In the southern part of China, eating qingtuan at the     1     (begin) of spring is a kind of tradition. Chinese people started to eat it more than 2000 years ago. It is made of sticky rice (糯米) and red bean paste (红豆沙), and is famous for     2     (it) softness, freshness and sweetness.

People living in the Yangtze River Delta (长江三角洲) usually put qingtuan in front of the tombs (墓) of their     3     (die) family members to remember them. Making qingtuan     4     (be) also a chance (机会) for family members to get together.

Recently, qingtuan     5     (become) popular in the north of China. Young people are learning how     6     (make) qingtuan by watching video online nowadays. Qingtuan has many different tastes inside it, such as apples and bean milk, to meet (满足)     7     (people) tastes. The difference of the tastes shows that it’s getting     8     (popular) across the whole country than before.

Even though (尽管) there is warm weather and green     9     (leaf) in spring, the season wouldn’t be perfect     10     (with) a taste of qingtuan.

3 . ①Walking slowly out of the classroom by himself to the dining room; taking his lunch; sitting and eating alone at a table of four seats, such moments are pretty normal to be seen on the 14-year-old schoolboy, Peter. He spends most of his school time on his own, which makes his parents worry about him so much.

②His parents’ worries are easy to understand. It is widely accepted that being alone is a symbol of being left out and can bring a lot of trouble. Most people believe teenagers who are usually alone do have few friends and are unable to fit in with other people. At the same time, they are at greater risk (风险) of having mental problems.

③However, a new study by some researchers at Wilmington College, shows that this may not always be true. Whether it is bad for teenagers or not depends on the reasons why teenagers are alone. If it is their choice, it may play an active role in their personal growth.

④According to their study, when teenagers choose to think alone, they put 100% of their attention into what is in their mind and are more likely to experience deeper thoughts and feelings than working with others. They may have a greater chance to create something new. In this way they can better develop their creativity (创造力).

⑤On the other hand, the ongoing noise children’s brains receive every day can put great stress on them and make it hard for them to focus. Being alone lets them shut themselves off from the noisy outside world and think about what’s best for them. Slowly they improve their ability to focus.

⑥As a matter of fact, our culture is always biased (有偏见的) against being alone. Maybe it is the right time for us to rethink about Peter’s situation before we say what’s happening to him.

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4 . Do you often dream when sleeping? How do you feel after having a dream? Is it useful to our heath? “Dream maybe more important than sleep. We all need to dream,” some scientists say.

Dreams take up (占据) about a quarter of our sleeping time. People have several dreams each night Dreams are like short films. They are usually in color. Some dreams are like old films. They come to us over and over again. That maybe because the dreamer is worrying about something.

Dreaming maybe a way of trying to find an answer. Some people get new ideas about their work from dreams. They may think about their work all day. These ideas can carry over into dreams. Sometimes we wake up with a good feeling from a nice dream. But often we can’t remember the dram. Dreams can go away quickly from memory (记忆).

Too much dreaming can be harmful (有害的). The more we sleep, the longer we dream The mind (头脑) is working hard when we dram. That is why we may have along sleep and still wake up tired.

Fun with apps

What makes smartphones fun and useful? The apps, of course. Besides (除了) some popular ones like WeChat, QQ and Tik Tok, what other apps do you know? In fact, there are many apps that you can have fun with. Check out some of them here.

Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary.com offers (提供) some help to the English learners, even a linguist (语言学家), to make their English language skills better. Why is Vocabulary.com special? That’s because it’s much more than just a dictionary (字典). It has the basic features of a dictionary app—explanations, pronunciations and grammar tips—but it also has a word learning system. This means that you can practise the words you learn through a fun game. The game will help you remember words more quickly. The app knows that even if you look up a word, you may still forget it soon. So it helps you remember words by saying them again and again in the game. It’s like carrying your English teacher in your pocket!

Prisma

Are you a fan of art? Here’s an app just for you. Prisma is a photo-editing app unlike any other. The photo filters (滤镜) on the app can make your pictures look like works of art. What’s more, the filters on Prisma never get old. Prisma offers a new photo filter every day. However, it also gives you freedom to change the filters with image-enhancing (图像增强) tools. Imagine you can have a picture painted by Picasso, too! How amazing!

If you drop a piece of fruit on your computer keyboard, will you think about eating it again? What if you drop it in the toilet? Bacteria (细菌) can live here and there, even in some unexpected places.

If you eat at your computer or sit down to surf the Internet without first washing your hands, your computer keyboard could be bad for your health. According to the US National Research Centre, the average computer carries 400 times more bacteria than a toilet bowl.

Could one of the dirtiest things in your home be right in your hand? Yes, the TV remote control. It gets dropped on the floor, put on the sofa and everyone in the house holds it. Scientists have found that around half of the tested remote controls carry the cold virus (病毒).

Don’t forget your toothbrush. Do you put it in the bathroom? Studies show that flushing (抽水冲洗) the toilet releases bacteria in the air. Bacteria can remain in the air for at least two hours. They may pollute your toothbrush. Try to keep your toothbrush far from the toilet. Make sure that it is in an upright position after each use. It’s also important to change your toothbrush every three months.

The kitchen is one of the places with the most bacteria—more than the bathroom. Dishcloths and kitchen sponges (海绵) are great places for bacteria since they are always wet after being used.

Bacteria can’t be avoided, but don’t be too afraid to touch those things. Most of bacteria are harmless. Just remember to wash your hands often. It is the most useful way to protect yourself from bacteria and viruses.

7 . The Chinese pingfeng, a folding screen, is an old invention (发明) and traditional Chinese furniture. Its earliest common use dates from the Han Dynasty. The pingfeng means protection from wind, showing its purpose at the very beginning.

As time passes, it has been made into different sizes with colourful paintings. On screens usually appears (出现) a dragon. It stands for nobility and power. The peacock, a beautiful bird, can be seen on screens, too. It’s a symbol of everlasting (永久的) life. Beautiful flowers mean good luck. Lots of people like to choose them as a popular design of the pingfeng. All the designs carry people’s beautiful wishes.

Behind the pingfeng lies an interesting story. In the past, the unmarried daughter of a rich family couldn’t be seen by men except her father, brothers or very close cousins. When an admirer (仰慕者) paid a visit, however, she might take a secret look at him from a screen behind. Her father would discuss poems with the young man and ask him to create (创造) one. If the daughter and her father were glad with the young man’s poem and his looks, she might agree to marry him.       

Today the pingfeng is back in fashion for its beauty and its practical (实际的) use as furniture. Acting as a moving wall, it can be the perfect match for modern sofas and walls, and it adds style to them.

The pingfeng is more than beautiful furniture.

8 . You change into your pajamas, turn off the lights, and get yourself ready to sleep. How do you liker to sleep better, on the back or on your side? Here are some interesting sleeping positions.

Starfish is when you lie on your back and sleep with your arms lifted near your head. Sleep scientist Idzikowski says starfish sleepers value friendship, and that while they prefer not to be the center of attention, people who sleep in this position are good listeners and quick to help others.

The fetal position gets its name from the shape of a baby in the womb. People who sleep in the fetal position tend towards worry and anxiety. They are often shy and sensitive. In the fetal position, a sleeper’s body is usually curled up into a ball as they lie on one side with legs and arms bent.

This sleeping position is kind of strange, but common. It’s when you sleep on your back with your arms down and very close to your body. Studies have shown that people who sleep like this may do not like to make a big deal out of things. It is actually a good sleeping position, as it helps keep your spine in a straight line.

If this sleeping position is not familiar to you, you should know that at least 7% of the world’s population sleep that way. In this position, you have your hands on or around your pillow, with your head turned to one side. But it may create a twist in the neck. Some studies show that generally you’re good at listening and chatting with others and you may be a social worker if you like to sleep in this position.

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9 . Every summer, about three billion birds migrate (迁徙) from North Africa to Europe and Asia. In winter, they return to Africa. As they travel from one place to another, they use the sun, stars, smells and landforms (地形) to find the way.

The migration is long and difficult, and some of the animals die during each trip. However, it is not this twice-a-year journey that poses the greatest risk for these animals. The main danger to the birds comes from hunters all over the Mediterranean (地中海地区). Millions of migratory birds are killed every year. As a result, the bird population is falling.

In countries along the Mediterranean, many migratory birds are illegally (非法地) trapped or killed. Besides traps, hunters also use electronic calls to catch birds. They make bird sounds to attract the birds. Some hunters also use nets to catch birds as they fly close to the sea. “There are no birds,” said one local man. “We walk for hours without seeing any. It’s really frightening.”

Birds are in danger, and many countries are working to solve this problem. In the European Union, hunting migratory birds is illegal in some countries, while in others, it is strictly controlled—the birds can only be hunted at a certain time of year. What’s more, many nature-protection groups are making sure that laws are obeyed. This has been successful in many places. For example, Sicily, an island of Italy, was once a place where illegal bird hunting often happened. Today, it has mostly eliminated (消除) bird hunting, and as a result, birdwatching is becoming popular there.

Wildlife organizations around the Mediterranean are helping to bring about change. “Hunting bans (禁令) are working,” said Martin Schneider-Jacoby, a bird scientist. “But there is still more to do. We hope to stop hunting and protect birds’ living areas all over the Mediterranean. If this can be done, the number of birds will increase. There’s a long way to go, but there is hope.”

10 . Have you ever wondered why the letters on a keyboard are not in the “ABC” order?

The keyboard we use every day is called the QWERTY keyboard layout (布局) . Q, W, E, R, T, Y are the first six letters on this layout, starting from the top left.     1     .

The first manual typewriter (手动打字机), with a keyboard which looked like a piano, was invented in the 19th century.     2    . However, people later, found that as the typing speed became faster, some keys failed to come back to their places quickly. As a result, they got jammed (卡住) very easily.     3     To solve this problem, the QWERTY keyboard was developed. It placed keys in such a way that the most used letters were spaced out so that the keys were more likely to work freely.

    4    . With the arrival of the computer, the typists in offices were the same people who were to now operate computers. This meant the typists had to be trained to use the new device.     5     it was easier to design the keyboards following the layout of typewriters, which was the QWERTY layout, and this continues even today.