2 . WELCOME TO CHINATOWN!

The Chinatown in San Francisco is the biggest in America, and also the oldest. It is a very popular tourist draw that receives more visitors each year than even the Golden Gate Bridge. The climate is mild all year round, meaning it is always a good time to visit .

Historically, Chinese immigrants settled in the area during the railroad construction and gold rush period. What started as a residential area for Chinese immigrants then turned into a centre for Chinese culture. The majority of residents in Chinatown are still ethnic Chinese, many of whom do not speak English fluently. This allows visitors to experience a real taste of China.

Most of Chinatown was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, but the city and residents rebuilt it, taking care to include lots of Chinese architecture. Traditionally, visitors enter Chinatown through the legendary Dragon Gate, which was built using materials donated from China. Other famous sites include the Tin How Temple and Bank of Canton, to name but a few. Visitors can also spend hours just exploring the interesting sights, smells, and sounds of China. Portsmouth Square is also a key site, being the centre of Chinatown. It has a long and famous history, with the author Robert Louis Stevenson having spent much time writing there. These days, the square is a great place to see traditional Chinese culture in real life, such as games of Chinese chess, and people practising tai chi.

The stores in the Chinatown offer a unique range of souvenirs, goods, and clothing. All kinds of traditional Chinese herbal medicine can be found, too, and there are Chinese tea stores, where visitors can taste and buy varieties of Chinese tea .

But perhaps what many tourists and San Franciscans treasure most about Chinatown is its food. There is Chinese food to suit everyone’s taste, with traditional dishes from all over China.

Chinatowns are an important part of the diverse culture of the USA. They allow visitors who have never been to China to experience traditional Chinese culture first hand.

1. Read the passage and fill in the blanks.

①________
②________
③________
2. 熟记下列用来描写地点的句子
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________

5 . 【课文原文】

CULTURE AND CUISINE

The French author Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once wrote, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” Put more simply this means “You are what you eat.” Most people today relate this saying to healthy eating. However, Brillat-Savarin was actually referring to our personality, character, and culture.

Certainly in many ways this seems to be true. Chinese cuisine is a case in point. Prior to coming to China, my only experience with Chinese Cooking was in America, with Chinese food that had been changed to suit American tastes. For example, America’s most popular Chinese dish is General Tso’s chicken, which consists of fried chicken covered in a Sweetsauce, flavoured with hot red peppers. This is probably not an authentic Chinese recipe, however, so it can not tell us much about the Chinese. On the other hand, it does tell us a lot about Americans. It tells us, for example, that Americans love bold, simple flavors. And, since the dish was also invented recently, it tells us that Americans are not afraid to try new foods.

Later, I had a chance to experience authentic Chinese food by coming to China. When my family And I had just arrived in China, we went looking for a good place to eat in Beijing. A Sichuan restaurant had been recommended to us by a friend, and finally we found it. Tired, hungry, and not knowing a word of Chinese, we had no idea how to order, so the chef just began filling our table. With the best food we had eaten. With this, we had the pleasure of experiencing an entirely new taste: Sichuan peppercorns. The food was wonderful and different, but what was even more important was the friendship offered us.

We soon moved to Shandong Province in the eastern part of North China. My favourite dish there was boiled dumplings served with vinegar. I observed that family is important to people there. I have become a favourite traditional dish of the people in North China, where making dumplings has always been a family affair with everyone from the youngest to the oldest joining in to help. Later, I learnt that the most famous food in Shandong is pancake rolls stuffed with sliced Chinese green onions.

Then we moved to northern Xinjiang. Some of our friends were Kazak and Inner Mongolian.These groups traditionally wandered the open range on horses. As a result, their traditional foods are what you can cook over an open fire usually boiled or roasted meat, such as lamb kebab.

Our travels then took us to South China, and then onto central China. In each place we went, we experienced wonderful local dishes from Gungdong’s elegant dim sum -small servings of food in bamboo steamers to the exceptional stewed noodles in Henan. Everywhere, The food was as varied as the people. However, one thing is always true: Through food, Chinese people everywhere show friendship and kindness.

At a minimum, the kinds of food local people consume tell us what they grow in their region, what kinds of lives they lead, and what they like and do not like. Could we also say, for example, that those who like bold flavors are bold themselves? Or, that those who like spicy food tend to have a hot temper? Maybe. Maybe not. What we can say, however, is that culture and cuisine go hand in hand, and if you do not experience one, you can never really know the other.

1. 快速阅读文章，分析文章结构，总结文章大意

Part 1 (Para_____)	______________________________
Part 2 (Para_____)	My different experiences with Chinese cuisines.	Experience of Chinese dishes in _____.
		Experience of _____food in Beijing.
		Famous food in _____.
		Famous food in _____.
		Food in __________.
Part 3 (Para_____)	__________and __________go hand in hand.

2. 精读文章，根据所提供的信息，完成下面表格

Place	Kind of Chinese food	Typical dish
America
Beijing
Shandong
Northwest China
South China
Central China

3. 根据文章填写下面导图，介绍不同地区的食物以及文化

________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________________
Conclusion:___________________________________________________________________

6 . 根据课文内容，在空白处填入所缺的单词。
       Now halfway through her exchange year, Xie Lei feels much more at home in the UK.     1     seemed strange before now appears quite normal to her. “    2     in British culture has helped,” she said. “As well as studying hard, I’ve been     3     in social activities. British people are     4     by our culture and eager to learn more about it, so I’m keen to share my culture with them. While I’m learning about business I’m also acting as a     5     messenger building a bridge between us.”

7 . 根据课文内容，在空白处填入所缺的单词。

       However, he never lost his desire to destroy cholera once and for all. In     1    , doctors in those days had two     2     theories to explain how cholera spread. One theory was that bad air caused the disease. Another was that cholera was caused by an     3     from germs in food or water. Snow     4     to the second theory. It was correct, but he still needed     5    .