March has barely turned the mountains of the Qinling Range green, but Tianshui,     1     small city at the foot of the Qinling Range has already exploded in popularity for its spicy hot pot, or malatang. In recent days, Tianshui has welcomed approximately 40,000 visitors daily.

The     2    (explode)in popularity of the local spicy hot pot in Gansu is closely associated     3     the local eating habits. The local northwestern Chinese cuisine primarily     4    (consist)of boiled beef and mutton, as green leafy vegetables are hardly found in Gansu or its cuisine. In places like the Hexi Corridor, if one attempts     5    (find)leafy greens, the best option would be to visit a Sichuan restaurant.

However, the local spicy hot pot restaurants also provide diners with     6    (variety)vegetables to choose from. In places like Tianshui,     7     cuisine has been influenced by Sichuan and Chongqing traditions, the hot pot’s flavor     8    (enrich)using bean sauce and Sichuan peppercorns, adding a spicy fragrance(香味)to both meat and vegetables.

The history of Gansu’s spicy hot pot is     9    (relative)short. In the 1980s and 1990s, it was merely known as spicy noodles, later     10    (develop)to achieve its present form.

It is universally acknowledged that China has a long history of drinking tea. Tea     1     (create) in China about 5,000 years ago. Nowadays,     2     wide variety of tea trees are grown throughout China. China has been producing different types of tea, such as green tea, black tea, white tea, yellow tea, and herbal tea, and exporting tea to every part of the world.

Green tea is the     3     (old) type of tea in China, and it is also produced there in the greatest quantities. Many provinces and cities are renowned for their production of green tea, the most renowned provinces     4     (be) Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Anhui.

Green tea is also one of the most popular types, and its     5     (popular) has only grown in recent years.     6     addition to its unique flavor, it provides a caffeine boost that’s perfect for people     7     need some help in the energy department but aim to either reduce their coffee intake     8     stay away from it altogether.

There is no “best” or “worst” time to drink green tea for most people. It mostly comes down to personal preference. But, if you are     9     (sense) to caffeine, you might consider drinking your green tea earlier in the day     10     (avoid) potential interrupted sleep.

As Chinese traditions go, few things are     1     (good) than sitting around a steaming hotpot in winter of northern China. Archaeological studies support the claim that Kublai Khan, the     2     (found) of the Yuan Dynasty, invented mutton hotpot. For a long time, only the upper classes could get their hands on mutton hotpot. It was also     3     (extraordinary) popular among many royal families of the Qing Dynasty. And according to the record, Emperor Qianlong was a true hotpot lover.

Among vegetables and meat spread out on the dinner table, mutton has been placed in the center. Many diners believe mutton has the medical effect of warming the body,     4     (make) it an ideal food for the colder months. Many folk customs favor mutton over beef in part because in the past, cattle     5     (consider) much more important as a means     6     production.

Traditional Beijing instant boiled mutton,     7     many southerners think tasteless, is known for its simplicity. It has no mouthwatering hotpot soup base, just plain water with some scallion and ginger (葱和姜) slices     8     (add). Thus, the quality of the mutton plays a major role in the hotpot experience.

Nowadays, mutton hotpot has become one of     9     favorite cuisines of the Chinese, with     10     (technology) development in mutton production allowing for year-round supplies of fresh meat across the country.

As families prepare for the Spring Festival, no Chinese New Year celebration is complete without mandarin oranges.

The     1    (popular) of the fruits during the festive season has a long history. During the Qing Dynasty, Chinese parents would place fruits like oranges, lychees beside the pillows (枕头) of their children, as well     2     red envelopes containing money under the pillows,     3    (keep) away mythical monsters (神话中的怪物). The children would then eat the fruits on     4    (wake) up the next morning.

There are     5    (variety) explanations for why oranges have come to be considered     6     lucky symbol — a major part of which comes from the pronunciation. Some say the Mandarin pronunciation of the fruit (ju)     7    (sound) like the word for “good luck”(ji).

Apart from its lucky name, oranges are valued for their reddish-gold color and round shape,     8     are believed to bring good fortune. They’ve inspired Chinese art for     9    (century). An ancient poem called Ju Song     10    (create) by poet Qu Yuan from the Periodof Warring States, using the fruit and tree as a metaphor (比喻); a letter from Wang Xizhi, a renowned calligrapher from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, included a gift of oranges and remained famous after almost two thousand years.

When I was a little boy, the dinner on the eve of the Spring Festival was    1    I looked forward to most. It was not only for the delicious food that we seldom got to eat, but also an opportunity to have the family gathered together. I would run     2     (happy) with my sister in the house, while my mom was preparing food in the kitchen. She would put some tokens in some dumplings; candies for a sweet life, and peanuts for a long and healthy     3    . In the evening, we would sit around the table, toasted each other and enjoyed the homemade dishes, which tasted much better than anything     4     (cook) in the restaurant.

However, for the last three years, we     5     (eat) out for the Spring Festival family dinner, and we have enjoyed it no less than eating at home.    6     I don’t understand why some people refuse this change. Can’t they admit that the     7     (prepare) for a dinner is hard work? It is not worth the effort of spending so much time cooking a single meal. We work all year, so why can’t one day be about spending time with family and     8     (relax). Eating out is a good choice and it has nothing to do     9     loss of traditions. We still have the dinner with the same people, just in a different place. The occasion is more     10    (enjoy) without that tiring cooking.