1 . As the weather turns warmer and air becomes ________ , it is recommended that people eat fresh vegetables and juicy fruits to keep ________ hydrated (使吸人水分). Bamboo shoots are among the best foods for this season. Bamboo shoots, a root vegetable with few calories but lots of fiber, are________ harvested and eaten in Zhejiang and Sichuan provinces ________ the climate is ideal for bamboo growth. There are many ways ________spring bamboo shoots, from nutritious soups to fun snacks. Now, we’ll take a look at some crowd-pleasing bamboo shoot dishes.

Dishes with bamboo shoots are enjoyed in almost every household in eastern China in springtime. An all-time favorite dish and symbol of springtime in Zhejiang is Yan Du Xian, a delicious soup ________with fresh spring bamboo shoots, cured pork and fresh pork. In Shanghai, there’s also a famous snack known ________ Xiasha Shaomai, a steamed dumpling from Nanhui in the Pudong New Area. ________use spring bamboo shoots and fresh pork as fillings of it. In the Tianmu Mountain region, there’s ________ appealing local dish called hand-peeled bamboo shoots, which are cooked in salty water and then cooled and packaged as a snack. The hand-peeled bamboo shoots________ as cold appetizers, which are fun to eat.

People will connect to their cultural group through similar food patterns. Immigrants often use food as     1     means of keeping their identity. People from different backgrounds eat different food. The areas     2     families live influence food likes and dislikes.

Food items themselves have meaning     3    (attach)to them. In many Western countries, a box of chocolates would be viewed as an appropriate gift. The receiver of the gift would react     4    (different)to a gift of cabbages or carrots. In other countries, however, chocolates might be a less appropriate gift.

Nations or countries are often linked     5    certain food. For example, many people think of Italy when eating pizza. Some families in the United States prefer to eat meat and potatoes. Corns     6    (eat)by families in the southern United States.     7    (region)food habits do exist, but they also change over time. Families move to other locations,     8    (bring)their food preferences with them. They may use some local     9    (ingredient)to try their old recipes, or experiment with new recipes. Because people and food are mobile,     10    (try)to define a country’s culture by what they eat is often inaccurate.

5 . Chinese cuisine is widely known and enjoyed all around the world. Who doesn’t long for a favorite Chinese dish? But there is one interesting concept concerning Chinese food which is almost unheard of in the West, and which is becoming increasingly ignored by the youth of the East—the ancient custom of “tonic food”.

Tonic food is food which is consumed to improve one’s well-being or avoid sickness. For instance, it was once the custom for new mothers to eat a sesame oil(麻油) chicken soup every day for the first month after giving birth. It was believed that this dish would benefit the muscles, reduce pain, improve circulation, stimulate sweating, and warm the body. Some foods, such as goat meat and spinach, are seen as “hot”, while others, such as Chinese cabbage and radishes, are seen as “cold”. One should be careful not to eat too much of either “hot” or “cold” food. However, how much “hot” or “cold” food one should eat depends on the time of the year, how the food is prepared and what it is prepared with, and the individual’s health.

The custom of employing tonic food for a healthier life also influences the catering industry. Chinese herbal medicines, such as wolfberry(枸杞子), can be found on many a restaurant menu, either added to fruit tea or as a beneficial addition to a dish. These herbs attract customers, such as overworked office staff, in need of a modest pick-me-up.

So, whether you need to boost your strength with a large helping of chicken soup, or increase your mental powers with a serving of fish soup, you may find that this ancient Chinese custom could be just the tonic you were looking for.

Mochi (年糕) is a traditional food popular in Chinese and Japanese cooking, made from     1    (special) treated rice. It is often presented in the form of a round cake, and is traditionally exchanged at the New Year.

Mochi is made by     2     (put) sticky rice into water overnight, cooking it and pounding it into a sticky paste. The paste is made into shapes ranging from simple to complex rounds, some of     3     are stuffed with sweet fillings. Mochi is often decorated with     4     (flower) or fruits, especially when it is exchanged as     5     gift at celebrations like birthdays and the New Year.

Traditionally, wooden mortars (臼) and pestles (杵)     6     (use) to pound mochi rice. Fresh mochi is usually cooked and served warm     7     a variety of sauces. Steaming and boiling are both popular preparations in Japan, along with cooking. Fresh mochi is soft but it hardens quickly. Prepacked mochi blocks, flattened and cut into square pieces or     8     (shape) into rounds, are available at grocery stores. Mochi can go bad easily, so it’s     9     (good) to cook soon than to keep it in your fridge.

Hard mochi pieces can be cooked, deep-fried, boiled, and more. Cooked mochi is very sticky, so be careful not     10     (choke) on it.

More than20 types of delicacies (美食) from Fujian Province are making mouths water not only in China but across the world.     1     consumers like most are noodles boiled in bone soup served with peanut butter and wontons (馄饨)     2     (fill) with juicy meat in a hot soup.

Twenty years ago, Luo Guangcan, 59, from Xiamao township in the county, worked in a local shoe factory to make     3     living. Now, he earns a lot more     4     operating five restaurants serving Shaxian delicacies in cities such as Beijing, Tianjing and so on.

He has developed these restaurants since 2007, and four years ago,     5     (open) his first overseas restaurant in Singapore. In recent years, the yearly profit from his business has reached more than 1 million yuan. He’s planning to have a business     6     (expand) in Singapore, and he’s also considering     7     (run) one in Malaysia, where there are many overseas Chinese.

Over 60,000 people —    8     (most) farmers — from Shaxian county have run restaurants across China serving Shaxian food since the 1980s,     9     locals traveled far to set up family-run outlets (店). There are now more than 88,000 such restaurants nationwide. And since mid-2018, Shaxian Snacks restaurants     10     (establish) in 62 countries and regions, including the United States, Japan, Australia, France and Portugal.