First Snow

It is the first time that I     1     (see) snow this year. It is not only an event but a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up to find     2     (you) in another completely different. The secrecy and     3     (quiet) will make it more magical. When I got up this morning, I found the world dead white and pale blue. The light     4     (come) through the windows was very strange,     5     made the familiar business of splashing, shaving, brushing teeth and dressing strange too. When the sun came out, the snow became pink. The plum tree stood in full sunlight. An hour     6     two later, everything was a cold sparkle of white and blue. The little Japanese prints had disappeared. The ground went on and on, the sky was thick grey, and all the trees were black and in     7     (threaten) shapes. Now the snow is falling     8     (heavy) in great soft flakes so that you can hardly see across the shallow valley. The     9     (roof) are thick and the trees are all bending. I can see the children     10     (flatten) their noses against the window.

2 . Autumn Equinox (秋分) lies at the midpoint of autumn, dividing autumn into two equal parts. After that day, the location of direct sunlight moves to the south, making days shorter and nights longer in the northern hemisphere.     1     Autumn Equinox, the 16th solar term of the year, begins this year on Sept 23 and ends on Oct 7.

Here are things you should know about Autumn Equinox.

Cool autumn

As it is said in the ancient book, The Detailed Records of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), “It is on Autumn Equinox day that the Yin and Yang are in a balance of power. Thus the day and night are of equal length, and so are the cold and hot weather.”

    2     When the cold air heading south meets the declining warm and wet air, rain is the result. The temperature also drops frequently.

    3    

In South China, there is a custom popularly known as “having Qiucai (an autumn vegetable) on the Autumn Equinox day”. Qiucai is a kind of wild plant. Every Autumn Equinox day, all the villagers go to pick Qiucai in the wild. Qiucai is fresh and green in the field, thin, and about 20 cm in length.

    4    

By Autumn Equinox, olives, pears, chestnuts, beans, and other plants are mature. It is time to pick and eat them.

Season for enjoying chrysanthemums

    5    

March 20 marks the Spring Equinox, or Chunfen in Chinese, the     1     (four) term in the Chinese lunar calendar. On this day, day and night are     2     (equal) divided, and the length of daytime will grow longer in the Northern Hemisphere afterwards.

Peach blossoms enter their great time and give tourists a lot of pleasure with pinkish flowers. Since ancient times, peach blossoms     3     (use) to describe women. The romantic flowers also signal love from others.

The Spring Equinox is marked as the     4     (begin) of the busy farming season. People make preparations for raising spring silkworms.

Starting from the Spring Equinox and before the Qingming Festival, Chinese farmers are the     5     (busy) with tea harvesting, as the tea leaves     6     (collect) during this period are considered to be     7     high quality.

People have a cup of the very first tea shoots in spring as     8     way to get close to nature.

The ancient Chinese people     9     (divide) the fifteen days of the Spring Equinox into three “hou’s,” or five-day parts. As the old saying goes, swallows fly back to the North in the first hou; thunder breaks the sky in the second hou; lightning occurs frequently in the third hou,     10     vividly reveal the climate feature during the Spring Equinox.

Grain Rain, just as the name shows, is a key time for grains to grow. There is     1     old saying, “Rain brings up hundreds of grains,” which indicates the     2     (important) of this season.

In the northern part of China, the first heavy rain usually occurs during this time of year, which     3     (be) the best time for planting rice, corn, and the growth of cotton. It is also a good time for Chinese people     4     (eat) toona (香椿), a delicious seasonal plant,     5     new leaves are as soft as silk. Not only does it taste good, but it is also very good for health. It is very nutritious     6     can improve the immune system.     7     (fresh) made with Chinese tofu, toona is a traditional cold dish for people in the northern part of China.

Drinking tea is an old custom in the southern part of China. The mild temperatures and plentiful rainfall in the season make the spring tea leaves rich in a     8     (various) of vitamins and amino acids (氨基酸),     9     (give) the taste of spring tea a fresh and pleasant smell.

Along the northern coast of China, fishermen    10    (celebrate) the Grain Rain Festival for more than 2,000 years. On this day, fishermen in coastal areas pray for safety and a good harvest.

9 . Six Solar Terms in Summer

Lixia is the first solar term in summer, signifying the beginning of the hot summer.    1    People usually consider Lixia as an important solar term. When it comes, the temperature rises obviously, and summer heat arrives, there is a remarkable increase in thunderstorms, and crops enter their peak season for growth.

During Xiaoman, summer harvest crops such as wheat already bear fruits, and their seeds are full though they are not ripe yet. Thus, the solar term is named Xiaoman. The solar term Xiaoman is in late May. Summer begins to reach all parts of the country. Rainfall begins to increase further. Mangzhong means, "wheat with awn（芒）should be harvested soon, and rice seeds with awn can be sown".    2    

On the day of Xiazhi, the daytime in the Northern Hemisphere（半球）reaches its maxi-mum length.    3    At Xiazhi, though there is direct sunlight, it is not the hottest time in a year.

    4    Xiaoshu is minor heat, which means it's not very hot. The weather is getting increasingly hot, but not the hottest moment yet. The crops in the entire country begin to grow rapidly, and this situation requires more intensive field management. Dashu is extreme heat. Compared to Xiaoshu, it's much hotter.    5    And it also marks the period with the fastest growth for crops which enjoy heat.