2 . Hanfu (汉服)

Now a growing number of young people are wearing traditional hanfu, or Han Chinese clothing. You may see them eating, shopping, travelling or even working in hanfu.

Hanfu becomes popular in part because the government is developing traditional culture. Period dramas (古装剧) have also helped develop the public’s interest in traditional Chinese clothes.

What hanfu is like is different since each Han-controlled dynasty (朝代) had its own style, but the clothes are usually loose (宽松的), with sleeves that hang down to the knees and flowing robes (长袍) around the body.

In modern China, people in different fields are interested in wearing hanfu: from history lovers to students and even young workers.

“Clothes are the foundation (基础) of culture” said Jiang Xue, who is a member of a hanfu club in Beijing. “If we as a people and as a country do not even understand our traditional clothing or don’t wear them, how can we talk about other important parts of our culture?”

However, there is still a long way for the style to go into people’s daily life. Some say they are afraid of being watched by others when wearing hanfu in public.

5 . Happiness is for everyone. You don’t need to worry about people who have beautiful houses with large gardens and swimming pools or those who have nice cars and a lot of money and so on. Why? Because those who have big houses may often feel lonely and those who have cars may want to walk on the country mads in their free time.

In fact, happiness is always around you if you put your heart into it. When you are in trouble at school, your friends will help you; when you are studying hard at your lessons, your parent s are always taking good care of you. When you get success, your friends will say congratulations to you; when you do something wrong, people around you will help you to correct it. All your happiness is always around you.

Happiness is not the same as money. It is a feeling of your heart. When you are poor, you can also say you are very happy, because you have something else that can’t be bought with money. When you meet with difficulties, you can say loudly you are very happy, because you have more chances to challenge yourself. So you should not always say you are poor and you have bad luck. As the saying goes, life is like a revolving (旋转的) door. When it closes, it also opens. If you take every chance you get, you can be a happy and lucky person.

6 . The British Museum is one of the largest museums in the world. People built the museum in 1753 in the Bloomsbury area of London. It is the first national public museum full of human history, art and culture in the world. Inside the museum, there are about 8 million objects.

The story of the British Museum has to do with a man named Sir Hans Sloane, the doctor of King George II. He was also a scientist. During his lifetime, he gathered about 71,000 things of all kinds including books, drawings, clothes and money from all over the world. He wanted everything to stay together after he died so that people could come and have a look. The museum first opened to the public on January 15th, 1759, six years after Sir Hans Sloane passed away.

By the last years of the 19th century, things got better and better. Many wonderful things arrived at the museum. However, a problem appeared—the museum wasn’t big enough to keep all the things. So in 1895, they bought the 69 houses around the museum to solve the problem.

Now many people from different parts of the world go to visit it every day. The museum is developing rapidly.

Canada is a big country with a large area, but it has a small population. It lies in North America with oceans around it in three directions (方向) except in the south, where the United States is. The Great Lakes are between Canada and the United States. Canadians care about the environment very much. The government and the people in Canada try their best to protect the environment. So in Canada, the air is fresh, the water is clean and the sky is blue. Many tourists like to travel to Canada and live for some time to relax themselves.

The climate (气候) in Canada is different from area to area. It is wet in the west and east, but cold in the north and south. Canada is rich in natural resources (自然资源) such as forests, fresh water, coal and oil. Farmland mainly lies in the south where farmers grow lots of corn and wheat. The farmers work hard so that the people in Canada can get enough good food for their daily life. Living surroundings in Canada are very excellent. Canadians enjoy themselves and live a happy life.

8 . In China, there’re many different kinds of food. Some of them are very popular. The real Chinese food is dumplings. Now let’s talk about dumplings.

Most people in China like dumplings very much, and there are many different kinds of dumplings. Some have meat and vegetables in them and others have sugar, eggs and so on. I like dumplings with vegetables and pork better than any other kind.

Usually people make dumplings at home. If you have no time to make them, you can buy them in a supermarket. Then you take them home and eat them with vinegar (醋).

The Spring Festival is very important in China. When it comes, we make dumplings. Usually we put a coin (硬币) in a dumpling. If one eats the dumpling with the coin in it, he or she will be lucky in the new year.

In the old days, people couldn’t often eat dumplings because they were very poor. Now our country is becoming stronger and stronger, and our people are richer and richer. We can eat them very often.

Do you like dumplings? Welcome to China and we’ll invite you to eat the real Chinese food—dumplings.

Good rain knows its time right;

It will fall when comes spring.

With wind it steals in night;

Mute, it moistens each thing.

Do you know who wrote this poem above? Yes, it is Du Fu (712-770). Most of you know him and his poems. But many Western people don’t know the poet very well. Thanks to a film called Du Fu: China’s Greatest Poet.

Du lived during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). He saw how the country came to an end and how people lived a hard life. He had to go away from home with his family. He met many difficulties, but he didn’t stop writing. He wrote down these things in his poems. He talked about his difficulties and how he cared about the country and people.

Another famous poet, Li Bai, was Du Fu’s good friend. Both were great poets of their time. But their poems are different. Most of Li’s poems are about scenery (景色) and are full of imagination. Du’s poems are more about real life.

10 . Every year, a lot of visitors around the world go to Tibet (西藏). The best time to visit Tibet is from April to October.

Summer in Tibet is cool. It’s not so hot or cold but there’s much sunshine. If you go there, you have to take a pair of sunglasses.

In spring and autumn, it can be cold. It may be snowy at night, and it can be sunny and warm in the morning and afternoon. If you don’t hate the cold weather.

It’s very cold and windy in winter. People there always wear warm clothes. Not many people come to visit Tibet this time because of the bad weather. In fact, most visitors would like to travel to Tibet in Summer. It’s a good place for people to be away from the high temperature (高温).