1 . Edinburgh is the world’s festival city. There are 12 festivals throughout the year, half of which are celebrated during the months of July and August.

Hundreds of thousands of people visit the Scottish capital during the summer.

Here are some of the events:

The Edinburgh International Festival

This is the original Edinburgh festival, which began in 1947. Actors, musicians, dancers and opera singers from all over the world perform to huge audiences. You need tickets for most events which take place in theatres around the city.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe

This is the largest arts festival in the world with thousands of shows taking place across the city. More than 20,000 artists take part, as the festival is open to anyone. Visitors can choose from a huge variety of acts.

Join thousands of visitors and locals at the Royal Mile, Edinburgh’s main street, to watch all kinds of performers and shows.

The Edinburgh International Book Festival

The largest book festival in the world began in 1983 and takes place every year in Charlotte Square Gardens, in the center of Edinburgh. There are more than 700 events for children and adults who love books. You can meet many authors, talk to them, ask them to sign a book or listen to them talk about their stories. Children can listen to stories and watch illustrators (插图作者) draw pictures.

The Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival

Music lovers come to this festival to enjoy music shows around the city. One of the highlights of this musical event is the street carnival (嘉年华), which is free to all. Artists perform street theatre, dance and circus shows in amazing costumes, and everyone can join in the dancing.

Mid-Autumn Festival is a harvest festival     1     (celebrate) in most East Asian countries, such as China and Korea. The festival     2     (take) place on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. In 2021 it’s on September 21th.

It is     3     second most important festival in China after Chinese New Year. To the Chinese, the festival means family reunion and peace. It is also called “the moon festival” as it is celebrated when the moon is believed to be the     4     (big) and fullest.

Chinese people celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival     5     many traditional and meaningful activities, such as eating dinner with family, hanging lanterns, guessing lantern riddles, and worshipping the moon. Since 2008, the festival     6     (be) a 3-day public holiday in mainland China.

New celebrations have developed in recent years. The younger generations prefer     7     (travel), surfing the Internet, and using smart phone apps to celebrate with their families.

Mooncakes are the must-eat Mid-Autumn food in China. They are a kind of traditional Chinese pastry (糕点). Chinese people see in the roundness of mooncakes a symbol of reunion and     8     (happy). Other foods eaten during the festival are harvest foods, such as crabs, pumpkins and grapes. People enjoy them at their freshest and most nutritious.

Festival food traditions are also changing. The younger generations have     9     (they) own ideas about what should be eaten. Most of them don’t like mooncakes, and prefer to eat     10     they like.

5 . Thanksgiving Day is a special holiday in the United States and Canada. Families and friends gather to eat and give thanks for their blessing.

Thanksgiving Day is really a harvest festival. This is why it is celebrated in late fall, after the crops are in. But one of the first thanksgivings in America had nothing to do with a good harvest. On December 4, 1619, the Pilgrims from England landed near what is now Charles City, Virginia. They knelt down and thanked God for their safe journey across the Atlantic.

The first New England Thanksgiving did celebrate a rich harvest. The Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts(清教徒前辈移民), in 1620. They had a difficult time and the first winter was cruel. Many of the Pilgrims died. But the next year, they had a good harvest. So Governor Bradford declared a three-day feast(盛宴). The Pilgrims invited Indian friends to join them for their special feast. Everyone brought food.

In time, other colonies(殖民地)began to celebrate a day of thanksgiving. But it took years before there was a national Thanksgiving Day. During the Civil War, Sarah Josepha Hale persuaded Abraham Lincoln to do something about it. He proclaimed(宣布)the last Thursday of November 1863 as a day of thanksgiving. Today, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving Day in much the same way as their American neighbours. But the Canadian Thanksgiving Day falls on the second Monday in October.

Yokohama Chinatown is the largest among Japan's three Chinatowns,     1     is located in downtown Yokohama. A large number of Chinese stores and restaurants can be found in the narrow and     2    (color) streets of the Chinatown.

From this month, the Yokohama Chinatown Development Association(YCDA) will be busy     3    (start) the "Yokohama Chinatown Tour" all year round. Visitors will find it         4     (extreme) necessary to make use       5    the chance to enjoy lunch while learning Chinese food culture and traditional arts.

The first event with the theme of "Meeting to enjoy Chinese tea"     6    (hold) next week. A Chinese store has been set up     7     (allow) people to first learn about tea ceremony and different     8    (type) of tea, and then enjoy lunch at a Chinese restaurant.

According to the organizers, in September, the theme will be "Mid-Autumn Festival moon cake making experience", when visitors will make moon cakes by     9    (they).

"It will be     10     unforgettable tour to experience traditional Chinese culture. Let's enjoy it together," an official of YCDA said.

Yesterday, I went to an amazing Chinese art festival. There were different stands which artists could present their skills and wonderfully teaching the visitors! It was definite an exciting experience for a foreign student like me. What caught up my attention first in a breathtaking exhibition of Chinese porcelain （瓷器）was a 15th-century qinghua bowl, vividly illustrating（阐明）a dragon played with a ball playing.

Then I tried paper cutting, that is, making images（图像）out of paper. It was difficult, and a lot of fun! Under an artist's help, I managed to make one in shape of a fish. Meanwhile, there was also an old man writing Chinese calligraphy （书法）and his writing was very free and elegant（优雅的）that I was attracted! Then another man sitting next to him shows me how seal cutting worked. He made one for me with my name in Chinese—pretty awesome!

Chrysanthemum（菊花） comes from China and was recorded in some Chinese books as early as the 5th century BC. The flower     1    (introduce) to Japan during the Tang Dynasty. I usually begins to bloom（开花） in the 9th lunar month, lending a festive atmosphere （气氛） to Double Ninth Day. That's why the month is also regarded     2    "the month of chrysanthemum".

The flower has been favored by     3    (poet) through the ages, because it is one of the only flowers that bloom in late autumn. DuFu, a great Tang Dynasty poet, wrote more than ten poems singing the praises of the flower.

Chinese people     4     (be) fond of enjoying chrysanthemum on Double Ninth Day long ago. Chrysanthemum displays were usually held immediately after     5     day in some regions of China in the Qing Dynasty. People in Beijing began to stick chrysanthemums on doors and windows     6     (get) rid of the bad luck and bring in the good ones,     7     was a change of the custom of     8     (wear) chrysanthemum on people's heads. At these displays family members accompany     9     (they) elders to have a relaxing day in a     10     (nature) atmosphere while wishing for good health and happiness for them. The displays are often lively with a sea of visitors.