Nobody can say no to a flower world in the real life. That’s why more and more people come to the Huazhao Festival to enjoy the beautiful and busy party in spring.

The Huazhao Festival is the birthday of all flowers and it happens on the 2nd, 12th or 15th day of February of the Chinese lunar calendar (农历). People started to celebrate the birthday of flowers before the Qin Dynasty and it became a festival during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In the Tang Dynasty, it was one of the three important celebrations all over China.

The Huazhao Festival is rich in customs (习俗). Young people wear Hanfu, a kind of traditional Chinese clothes and have outings. The festival is in early spring, so it’s such a great time to have an outing to enjoy the spring time. Girls put colorful paper-cuts on the flower stems (花茎). They hope they can be as young and beautiful as flowers. Also, people in different places of China plant flowers. They think that flowers planted on that day can grow well. At the festival, the flower fair (集市) is the most popular. There are lots of fun activities in the fair, such as making flower cakes and playing music.

The Huazhao Festival is an exciting party to see the beautiful spring and it also helps people learn more about Chinese traditions. It’s really a wonderful celebration that you can’t miss.

6 . Most people have a favourite colour. I think green is the best colour. Here are some reasons.

So many things in nature are green! Grass is green. Leaves on trees are green. Animals like frogs, snakes, and turtles are green. That’s why I think green is the color of nature. When I see the colour green, I think of the beautiful nature and feel really relaxed.

The word “green” isn’t just about colour. It can also describe (描述) things that help the environment. We use old plastic (塑料) bottles to make new “green” bottles. This way is called “recycle”. In this way, we can use plastic bottles for many times. And these green things are safe to throw in the trash, because they won’t harm the Earth.

Also, the colour green is fun to make. All you have to do is mix yellow and blue together. Yellow and blue make green! You see, yellow and blue are primary colours. You can mix primary colours to make new colours. These are called secondary colours. Art makes my life colorful. Even though green is a secondary colour, it’s still number one to me!

The history of chocolate begins with Theobroma cacao. People make chocolate from the seeds on the tree. Chocolate means “food of the gods”. For many years, people enjoy the chocolate very much.

It is said that Mayan people of Central America first learned to plant cacao trees around 2,000 years ago. The Maya took the cacao trees from the rainforest and grew them around their homes. They cooked the cacao seeds, then made them into a soft paste. They put water and spices in the paste to make not sweet chocolate drink. But not all people could drink it because it was so expensive. Farmers grow cacao trees in many countries in Africa, Central and South America. The trees are difficult to grow.

Cacao and chocolate are an important part of Maya culture. Some people think the word for chocolate come from the Aztec word “xocolatl”, which means “not sweet water” in the Nahuatl language. Others think the word “chocolate” is from Mayan and Nahuatl words.

Chocolate making is a big business. Each year, the market of the cacao crop around the world can provide more than five billion dollars. People in the United States like chocolate very much. Everyone in America eats more than five kilograms of chocolate every year.

In China, people play lion dances on big days like the Chinese New Year, because they think the lion dance can bring good luck.

The lion dance started in China over 1000 years ago. In the Han Dynasty*, people from Central Asia gave lions as presents to the Chinese king. In the Three Kingdoms Period*, people began wearing lion-like clothes to celebrate festivals. It was the first lion dance. In the Tang Dynasty, it became more important.

In China, there are two kinds of lion dances - the Northern kind and the Southern kind. The Northern lion is red and yellow, and it looks dangerous, like a real lion. There is usually a father lion, a mother lion, and sometimes little lions in the Northern lion dance. The Southern lion is like a cat and it has more different colours.

The lion dance needs one man dancing the head and the other man dancing the tail. But in the Northern lion dance, there’s a dancer with a ball standing before the lion. The Northern lion dance is usually for fun, and the music is lively. The music of the Southern lion dance is exciting as well.

The lion dance is always a great art for people all over the world and the value* of it never changes* over time.

In England, Pass the Parcel is a popular game for children. They usually play it at birthday parties. Now let’s learn how to play it and have fun with your friends on your next birthday!

·Get your parcel ready by wrapping your present in layers of paper.

·Sit in a circle and choose one of you to start the game.

·Put on some music. When the song plays, everyone gives the parcel to the one next to them. When the song stops, the child with the present takes off a layer of paper.

·When one of you takes off the final layer, the lucky child will get the present!