ago, Shaxian Snacks opened its first store in the United States. The store is in New York City. It was so popular that all of its food was sold out within three hours on the first day when it was open.

Shaxian Snacks come from Shaxian County in Fujan Province. Many local people left the county in past years to work in other parts of China. And of course, they brought their food with them. Shaxian Snacks sells local food from Shaxian, such as peanut butter noodles（花生酱拌面）and pork wontons（猪肉馄饨）. There are many dishes to choose from. Some are traditional, while others are new. But the thing they have in common is that none of them is expensive. That might be why they are so popular. At the Shaxian Snacks store in the US, a full meal costs about the same as a meal at KFC or McDonald’s.

You might think ice cream is a modern kind of food, but actually, ice cream was probably first eaten in China more than 2,000 years ago. It was made from rice and milk. In Europe around 2,000 years ago, Roman leaders also enjoyed a kind of frozen dessert. Snow and fruit were used to make it. It wasn’t true ice cream, though, as it had no milk or cream in it.

Marco Polo, who came from Italy, spent a lot of time in China during the late thirteenth century. People believe that he saw ice cream being made while he was on his travels there. He then brought the recipe（食谱） for it back home when he returned. This was the first time true ice cream was made in Europe. Perhaps this is why Italians are considered the European masters of ice cream making, they have had more time than other countries to practice the recipe!

In the seventeenth century, King Charles I of England was introduced to the pleasures of cream by his new French chef（厨师）. He was so surprised by its beautiful taste.

Ice cream cones（蛋卷筒）are a popular way to serve ice cream. They’re easy to hold ice cream and there is no waste at all because they can be eaten up along with the ice cream. So they’re environmentally friendly as well as tasty. It’s believed they were invented in 1904 in the US.

Ice cream quickly won the hearts of people in the middle of the twentieth century. At that time, the first fridges became available to the public. Owning one meant you could then keep ice cream at home. It also meant you had a bigger chance of eating ice cream.

【推荐3】Travelling is one of the most important activities and people like travelling very much. Staying healthy while travelling can make your trip happier. But do you know how to keep healthy during a trip?     1    

Before leaving

Wear comfortable shoes, a hat and sunglasses.

Take some medicine with you.     2    

Do some exercise for weeks or months before you leave. If you plan to do lots of walking or climbing during your trip.

    3     If you take a long trip, you should bring food such as bread, biscuits（饼干） and some fruit. They don’t go bad quickly. The nearer people can bring meat, fish, eggs, milk and even salads and vegetables.

While travelling

Be sure not to eat dirty food or bad fruit.

Have enough time to take a rest during your trip.

Keep food in good condition.     4     For example, you can put it in heavy towels （毛巾）. If you need to keep cold food cold, you can put cold food in a box with ice. When you arrive, put cold food in the fridge.     5    

【推荐1】Mary didn’t understand such sentences as “She is blue today.”, “You are yellow.”, “He has a green thumb.”, “He has told a white lie.” and so on. And she went to the teacher Mrs James for help.

Mary: Mrs James, there is a colour in each of the sentences. What do they mean?

Mrs James: In everyday English, Mary, blue sometimes means sadness, and yellow means fear. A person with a green thumb grows plants well and a white lie is not a bad one.

Mary: I’m afraid I don’t understand them all. Would you give me an example for “a white lie”?

Mrs James: Certainly. Now I just give you some bread. In fact you don’t like it, but you don’t want to let me know it. Instead you say, “No, thanks. I’m not hungry.” That’s a white lie.

Mary: It sounds very interesting. Thanks very much.

Mrs James: You are welcome. Colours are meaningful. I think you will meet more sentences like these in the future. Please come to me if you have any questions.

【推荐3】The idea of what shaking the head means is not always the same in different countries. Maybe some visitors would be surprised when they first come to India. When they talk to an Indian, they would find he would often shake his head. The visitors might think that the Indian doesn’t like what they say. But in fact, they would be completely wrong. Indians always shake their heads when they talk to others. It doesn’t mean “No”. If someone wants to visit India, he should know this, or he will be in trouble.

One day, a foreign officer went to India on business. He hired a car and asked an Indian to drive him. When he told his driver to take him to his office, the Indian shook his head at once. The officer said again and the driver shook his head again. At last the officer, of course, got angry. “How dare you refuse my order?” he shouted. “Drive me to my office at once!” The driver answered in a loud voice too. “Yes, sir!” But to the officer’s surprise, the driver shook his head at the same time.

The car started and the foreign officer was now too surprised to say a word. He thought about it for a while, and then he nodded with a smile, “No” means “Yes” here!