2 .

The Beginning of Summer falls on May 5th this year. It’s the first solar term after spring and also the seventh solar term of the twenty-four ones. By the Beginning of Summer, everything begins to grow fast. The Beginning of Summer means farewell to spring, and the entering into summer. So it is also called “the end of spring”.

In ancient China, people divided the Beginning of Summer into three periods.

The first period: the frogs begin to sing. In early summer, frogs begin to sing and look for food in the fields and ponds. With the voice of the frogs, the taste of summer is strong.

The second period: the earthworms come out. As the temperature in the ground continues to rise, earthworms climb from the underground to the surface to breathe fresh air.

The third period: the budding of the cucumber blossom. On this day, most areas of China have the custom of eating eggs, including boiled eggs and tea eggs. Eating eggs on the Beginning of Summer is to hope that the year will be full. And people also hope to get peace in the summer. In addition to eating eggs on the Beginning of Summer, they will also “hang eggs”. Egg hanging is a bag made of colorful bags or wool, put boiled eggs in it and hang them on children’s chest. As an old Chinese saying goes, “Hanging an egg on children’s chest can prevent them from getting summer diseases.” It means health and safety, good luck, and everything is smooth.

According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, the Beginning of Summer is a key period for the heart. High temperatures in summer are easy to cause mood problems, and diet therapy can play an important role. So people also eat a special kind of rice which is also called “colorful rice”. There are red beans, green beans, black beans, green beans and soybeans in the colorful rice. The ancients cooked the colorful rice to balance the five elements, which means producing good harvests and good health.

When the weather grows hotter, high temperatures can affect humans’ health. Food rich in vitamins in nature is highly recommended. Vegetables, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, watercress and celery and fruits that include watermelons, pears and strawberries are top recommendations.

5 . 假设你是李华，你在英国笔友Jack在做一个关于中国学生如何过暑假的调查，他给你发了一封电子邮件，想了解一下有关情况，请认真阅读下面的邮件，根据信中的内容及你的实际情况用英语回复，可以有适当的发挥。

注意：

1.字数 80 词左右；

2.回复中不得提及学生所在学校和本人姓名；

3.可适当增加细节，使行文连贯。

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Li Hua

I am a Chinese student in England. I always think of my last winter holiday at Bedford School ________ talking about holidays. During the holiday, I, together ________ other Chinese students, welcomed the Year of the Rabbit with laughter and joy.

We celebrated the festival in different ways. For example, I prepared Chinese food ________ for the New’s Eve dinner with several students. We tried Chinese huoguo. We ________ around and cooked meat, fish and vegetables. Some students helped make traditional lanterns and ________ “Happy New Year” in Chinese on them. Some wrote the Chinese character fu, one of ________ symbols of Chinese New Year.

After the meal, we gathered (聚集) at a hall and gave performances we prepared for this festival. Some students ________ talked about their experiences of celebrating ________ New Year in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. In the end, all of ________ gave red packets to each other, wishing everyone good luck in the new year.

I truly felt ________ I was not alone at all during that important holiday.

8 . 转眼我们即将毕业，愉快的暑假也将要到来。有的同学打算去旅游放松，也有的同学打算充实自己，你有什么计划来度过这个多彩的暑假呢？以“My summer holiday plan”为主题写一篇暑假计划。

My summer holiday plan

Summer holiday is a golden time for self-development and relaxation. During this break, I plan to _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________