One of the largest research libraries in the world, the British Library houses more than 170 million items. The library usually selects works based on     1     (they) popularity or by considering an item’s value.

Recently, 16 Chinese online novels have been added to the     2     (collect) of the British Library, including Great Power, Heavy Industry, Good Spring Time,     3     The Wisdom of Great Song Dynasty.

    4     (cover) themes of science fiction, history, reality and fantasy, these works are considered the classics of Chinese online literature from the past 20 years. Readers can check the information about the 16 books on the library’s website, and borrow     5     (print) copies.

Good Spring Time     6     (focus) on Chinese porcelain culture, conveying a spirit that encourages people to fight against fate, and pictures women’s independence, as well as the love and care among family members.

Readers can see     7     splendid and elegant China through the tradition, struggles and beauty described in the novel.

Great Power, Heavy Industry tells of how China’s manufacturing industries have rapidly grown     8     (strong) in recent decades, and foreign readers can learn about the Chinese system and culture behind the country’s swift     9     (economy) development. The author,     10     online pen name is Qicheng, said I hope through this novel, overseas readers can experience the charm of Chinese culture.

Yours,

Li Hua

4 . Where to Eat on Christmas Day in London?

Bob Bob Ricard

The best choice for smaller child-free parties—or pairs—that think of Christmas as an excuse to enjoy distinctly adult treats, let’s say: caviar, oysters, steak, followed by cheese and fries, all washed down with wine (ordered by pressing a button, obviously).

Location: 1 Upper James St, Soho, London W1F 9DF, UK

Contact: 020 3145 1000

Min Jiang Restaurant

If a typical modern Chinese banquet (宴会) is required to refresh the family’s Christmas spirit, book a table atop the Royal Garden Hotel and look out over Hyde Park while sharing a feast that includes traditional Chinese dishes. Since it’s Christmas, it’s probably worth going all out by pre ordering a whole or hall Beijing (Peking) duck, too.

Location: 2-24 Kensington High St, Kensington, London W8 4PT, UK

Contact: 020 7361 1988

The Alexandra

A special case: The Alexandra in Wimbledon offers a wonderful Christmas dinner to anyone spending Christmas Day alone, no charge under whatever circumstances. It is a place of spirit, refuge, and generosity.

Location: 33 Wimbledon Hill Rd, Wimbledon. London SW19 7NE, UK

Contact: 020 8947 7691

The Pem

Sally Abé’s newest restaurant is serving up a classic three courses in Westminster, for £130 a head (children under six, free if accompanied by adults). Guests can choose between smoked sea fish and crab mousse or a special ham for a starter, with bee Wellington or a plate of goose coming as main dishes, followed by Christmas pudding and ice scream. We offer a 10% discount if the total cost is over £500.

Location: 22-28 Broadway, London SW1H 0BH, UK

Contact: 020 3301 8080

5 . Around 250 students from 23 countries at East China Normal University, who are staying in Shanghai during the winter Vacation, celebrated this year’s Spring Festival ahead of time on its campus.

Many wore traditional Chinese clothes, and tried writing Chinese calligraphy (书法) and Spring Festival couplets, a pair of poetry lines pasted (粘贴)on both sides of a front door and a four-character horizontal scroll (横幅)pasted above, to express happiness and wishes for a better life in the coming year.

Some learned to make Chinese dumplings, a traditional Spring Festival food.

Nilab Oppal from Uzbekistan said she loved Chinese calligraphy as a way of learning Chinese and relaxing. She had learned calligraphy for six months, but had little time to practice because of her busy study schedule. “I’m glad to have the chance to write calligraphy here today,” she said.

Zain ul Abdin from Pakistan spent almost the whole afternoon writing calligraphy and finished his first Spring Festival couplets. He said he would like to paste them on the door his dorm (宿舍)room to add some Spring Festival atmosphere.

In the evening, teachers had dinner with them and gave them hongbao, the red envelopes with money that families give to children and old people on Chinese New Year’s Eve.

“It’s my first time to get a hongbao.” said Nurriia Sulaiman Kvzy, a Kvreyzstan student majoring in teaching Chinese as a second language. “It’s only 10 yuan, but I’m very glad to experience Chinese culture. It will be helpful for me to teach Chinese language and culture to my students in the future.”

She said it was the fourth year she had spent the winter vacation and celebrated the festival at the university, in Shanghai.

“The Chinese New Year is very interesting; everything is in red and people all go back home to celebrate it together. I’m looking forward to a chance to spend some days in a Chinese family to see how they celebrate the festival,” she said.

9 . There are many interesting festivals in the world. Some look really strange, but they have special meanings in their culture. Here are several strange festivals in the world.

Holi Festival

Holi is a festival held in India for 16 days in the spring season. In this festival, people in colorful clothes go outside at night to throw colors on each other happily. The story behind this festival is that the god Krishna got jealous(妒忌的) of his wife’s white skin so he went to his mother crying about his dark skin. His mother advised him to color his wife’s face the color he wanted.

Magpie Festival

On the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, Chinese people celebrate an occasion that look like western Valentine’s Day. In this festival, girls who don’t marry pray to have good husbands They also embroider(刺绣) a piece of cloth show their skills because they think it is the most important skill a wife should have.

Day of Death

Day of Death is a festival held in Mexico on the second of November. This day is meant to remember dead family. Homes and streets are decorated in bright colors. People who are dressed in skeletons(骷髅) decorated with flowers and different colors go to visit the graves, dancing and singing here. The festival goes back to American Indians who were keeping their family’s skeletons to honor their memory.

Day of Silence

Day of Silence is the Indonesian new year, and this day is quite important in Indonesia. What features this festival is its unique activities. Everyone keeps silent. People don’t use cars. They don’t go to work and they stop doing anything joyful.

There is no question that afternoon tea is popular in Britain. And it has     1     (certain) changed a lot over the last two hundred years. These days afternoon tea     2     (enjoy) by many, but most of all it’s a way for chefs (厨师) to express their creativity and add some new     3     (change) to the British tradition.

The custom of afternoon tea     4     (begin) with Anna Maria, the 7th Duchess of Bedford around 1840. At the time,     5     was usual for people to take only two main meals a day: breakfast and dinner (around 8 pm) and Maria is said to have complained (抱怨) of     6     (get) hungry during the late afternoon. So, the solution for the Duchess was a pot of tea and a light snack taken privately in her bedroom during the afternoon. She then started to invite friends     7     (join) her in her rooms at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire and the tradition became popular within fashionable society.

Basic afternoon tea includes finger sandwiches, scones (司康饼) and cakes on a plate, all washed down by a pot of tea set in either a lovely garden     8     a good hotel. But nowadays, it has become     9     artistic experience.

“In recent years, we have seen chefs getting more adventurous with their afternoon tea menus. Most still stick to the     10     (tradition) afternoon tea of sandwiches, scones and cakes but let their cooking skills go to town with delicious new sandwich fillings and flavoured (有添加味道的) breads,” said Afternoon Tea. co.uk managing director Keith Newton.