1 . Most of us cannot imagine modern life without social media (社交媒体). We use it almost every day in order to keep up with what is happening in our friends’ lives, or find out the latest information. Although it has a bad influence if we don’t use it properly, social media has done more good than harm.

The greatest advantage is that we can connect with people much more easily. We are still able to keep in touch with our friends if they are far away. With social media, friendship goes beyond geography. We are able to find friends old and new. Also, it makes it easier for us to make friends, especially for those who are afraid of making friends face to face. Are you shy? If yes, social media has probably helped.

Social media is also ideal for making yourself heard. Anyone with a voice can express it. Anyone with a talent is free to show it. Everyone is the new content creator. Moreover, anyone with a smartphone and the Internet can be a reporter. As a result, it has become much faster to cover the news than ever before.

Social media, on the other hand, can make us less confident sometimes. A 2021 study published by the Public Library of Science, found that the more a person uses social media, the sadder he feels about his own life. One reason for this is that people around us put colourful information and perfect pictures online in order to show off their best moment. So we often get a distorted sense of how wonderful their lives are compared to our own.

Social media does not cause sadness; it simply provides another tool for us to use. Is it good or bad? Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai says, “What is interesting is the power and influence of social media ... We must try to use social media in a good way.” After all, you decide how you use this powerful tool.

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2 . Spring is the season when plants start to grow freely from the ground. In China, wild spring greens are traditionally thought of as a healthy food. They are still common in many dishes today.

3 . China has rich food culture. There are interesting stories behind some cuisine (菜肴), as well as table manners relating to tableware (餐具).

Hotpot

Hotpot has been popular among Chinese people for a long time. As early as in the Shang Dynasty (16th century—11th century BC), people boiled foods in bronze cauldrons (青铜鼎). The cauldron had two parts-one was the pot to cook foods in soup, and the other part was a layer (层) or a space inside the cauldron to hold firewood.

People started to have lattice (分格的) hotpot during the Han Dynasty (206 BC—AD 220). They divided pots into several parts to enjoy different flavors (口味).

Yuan Mei was a poet and foodie (美食家) in the Qing Dynasty (1644—1911). He mentioned huoguo, the Chinese name for hotpot, in a book about all kinds of food. At that time, hotpot was very popular. People put all kinds of meat and vegetables into the hotpot. They also used different materials, such as copper (铜) and iron (铁), to make pots.

Dongpo pork

There is a famous Chinese dish called “Dongpo pork”. Does it have anything to do with the great poet Su Dongpo?

Yes. Su Dongpo (Su Shi) was a poet who lived during the Song Dynasty   (960—1279). He was the first to make this dish. When he was a local official in Huangzhou, Hubei, he fell in love with cooking pork. In his article Ode to-Pork (《猪肉颂》), Su wrote about how to cook it.

According to folk stories, the dish became well-known when Su went to Hangzhou, Zhejiang, to take office. One day, there was a big flood and Su went out to help people. People heard that Su loved eating pork, so they gave him a lot of it. But Su wanted to give it back. He/cooked the pork in his own special way. Then he gave the dish to every family in the city and every worker on the street. Very soon the dish became famous in Hangzhou and got the name “Dongpo pork”.

Chopsticks

What are the dos and don’ts of using chopsticks?

For Chinese people, chopsticks are not just simple tools to pick up food. They come with their own special rules and traditions.

First, people should not make noise with chopsticks. Playing with chopsticks is seen as rude, just as playing with forks and knives in a Western country is.

There are also some superstitions (迷信) related to chopsticks. For example, some people believe that chopsticks should not be left standing upright in a bowl. It looks like the incense (香) that Chinese people use to honor (祭奠) the dead. Doing it at the dinner table is believed to bring bad luck.

You should not tap chopsticks on the edge (边缘) of the bowl either, as beggars do this to ask for food.

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5 . Today more and more cars go into families. Which car is the best for people? Different people have different ideas. Some people like the bright colour car made in China. It’s really a good choice (选择). The bright colour car made in China is cheap, nice and safe. This kind of cars is suit for (适合于) the general income (收入一般的) family.

Some people love famous foreign cars like Japanese cars, American cars and German cars. They’re good but too expensive. But most people think famous foreign cars of better quality are better in safety. These are suit for the high income family or for business.

Some people like sports cars, because they’re fast and exciting. Some sports cars are very nice but very expensive. Only rich people can afford them.

Some people like travelling, so they need a travel car. Travel cars are comfortable. But they use much oil (油). What’s the best car for us? Maybe it’s a new and popular topic in life.

6 . Do you yawn? There are about 20 reasons that scientists think are possible for yawning after research. They do not know exactly why yawning happens, but they do know many facts about yawning.

We know that everyone yawns in the same way. First you open your mouth slowly. Your mouth stays open for about five seconds. You take in a lot of air and then push it out. Then you quickly close your mouth. We also know that yawning is contagious. When you see someone yawn, you yawn, too. Many people say they yawn because they are bored or tired. That might be true.

People do often yawn before they sleep and after they wake up. However, we know that people also yawn when they are excited or nervous. Olympic runners, for example, often yawn before a race.

Why is that? In 2007, scientists found that a yawn can help a warm brain cool down.

Some scientists believe that yawning makes you notice things more quickly. When you yawn, you breathe deeply. You also stretch (强化) the muscles (肌肉) in your face, mouth, and neck. Your eardrums stretch. too. Maybe this helps you to be quicker to notice things.

In some countries, people think yawning is not nice. People put their hands over their mouths to cover a yawn. In other countries, people think yawning is healthy. They think that opening the mouth very big can let good things in. When they breathe out, they think that bad things go out of the body with the air.

Scientists do not spend much time studying yawning. That is probably because yawning does not hurt. It is just something we do.

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9 . The scientific method is used for simple experiments that students may do in the classroom or very difficult experiments that scientists are doing all over the world. It is a way of thinking that helps you to avoid drawing incorrect conclusions.

There are usually four steps in the scientific method, including observation (观察), hypothesis (假设), experiment, and conclusion. The steps may not always be completed in the same order, but the first step is usually observation and asking a question about your observation. For example, you had a sick stomach, and ate a candy bar. An hour later, you observed that you felt much better. Here, you can ask a question, such as, “What makes a sick stomach feel better?”

The second step is to state a possible answer to the question, or a hypothesis, such as “” A good hypothesis includes three things: The explanation for the observations, it is able to be tested, and it will usually predict new outcomes or conclusions.

The third step is the experiment, to test the hypothesis. An experiment is a test which will either challenge or support the hypothesis. The hypothesis will then be true or false.

The final step is to think about what happened when you tested the hypothesis and draw a conclusion. The conclusion will either clearly support the hypothesis or it will not. If the results support the hypothesis, a conclusion can be written and you can share it with the rest of the world. If it does not support the hypothesis, you may choose to change the hypothesis or write a new one based on what was learned during the experiment.