In modern society, many Chinese traditional festivals are still an important part of Chinese culture, and     1     we must protect them and maintain them.

Some traditional festivals teach us a lot about our nation’s history. For example,     2     the Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated in honour of Qu Yuan. By celebrating the festival with rice dumplings and dragon boat races, the story of Qu Yuan is passed down from generation to generation.

Moreover,     3    传统节日使我们更多了解中国人的价值观. Festivals, such as the Mid-Autumn Festival, have a caring, family-centre d message at their heart.     4     The full moon on the festival is considered to stand for family togetherness.

Finally, traditional festivals are a source of national pride and help shape our national identity. For example,     5     我们有腊八节 with unique customs, and these shared experiences bring us together as a people. Traditional festivals tell us who we are and fill us with pride in being Chinese.

Yours faithfully,

Li Hua

6 . You may have heard of the word “pub”. It is short for public house. There are around 60,000 pubs in the U.K. One of the oldest pubs, Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, is located in a building that dates back to the eleventh century.

    1     People talk, eat, drink, meet their friends and relax there. Pubs often have two bars, one usually quieter than the other, and many have a garden where people can sit in summer. Children can go into pub gardens with their parents.

Groups of friends normally buy “rounds” of drinks.     2     It is sometimes difficult to get served when pubs are busy: The bar staff will usually serve those who have been waiting the longest at the bar first.

Most pubs offer a complete range of beers, local and imported, with German, Belgian and French beers being in demand.     3     As a matter of fact, pubs sell soft drinks, too.

The legal age to purchase alcohol is 18 in the UK. People aged 16 and 17, with the license’s permission, may have only one glass of wine during a meal.     4     It is illegal to sell alcohol to someone who already appears drunk. A fourteen-year-old may enter a pub unaccompanied by an adult if he orders a meal. Children may enter a pub with their parents until 9 p.m., which lets families enjoy reasonably priced pub meals together.     5     Customs in British pubs differ from those in American bars. In most pubs in the U.K., you must go to the bar to order drinks and food and pay for your purchases immediately.

Yingge Dance, a traditional folk art combining dancing, Chinese martial arts, and Chinese opera, is popular in the Chaoshan area of Guangdong province in South China. Yingge,     1    (write) with the characters for “hero” and “song”, means heroic song in Chinese and Yingge dancers, as their name implies, are the avatars (化身) of     2     (hero). The dancers each hold a pair of short sticks and strike the sticks with force     3     (create) strong beats — an artistic display of masculinity (男子气概). In 2006, the Puning Yingge Dance     4     (list) among the first national intangible cultural heritages in China.

However, just as young people move out of the villages, so are local folk arts     5    (gradual) disappearing all around China. In Puning, Yingge is still danced during holidays such as the Lunar New Year and     6     (it) performers are generally amateurs—farmers     7     have put down their tools and put on costumes. Some of the parts are passed     8     in the family, from father to son, and so far some villages have started giving performers a basic salary.

Dressed in colorful clothes and     9     (wear) heavy makeup, ordinary villagers have created a song of cultural confidence. The performance,     10     must-watch for the local people, graces the village square one more time.

8 . 24 Solar Terms: 4 things you should know about Grain Buds

The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms, which reflect changes in weather, scenery, and even people’s lives. In China, the 24 solar terms were created thousands of years ago to guide agricultural production.     1     Grain Buds (小满), the 8th solar term of a year, begins on May 21 this year, and ends on June 6. Next, let’s see what we can do during the “Grain Buds” period today.

A good season for eating fish

During the Grain Buds period, the summer harvest is about to begin. A saying about rain during this time mentions, “A heavy rainfall makes the river full.” Because of the great increase in rainfall, rivers are full of water, which gives rise to great tasting fish and shrimp. This is a good time to enjoy them.     2    

Eating herb of common sow thistle

Grain Buds is a season for eating the herb of the common sow thistle (苦菜), which tastes a little bitter and sour, but also sweet. It has the function of cooling the blood and detoxifying (解毒) the body. It can be made into different types of dishes.     3     People in some other places boil the herb with water and then squeeze out the juice, which can be used to make soup.

Tips on health preserving in Grain Buds

    4     The increase in temperature over this season may also give rise to all sorts of skin diseases. It is also important to exercise to keep healthy during the hot summer days. Walking, jogging and practicing tai chi are popular.

Key period for flower management

This time is a good period of the quick growth of flowers. It is also a season when plant diseases and pests are at an all-time high, which makes caring for your garden even more critical.    5     Also, a systematic water system should be carried out.

The       1     (tradition) Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms (节气).Start of Autumn (立秋)，the 13th solar term of the year, begins this year on Aug7^th and ends on Aug 22nd. Start of Autumn     2     (reflect) the end of summer and the     3     (begin) of autumn. In China, the 24 solar terms were created     4     (thousand) of years ago to guide agricultural production. And solar term culture is still useful today to guide people’s lives.

Although Start of Autumn indicates (表明) the start of autumn, hot weather will not come to     5     end. The period of hot days after Start of Autumn     6     (call) “Autumn Tiger”. Start of Autumn is a big solar term for farmers. It is time     7     (gather) crops. There is a saying. “     8     it rains on the day of the Start of Autumn, a good harvest is expected.”

In Shandong province, people make dumplings during the Start of Autumn. On the day of Start of Autumn, senior members will stand in the middle of the hall     9     pray (祈祷) with family for the harvest     10     autumn. Most of the families will, eat dumplings together on Start of Autumn day.

10 . The Chongyang Festival is a traditional Chinese festival. It is celebrated ________ the ninth day of the ninth lunar month (阴历). It’s also ________ the Double Ninth Festival.

The festival started as early as the Warring States Period. It has a ________ of more than 1,700 years. Among the numbers from zero to nine, ________ is the highest odd number (奇数). People believe that two “ninths” meeting together stand for a ________ life. So it is a special holiday for Chinese people to ________ love and respect (尊重) for their elders. They hold many kinds of activities in ________ of old people to wish them good health and a long life.

The festival comes during the golden time of ________. On the day, people traditionally drink chrysanthemum (菊花) wine, eat Double-Ninth Cakes and ________ mountains. They also carry a kind of plant, dogwood (茱萸). People in ancient times believed that the plant could drive away evil (邪恶的) spirits and ________ them from catching an illness in winter.