3 . For many people, Christmas can be a magical day filled with delight. But for those down on their luck or disadvantaged, it can be a time of sorrow and disappointment. That's why the countries of the British Commonwealth have set aside the day after Christmas as Boxing Day, and its purpose was to bring a bit of magic to those who could use it. So what is Boxing Day all about apart from being the day after a Christmas and a time when many of us flock to the sales?

Every December 26, going at least as far back as 1833, the United Kingdom and other countries that are part of the British Commonwealth—including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and India—have observed Boxing Day as an opportunity to provide some holiday joy to those who most need it.

There are competing stories behind the name Boxing Day. One is that it refers to the giving of “Christmas boxes,” a term that originated in the 17th century to describe gifts, money and other leftovers from Christmas that would be given to their servants and employees for having worked on Christmas Day. Basically, Christmas Boxes were holiday bonuses for the working class. The other is that it refers to the “alms boxes” that would traditionally appear in churches for the purpose of collecting money which would be distributed to the poor. The name is a reference to charity donations

The day is still a national holiday in many parts of the British Commonwealth, and while some people still give back to the less fortunate on Boxing Day, it now has the same meaning with spending up big at a department store.

This year, on December 26, consider observing your own charitable Boxing Day Extend longstanding traditions of giving. To borrow from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, your heart just may grow three sizes… instead of your wallet shrinking three sizes!

4 . Created in the 1920s by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect who designed Waterloo Bridges, the red public telephone boxes, which can be seen all over the UK, are regarded as one of the most typical symbols of this country.

However, pubic phones have had their day despite their lovely housings. While coin-operated and card-operated telephones are on the edge of extinction, mobile phones are playing a significant role in people's lives. Though they are more portable, flexible and extensively used, mobile phones have their kryptonite: battery life. Instead of trashing the phone booths, a project was then promoted to recycle and reuse them. To be consistent with the environment-friendly preference, people are allowed o rent and repurpose the red phone boxes. In this way, they are making an unusual comeback.

When you take a walk down Tottenham Court Road in London and find your mobile phone in a low-battery condition, there happens to be a green option for you. The abandoned phone booths are being repurposed as free charging stations powered by solar energy.

Inside the booths, which are newly painted green, there are various adaptors that can be connected to different brands and models of mobile phones. Just walk in, plug your phone in, and charge it up whenever it needs to be supplied with power. Most people would stay inside the boxes while they charge. Fully aware of this when launching the project. Solarbox can now reach a large quantity of audience by displaying ads on solid equipment. Its advertisers include well-known companies like Uber. Yet 30% of advertising space is reserved for local community projects.

Apart from transforming phone booths into solar-powered charging stations, other forms of transformation can be found in and outside the UK. For example, there is medical equipment or mini-libraries adapted from phone booths, while in America, thousands of phone booths have been transformed into wi-fi hot spots.

In Asia, especially the so-called “rice bowl” cultures of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, food is usually eaten with    1    (chopstick).

Chopsticks are usually two long, thin pieces of wood or bamboo. They can also    2     (make) of plastic or mental. Sometimes chopsticks are quite artistic.    3    (true) elegant chopsticks might be with Chinese characters. Skilled workers also combine various hardwoods    4    metal to create special designs.

Five thousand years ago, Chinese people probably cooked their food in large pots,    5    (use) branches to remove it. Food in small pieces could be eaten easily with branches     6    gradually turned into chopsticks.

Some people think that the great Chinese scholar Confucius, who lived     7    551 to 479 BC, influenced the     8    (develop) of chopsticks. Confucius believed knives would remind people of killings and     9    (be) too violent for use at the table.

Chopsticks are not used everywhere in Asia. In India, most people traditionally eat     10    their hands.

7 . London is a real treat for museum lovers and museums are a popular destination among London's many attractions. Below is a list of London's top museums.

London Transport Museum

Travel through the museum, which hosts exhibitions （展品展示）about transport with the social and cultural history of London. Inside, you'll find more than 80 vehicles covering 200 years of London's history, including a red Routemaster bus and the world's first underground steam train. There are great posters and artworks too!

Price: Adult ticket: £18.50 per ticket, child ticket: Free. Save £1.50 when purchasing tickets online in advance.

Opening time: 10:00 -18:00 daily.

British Museum

Spend hours wandering the world-famous British Museum, which exhibits the works of man from prehistoric to modern times, collected from around the world. Don't miss the Rosetta Stone and the mummies in the Ancient Egypt collection.

Price: Free. A donation of £5 is recommended. Entrance fee for special exhibitions and some events.

Opening time: 10:00 - 17:30 daily. Open late on Fridays until 20:00.

Natural History Museum

As well as the dinosaur exhibition, the Natural History Museum keeps a collection of the biggest, tallest and rarest animals in the world. See a life-sized blue whale and a 40-million-year-old spider.

Price: Free. Entrance fee for some of the special exhibitions and events.

Opening time: 10:00 - 17:50 daily. Open late on the last Friday of each month. Closed 24 - 26 December.

The Design Museum

The Design Museum is the world's leading museum devoted to contemporary design in every form. Check out the regular exhibitions showcasing the rich creativity found in all forms of design, and its importance to our world.

Price: Adult ticket: £10.00, child ticket: £5.00 （children under 6 go free）.

Opening time: 10:00 - 18:00. Open except Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

8 . Hand gestures can be used to communicate while speaking. There are many universal hand signs; such as holding up an index finger to speak or interrupt, putting a finger to the lips to ask for silence.     1    . But there are some hand gestures that might mean something different in another country.

Many differences.

    2    . This gesture consists of creating a circle with the thumb and index finger with other fingers extended. In most of the English-speaking cultures, it means ‘ok’. In Australia it means ‘zero’ while in many Western countries it actually means ‘three’ and in China it is a way to indicate ‘seven’.

Gestures with variation.

This sign has the index and middle finger extend up to make a ‘V’. But there is a big difference in its meaning depending on which way the palm is facing. Palm Facing Out:     3     Palm Facing In: The sign is an insult similar to giving the middle finger, particularly in the UK and South Africa.

Harmless or offensive?

In the USA, the gesture of using your index finger to beckon someone to come to you is not a welcome gesture in Asia. In the Philippines, this should only be used to beckon dogs.     4    .

    5    

Of course it helps to prepare before you visit a country. But if you forget or make a sign out of habit, just remember to smile and apologize. And perhaps with an explanation, most people will be understanding.

9 . The United Nations Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, meets each year to choose the latest additions to its World Heritage list. Today, we look at some of the recent additions:

Churches of the Pskov School of Architecture (Russia)

A group of ancient structures in the city of Pskov make up Russia’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site. The structures, many of which are churches, all were designed by the Pskov School Architecture. It was a leading school of building design in the country, especially in the 15th and 16th centuries. Some elements common to Pskov architecture date back to the 11th century.

Writing-on-Stone (Canada)

Canada’s Writing-on-Stone monument, known also as Aisinai’ pi, has a large number of protected rock paintings and rock carvings. Some of them are 2,000 years old. The markings were left by Blackfoot Native Americans, who live in parts of Western Canada and the far northern United States. The land that makes up writing-on-Stone is filled with rock columns that have been formed by erosion (侵蚀) into “spectacular shapes”.

Babylon (Iraq)

The ancient city of Babylon is gaining World Heritage Site status. The city was once a main tourist site before Iraq suffered several wars. The 4, 300-year-old Babylon is where dynasties have risen and fallen since the earliest days of settled human civilization UNESCO says the site “offers a look into one of the most influential empires of the ancient world”.

Paraty and IIha Grande (Brazil)

The historic coastal town of Paraty and the island IIha Grande are already popular places for visitors to Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state. Now, they make up a newly named UNESCO site. Paraty was the final stop along the gold Route, along which gold was shipped to Europe in the 1600s. The area is also home to a huge number of animals some of which are threatened.