A Cross-Country Running Race

2 . There is more of a connection between food and culture than you may think. On an individual level, we grow up eating the food of our culture. It becomes a part of who we are. Many associate food from our childhood with warm feelings and good memories and it ties us to our families, holding a special and personal value for us. Food from our family often becomes the comfort food we seek as adults in times of frustration and stress.

On a large scale, traditional food is an important part of culture. It also operates as an expression of culture identity. Immigrants bring it wherever they go, and it is a symbol of pride in their culture and means of coping with homesickness.

Many immigrants open their own restaurants and serve traditional dishes. However, the food does not remain exactly the same. Some materials needed to make traditional dishes may not be readily available, so the taste and flavor can be different from what they would prepare in their home countries. Additionally, immigrants do not only sell dishes to people from the same countries as them, but to people from different countries. Therefore, they have to make small changes in the original dishes to cater to a wider range of customers. Those changes can create new flavors that still keep the cultural significance of the dishes.

We should embrace our heritage through our traditional food but also become more informed about other cultures by trying their food. It is important to remember that each dish has a special place in the culture to which it belongs, and is special to those who prepare it. Food is a window into culture, and it should be treated as such.

Yours,

Li Hua

A scavenger(拾荒者) in Foshan city, Guangdong province, found a     1     (lose)wallet and returned it with a thoughtful note.

His good deed was pictured Sept. 11 on a video, in     2     the scavenger can be seen collecting waste paper with two woven bags at a wholesale market in the city. He spotted a wallet nearby, picked it     3     and waited around. But the owner didn’t show up. So, while     4     (carry) two bags of waste, he walked 1. 5 kilometers to the local police station and     5     (leave)the wallet with a note to the security guard.

According to the note     6     (show) in the video, inside the wallet was 1, 305 yuan, eight bank cards,       7     ID card and a driver’s license. “I reported it to the security guard of the market, and asked     8     I could find the owner through broadcasting. But there     9     (be)a broadcast service in the market. So I must trouble you to help find the owner. Thank you,” the note read.

Thanks to this man, local police     10     (quick)found the owner and returned the wallet to him.

7 . Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were two young men from Germany who loved a good story. As university students, they became interested in folktales-traditional stories that people memorized and told again and again. They began to collect traditional folktales from storytellers a over Germany in order to record old German poems and to preserve history. Many were similar to stories told in France, Italy, Japan, and other countries. Between 1812 and 1814, the brothers published two books in German. The collections became known in English as Grimm’s Fairy Tales. It includes some 200 stories, most of which were adopted from oral sources. The best-known tales include “Snow White,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” and “Sleeping Beauty”.

The Grimm brothers’ tales reflected traditional life and beliefs. For example, forests are common in Germany, and this image often appears in the Grimms’ stories. In the past, many people believed forests were dangerous places. In the Grimms’ stories, a forest is the home of evil witches (女巫), talking animals, and other magical beings.

Although most people today think of these stories as fairy tales for children, the brothers first wrote them mainly for adults. Many of their early tales were dark and a little scary. Later, the brothers changed the text of some of the original stories. They “softened” many of the tales and added drawings. Ims made them more appropriate for children. Like the early tales, though, each story still has a moral (道德准则): work hard, be good, and listen to your parents.

The Grimms believed that the most natural and pure forms of culture were based in language and history. Their work influenced other collectors, both inspiring them to collect tales and leading them to similarly believe that the fairy tales of a country were particularly typical of it.

10 . One might expect that the ever-growing demands of the tourist trade would bring nothing but good for the countries that receive the holiday-makers. Indeed, a rosy picture is painted for the long-term future of the holiday industry. Every month sees the building of a new hotel somewhere. And every month another rock-bound Pacific island is advertised as the last paradise (天堂) on earth.

However, the scale and speed of this growth seem set to destroy the very things tourists want to enjoy. In those countries where there was a rush to make quick money out of sea-side holidays, over-crowded beaches and the concrete jungles of endless hotels have begun to lose their appeal.

Those countries with little experience of tourism can suffer most. In recent years, Nepal set out to attract foreign visitors to fund developments in health and education. Its forests, full of wildlife, and rare flowers, were offered to tourists as one more untouched paradise. In fact, the nature all too soon felt the effects of thousands of holiday-makers traveling through the forest land. Ancient tracks became major routes for the walkers, with the consequent exploitation (开采) of precious trees and plants.

Not only can the environment of a country suffer from the sudden growth of tourism. The people as well rapidly feel its effects. Farmland makes way for hotels, roads and airports; the old way of life goes. The one-time farmer is now the servant of some multi-national organization; he is no longer his own master. Once it was his back that bore the pain; now it is his smile that is exploited. No doubt he wonders whether he wasn't happier in his village working his own land.

Thankfully, the tourist industry is waking up to the responsibilities it has towards those countries that receive its customers. The protection of wildlife and the creation of national parks go hand in hand with tourist development and in fact obtain financial support from tourist companies. At the same time, tourists are being encouraged to respect not only the countryside they visit but also its people.

The way tourism is handled in the next ten years will decide its fate and that of the countries we all want to visit. Their needs and problems are more important than those of the tourist companies. Increased understanding in planning world-wide tourism can preserve the market for these companies. If not, in a few years' time the very things that attract tourists now may well have been destroyed.