1 . Food festivals are a common occurrence in the UK and take place in all sorts of places and at all sorts of times. Whatever your taste, there’s a food festival to match — no matter how specialized.

1. Meatopia

This three-day, London-based festival takes place at the end of August and is a meat lover’s paradise. In addition to a range of legally sourced meat products, from juicy burgers to tender steaks, attendees can listen to live music, watch butchery demonstrations, and attend informal meat-based workshops.

2. The National Honey Show

If you have a sweet tooth, then it could be that the National Honey Show, which started in 1921 and is the largest event of its kind, is the place for you to be. This three-day event attracts many local entries who showcase their sweet golden honey, some of which is sold globally.

3. The Orange Sauce Festival

Have you heard about a festival that is devoted only to orange sauce? Held in Cumbria, this sweet, fragrant festival has been running for 3 years. What attracts people most is a competition to find the best homemade orange sauce. There are thousands of participants from over 30 different countries across the globe, bringing their local snacks to share here.

4. The Ginger and Spice Festival

If you’d prefer something with a little more kick to it, then you could attend The Ginger (姜) and Spice Festival held in Market Drayton. Unlike other food festivals, it celebrates its town’s historic connection to Robert Clive, who returned from India with ginger. Because of this, they specialize in baking gingerbread, but also sell a range of traditional spices from mild to hot.

Yours,

Li Hua

Each summer, this influential dance center presents a number of classes and performances by more than 50 companies from around the world. Highlights (最精彩的部分) this season include the Dance Theater of Harlem’s production of Alvin Ailey’s “The Lark Ascending”, which opens the festival.

Many events are free. Ticketed performances start at $22. jacobspillow.org.

This area is better known for mountain biking than for music. But since 1992, it has hosted a private festival that brings classical, jazz, Latin and other types of music to the land. This year there will be 16 concerts, including three “Grotto Concerts”, where guests take a 45-minute boat ride down the Colorado River to performances.

Events start at $25. moabmusicfest.org.

There’s something for everyone at this 117-year-old festival, from an “Indian village” and Old West museum to country concerts. But the competition is still the main attraction, with cowboys and cowgirls competing for major money in the world’s largest outdoor stage.

Competition tickets start at $18, and concert tickets at $23. cfdrodeo.com.

Each summer, opera lovers from around the country (and the world) travel to upstate New York to watch productions that include stars like Nathan Gunn and Ginger Costa-Jackson. This year’s performances include Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman” and Verdi’s “King for a Day”, in honor of the 200^th birthdays of both composers (作曲家).

Tickets start at $26. glimmerglass.org.

7 . The Arising of Celebrating Foreign Festivals

Nowadays, people in China are increasingly interested in celebrating foreign festivals, especially those western festivals.

A survey conducted recently by sina.com showed that among the 18,222 people surveyed 63.90% said celebrating Christmas is just another way of recreation (娱乐), nothing serious, while 17.85% surveyed considered the festival as a fashion act, showing they were not "out". These two parts clearly indicate the general opinion of the young. 10.45% people involved said the celebration of a religious western festival with so much enthusiasm is absolutely ridiculous (荒谬的) pursuit (追求)of foreign goodness. Only 7.80%of the people define Christmas as a kind of festival colonization(殖民).

The arising of celebrating foreign festivals clearly has something to do with the advancement of China's economy. In my point of view, Christmas and other festivals celebrated in China have difference from the origin. They have lost their religious background and tumed into a big occasion to have fun and enjoy life. Shop owners' pockets are filled, the public's hunger for happiness is filled, and that is enough. Foreign festivals in China are more like carnivals giving people pleasure and enjoyment.

The crisis (危机)of traditional Chinese festivals that are losing their attraction may be linked to the culture tradition and background of the festivals. Most Chinese festival culture is related more or less to real life. "The country is based on its people while the people are relied on their food".

But the western culture shows much of romance. Some festivals have their religious background while others have much to do with culture and people. At this point, food seems to be too plain. Flowers and chocolates are more welcomed.

Foreign festivals in China today are celebrated for fun. They give people opportunities to relax and celebrate, to show appreciation and gratefulness. The acceptance of foreign festivals generally depends on the openness of the public, the familiarity with the western culture, and most importantly, on people's economic status(地位).

9 . More than 10 million Chinese cultural relics have been lost overseas, lots of which were stolen and illegally shipped out of China during the times of war before 1949. About 1.67 million pieces are housed in no more than 200 museums in 47 countries, which accounts for 10 percent of all lost Chinese cultural relics, and the rest are in the hands of private collectors.

Most of these treasures are owned by museums or private collectors in the United States, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asian countries. There are more than 23,000 pieces in the British Museum, most of which were stolen or bought for pennies more than 100 years ago.

The major method to recover these national treasures was to buy them back. In some cases, private collectors donated the relics to the government. Also, the government can turn to official channels to demand the return of relics.

In 2003, a priceless bronze pig’s head dating from the Qing Dynasty was returned to its home in Beijing after it was removed by the Anglo-French Allied Army over 140 years ago. Macao entrepreneur Stanley Ho donated 6 million yuan to buy it back from a US art collector and then donated it to the Poly Art Museum in Beijing.

Although buying-back is the most feasible way to recover the lost treasures, limited funding is always a big headache.

In recent years, the Chinese government has improved efforts to recover the precious cultural relics lost overseas. It has started a national project on the recovery of the treasures and has set up a database (数据库) collecting relevant information. It has signed several international agreements with many countries on this matter, and is also looking for international cooperation to recover the relics by working closely with several international organizations.

David was one of     1     most helpful students that we ever had. In 2004, he went to university in London and became interested in Chinese culture.

After his     2     (graduate) from university, he went to China to study Chinese at Beijing Language and Culture University. Two years later, he was able to speak Chinese     3     (fluent) and achieved high grades in all subjects.     4     (finish) his studies, he started travelling in China. Some of the cities in China he likes most     5     (be) Beijing, Shanghai, Harbin and Nanjing. In China he develops an interest in teaching English to Chinese students. Most of the students whom he taught       6     (become) his friends ever since.

When he returned to Britain two months ago, he brought back from China many     7     (interest) books, dictionaries, paintings and photos     8     (spread) Chinese culture. He donated (捐赠) most of them to our school library. Some of the books were gifts     9     he got from his Chinese friends and students. The paintings that David donated to the school are being shown in the exhibition room. Teachers and students at our school wish to thank David     10     his kindness.