| Hutongs are old-style city streets. In Beijing, they are an important part of the city culture. Thanks to Beijing's long history, almost every Hutong has its story, and some even have to do with historic activities. Different from the Forbidden City （紫禁城）and the Summer Palace, the Hutongs show the culture of Beijingers. Hutongs are neighborhoods which still form the heart of Old Beijing. |
There are thousands of Hutongs in Beijing. People built them during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynastics（朝代）. The following are some famous Hutongs. ·Nanluoguxiang People built it during the Yuan Aynasty, but it got its name during the Qing Dynasty, around 1750. It's about 800 meters long. There are many restaurants, cafes and shops around it. Thousands of visitors go there to have fun every day, which makes it one of the most popular. ·Lingjing Hutong This hutong is near Xidan. It is about 600 meters long and 32 meters wide. It is the widest hutong in Beijing. ·Mao'er Hutong This hutong is in the Dongcheng District. It is 585meters long and 7 meters wide. It is famous for its old features（特征）and traditional local food. A lot of famous people once lived there, such as Wan Rong and Feng Guozhang. ·Fangjia Hutong This hutong is also in the Dongcheng District. It's 676 meters long. There are many small coffee shops and restaurants. Many young artists and photographers like to go there to work and look for creative works. If you want to have a close look at the local life, hutongs are great places to visit. | |
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Today was Holi, the festival of colors! The day kicked off with Mom's mouth-watering gujiyas, those sweet, deep-fried Indian dumplings. The smell itself was a joyful wake-up call.
At 8 a. m., I put on my old clothes because I knew they would get all colorful. I said "Happy Holi" to everyone, and they applied（涂抹）bright colors on my cheeks. I looked like a rainbow!
By 10 a. m., there had already been so many kids in the neighborhood park. We had water guns and balloons filled with water and colored powders（粉末）. We ran around and sprayed or threw the colored water at each other. I got totally wet and colorful, and so did everyone else.
At noon, we were all super hungry after playing so much. We returned home. Mom had prepared a special Holi lunch. We had puris（small, round, flat pieces of bread）, thandai（a milk-based sweet drink）and sweets. I ate so much. It was like a food festival!
As the clock struck 2 p. m., it was time for our next adventure — visiting friends' homes. There, we exchanged sweets and colors. I even met some new friends in the neighborhood.
At 4 p. m., our local temple held a big Holi celebration. People played the drums and we danced to the music. Everyone was dancing and laughing together. It felt like a Bollywood（宝莱坞）movie come to life.
At 6 p. m., it started getting dark. We lit a bonfire called "Holika Dahan". It was to remember a special story about Holi. We threw colored powder into the fire and watched it burn. It was like magic.
At 8 p. m., I took a long bath to wash off all the colors, but some will stick around for a few days. It's actually pretty cool—they will remind me of this colorful day!
It's 9 p. m., and it's time for bed. I'm so sleepy, but I can't stop smiling. Holi is the happiest festival, and I can't wait for next year!
a. Playing music and dancing together.
b. Lighting a bonfire and watching it burn.
c. Watching a Bollywood movie in the local temple.
d. Showering each other with colored powder and water.
Do you like eating instant（快速的）noodles? From quick dinners to easy camping meals, many people all over the world love instant noodles. A study said people around the world ate more than 130 billian bags of instant noodles in 2022. What a surprise!
While they are easy to make, instant noodles can sometimes be a little boring — but they don't have to be! So if you'd like to make your instant noodles more delicious, here are some easy ways for you.
Improve taste
Sauces（酱）of different kinds are popular in your everyday dishes. You can choose one or some of them and mix together with your instant noodles. It is an easy and popular way to make them more delicious.
Add eggs and vegetables
Adding eggs and vegetables to the instant noodles is another popular way. It will not only make them taste better but also increase nutrients（营养）in the dish. You can put some fried eggs or boiled eggs and some vegetables you like in the noodles.
Add milk or fruit juice
Some people like milk, and they can add some milk to the instant noodles to make them taste nicer. If you like sweet food, you can even put some fruit juice like orange juice or apple juice in the instant noodles. Of course, adding milk or fruit juice to instant noodles is just a choice, but not popular. Most people don't like eating instant noodles in this way.
Do you have any other good ways of cooking delicious instant noodles?
When was the last time that you dialed a phone number from memory? It probably depends on how long you've used technology like a cellphone. While some old people can recall the days of memorizing phone numbers, it's possible that teenagers have never had to remember any telephone numbers. Smartphones offer quick and easy ways for keeping information. There is no need to memorize anything. But this might not be true.
As smartphones develop, more and more users' dependency on them may cause terrible results. "Digital dementia" are the words used by experts to describe some of these results. Some doctors like Jim Kwik, an expert in memory improvement, are taking a closer look at this result. Kwik describes digital dementia like this: "…we're offering our brains to our smart devices." He continues, "We're depending on our smartphones so heavily that our smartphones are making us stupid." As medical studies show the drop in memory and learning skills among smartphone users, a connection is made between symptoms（症状）which are connected with dementia.
The seriousness of overuse becomes clear when you consider just how young smartphone users are becoming. The writer and speaker Simon Sink points out that young minds are not ready for it and that their minds cannot deal with the problems. So, smartphone screens and sounds lead to addiction more often than before. So now parents, teachers and managers should try to help the young people deal with this kind of addiction.
In fact, smartphones aren't all bad. They're really easy to use, and the connectivity they create cannot be thought wrong. The key is finding out how to make a balance between usage and nonuse. We should control our cellphone use, making sure when and where we can use cellphones.
Brain Exercises That Keep Your Mind Fit
Regular（有规律的）physical exercise is key to keeping your body fit. But exercising your mind is also important to help your brain stay healthy. Let's have a look at some ways that experts say can help keep your brain in great shape.
Working out regularly can help with the formation of new brain cells and keep your brain working well as you get older.
◆
Being part of a group, such as gathering for a hike, joining a club or just hanging out with friends, can help protect your brain from age-related diseases.
◆
An active mind is key to a healthy brain. Learning new skills or enjoying new experiences are great ways to activate several parts of the brain at once. For example, consider picking up a hobby such as playing an instrument or taking a different route（路线）home.
There are all sorts of simple ways to give your mind a workout. Here are some more exercises that won't break the bank.
◆
Playing math or word games can effectively challenge your brain. The same goes for solving a picture puzzle, which also exercises your fine motor（精细运动）skills.
◆
Shutting your eyes while doing a basic daily task, like showering, can push your brain to depend on other senses. This new information can help form new connections inside the brain.
◆
If you're right-handed, try using your left hand to write your name, brush your teeth or do any other simple task. It has been proved that using your weaker hand creates more activity in your brain. This, in turn, grows the part of your brain that controls and processes information received from your hand.
How we look at mental（心理的）fitness doesn't have to be all that different from how we look at physical fitness. With a health y mindset and these practices, you can ensure（确保）your brain's best performance both now and in the years to come!
A. Play games. B. Be more social. C. Stay in shape. D. Try something new. E. Close your eyes. F. Use weaker hand. |
Before I went to high school, I looked forward to starting my new life. I wanted to get into the 1 of popular students at school, so I bought a new outfit（套装）to present a good image for myself.
On the first day of school, I didn't know 2 to have my first class. I was standing in the hall, looking confused（困惑）, when a short girl wearing glasses 3 and asked. "Hi, my name is Judy. Are you 4 ? Do you want me to help you find your class?" 5 she seemed not the kind of girl I wanted to make friends with, I told her my name and 6 her, making polite conversation the whole way.
When we reached classroom, she said, "It was nice 7 you, and I hope your day goes all right." I said 8 and waved good-bye.
In the classroom, I saw a big group of students around a girl wearing blue jeans with holes. She was talking about her adventures in summer. I thought this girl was 9 . When the teacher came and told us to have a rest, I managed to get a 10 next to her, and said, "Hi, my name is April and I'm new here." She said, "Hi, I'm Ella."
Once the class was over, I turned to her and asked, "My next class is art. Could you help me find it?" She said "No" 11 and walked to her friend, Molly and Cindy. I heard her say, "Did you see that new girl trying to get into our group? Her outfit is so strange." They all looked at me and 12 .
When I was ready to go home, someone came up and said, "Hi, again. How was your first day?" It was 13 . I told her my day was not good. She said she was 14 and offered to walk me outside.
Walking with Judy made me realize how 15 it was to try to only make friends with popular people, and how nice it would be to have a friend like her.
Asia during surprise make fill |
Have you ever heard of night schools? Night school classes were offered to people who were looking for jobs or further study in the 1980s. But （自……以来）last autumn, they have become popular among young people seeking（寻求）new skills, hobbies and friends. And these classes （花费）little or nothing.
Yuan Li is a schoolteacher during the day, but in the evenings she b a student at a night school in Wuhan. She is trying new hobbies with her 5-year-old son, I art and jazz dancing. "I used to spend evenings watching my son play in the park or take classes. Now, we can e new things together at the night school," says the mother in her mid-30s.
Wang Hehe, a girl aged 27, says she takes night school classes b she wants to make new friends. "As I'm n working nor studying, I spend most of my time alone. Here, I feel connected, and chatting with people with （类似）hobbies is a lot of fun," she says.
Wang Zhongwu is a professor at Shandong University. He says education in China used to focus on children and old people, leaving young working adults with few （机会）to continue learning. "The desire（渴望）of young people to improve （他们自己）and their cultural lives onderful has lit up night school fever," he says.
In the mountains by the Wujiang River in Guizhou, sits a small village — Tongling. The village is home to a special library called "Reading Power". It is the place that many （child）dreams begin in. Amolan, a young woman from the village, is the library owner.
Amolan was born in 1990 in Tongling. She spent her childhood （do）farm work and feeding sheep after school. At the age of 12, she studied in the fifth grade and （fall）in love with reading and collecting books at school. "The smell of the books makes me think of the fragrance（芳香）of flowers." Amolan said. She went to study in a middle school in a small town.
finishing the gaokao, Amolan returned to her village with a lot of books. Many children in the village went to borrow books from her. Her idea of starting library came to mind. "I hope to help （they）with my books. That's one of my dreams."
In 2011, while still a college student, Amolan brought （many）books back to Tongling Village. She then built the library "Reading Power" with the help of her parents. The library now has a （collect）of more than 50,000 books.
So far Amolan （set）up several libraries in the mountain s of Guizhou. And now she has much big dream. She hopes more children can walk out of the mountain s and make their dreams come true reading.
要求：1.内容包括：表达感谢、提出个人建议、说明理由；2.邮件不得使用真实的人名、校名；3.词数100左右，开头和结尾已给出（不计词数）。
Dear Mark,
Yours sincerely,
Li Ping
