In China, Spring Festival is the most important of all the holidays in the year. Two important things help to make this holiday different from all others: giving presents and spending it {#blank#}1{#/blank#}the family.

    Many weeks {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Spring Festival, we know it is coming. In the shops, goods for this special holiday appear and outside them the special New Year decorations. The advertisements in all the newspapers tell us that there are "Only five {#blank#}3{#/blank#}shopping days to Spring Festival". {#blank#}4{#/blank#}you go, you will realize that Spring Festival, which comes "only {#blank#}5{#/blank#}a year", is coming again.

    Giving {#blank#}6{#/blank#} to one's family is a very sweet custom (风俗). The spirit behind the present matters most, not the present {#blank#}7{#/blank#}. It is good at Spring Festival to {#blank#}8{#/blank#}to the family home and meet parents, grandparents and as many aunts, uncles and cousins as possible.

    In the past, on New Year's Eve, all the members of a family {#blank#}9{#/blank#}stay at home making dumplings together. Now many people enjoy watching TV. During the day, children wear their new clothes. The evening is usually spent in games, talking, more eating and {#blank#}10{#/blank#}.

    I'm Eric. I was boll in California. That place has m any sweet childhood{#blank#}1{#/blank#}for me.

    When l was a little boy, Il had to get up before sunrise{#blank#}2{#/blank#}on the farm. At sunrise I could see a house{#blank#}3{#/blank#}golden windows far away from the farm. Every day I{#blank#}4{#/blank#}it with interest and wondered what the house looked like inside. To be honest,{#blank#}5{#/blank#}wanted to live there! I often said t0{#blank#}6{#/blank#}, "Some day, I will{#blank#}7{#/blank#}a house like that."

    One day I walked to the house with golden windows.

    I walked for a{#blank#}8{#/blank#}and then I stopped in front of the house. To my surprise, there were no{#blank#}9{#/blank#}901den windows. I was Very upset. Later I learned that the windows{#blank#}10{#/blank#}not golden at all. It was the sunrise that had made them look golden.

A: Mike, what do you think of your lifestyle(生活方式)?

B: I think it's pretty good.

A: What do you often do in your free time?

B: I usually play tennis with my sister in {#blank#}1{#/blank#}free time.

A: How often do you play tennis?

B: We play tennis four to six {#blank#}2{#/blank#}a week. And I often eat healthy food such as fish, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}and fruit.

A: Sounds {#blank#}4{#/blank#}do you like eating junk food?

B: No, I never eat it. How about you?

A: I eat it twice a day. I really like eating junk food.

B: Really? I think it's bad for your {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.You should eat less of it and do more exercise.

A: OK. I will have a try.

My Dear Azhaan,

    I want you to know that you remind me of myself in so many ways. You are like a better and Improved version(版本) of me. I look at you and I see myself. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}your eyes. I wish I had that confidence(信心) and even some of your bossiness(霸气) at that age. Yet, I'm also troubled on seeing this confidence {#blank#}2{#/blank#} disappearing, because you are {#blank#}3{#/blank#} many different things. I want you to know that your confidence is one of the{#blank#}4{#/blank#} things about you. All of us admire your confidence. However, you are{#blank#}5{#/blank#}confident enough these days, because you are beginning to dislike your own body.

    You are not fat. I agree that you could be a little healthier. You could eat a little less junk food. However, I don't know when you'll begin to enjoy fruits, but I believe that you will.

    I think one of the moments of{#blank#}6{#/blank#}for me was when you were born, and the doctor said, "Congratulations, you have another baby boy," not because you were a boy but because you were healthy.

    You're too young to understand this {#blank#}7{#/blank#} no one realizes the importance of a normal life {#blank#}8{#/blank#}it is away from them. What I{#blank#}9{#/blank#} for you is happiness: the understanding that you are not perfect and that it is okay because none of us is!

    Stay confident and keep your head {#blank#}10{#/blank#}, my little boy-who is growing up too soon!

Love,

Ammi

    When young people in the United States get together for fun, probably they will dance. The ways that boys and girls dance will often change every year. They{#blank#}1{#/blank#}learning the newest dances.

    Years ago, the dances of young people were not very different from those of their parents, but high school and college students of today have{#blank#}2{#/blank#}their own music and dances. They like the new music that people can dance to in different ways.

    In the USA, there are many dances that are loved by young people, but the history of the dances isn't{#blank#}3{#/blank#}, the Twist(摇摆舞), for example. In the late 1950s, Chubby Checker started a dance that he called the "Twist" to make himself slim. The Twist, like many new dances, was very lively, and people who performed it used a lot of{#blank#}4{#/blank#}, After performing his new dance hundreds of times, Chubby was no longer as fat as before. The word "chubby" means "very fat". That was why the singer and dancer called him Chubby.