In today's society, everyone is busy and running at a fast pace every day. We feel our time is valuable and needs to be used well. We need cheap meal ideas that can help us save time and money and still provide a healthy and nutritious (有营养的) dinner for us and our family.

    The fast food makers know we have little time and that the idea of cooking dinner after a long day at work is not something we look forward to. So the fast food makers offer us cheap food that requires no cooking, no cleaning, and only 25 minutes to pick up.

    But eating so much fast food will cause body fatness and fast food is not nutritious, so it's not the healthiest choice to consider. There are some very cheap meal ideas that take almost no time to prepare and will make coming home for a good meal more enjoyable.

    The first cheap meal idea is one dish which includes meat, vegetables and rice. This is not only a cheap meal idea, but also it is fast because it can be made in only 20 minutes.

    You can quickly make some pancakes and scrambled eggs for the family in about 30 minutes. If you think it is strange to eat breakfast food for dinner, consider how the same foods give you what you need to go through a whole day.

    Another cheap meal idea to try is a “macaroni and cheese with meat” dish, which only takes around 20 minutes to cook.

If you are interested in these cheap meal ideas, you're welcome to visit our website for details. When you fix one of these or other cheap meal ideas at home, you are taking time out of your busy day to treat yourself and your family in a special way.

    “Thank you” is one of the first few phrases(短语） that our English teacher taught us when we began to learn English. Each time we receive help from others, we say “Thank you”. We may say it many times a day. It seems that “Thank you” is very popular among us Chinese students. But is it as popular in the UK?

    The answer is “no”. According to a recent survey （最近的报告）in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, “Thank you” is only the 20^th most popular way of expressing gratitude（感激） in the UK.

    The survey shows that British people like “Cheers” most to express their thanks. For example, when friends invite each other for a drink after a game, a smile and a “Cheers” may be the best way to say “thanks”.

    You may often hear the word spoken between two good friends. “Great”, “nice one” and “all right” are also popular informal（不正式的） ways of showing gratitude among friends in the UK.

    Of course, there are some formal ways to say “thanks” among British people. For example, when a stranger is especially helpful, they may say “brilliant” or “much appreciated” to express their gratitude.

    By the way, how do British people usually answer “thank you”? They like to say： “ You're welcome.”, “No problem” or “Sure”.

    Since you have many more ways to show your thanks, next time you want to say “thank you”, why not try one of these new British phrases?

    There are many magic（神奇的) things in the world of animals. Please look at the followings：

    A bookstore chain(连锁书店), “Popular Bookmall(大众书局)” introduced their unique style of book distribution(分布) in Shanghai back in November. This experimental store offers books at very low prices, and there is no staff(职员) to require shoppers to pay before taking books away. Sounds like a book lover's paradise(天堂)！

    Popular Bookmall had already set up such a shop in Nanjing. The organizers of the Nanjing store report that it was a great success, enough shoppers voluntarily paid for their books. But most older “honesty stores” in China did not receive enough honest shoppers. For example, a shelf-service restaurant opened in Fujian province years ago which allowed shoppers to pay whatever they chose, but about one –fifth of shoppers paid nothing. Therefore some people have speculated(推断) that Chinese are becoming more honest. The organizers of the “honesty stores” say that their goal is to encourage people in China to remember how important honesty is.

    Many are cared about dishonesty in China. Even at Popular Bookmall, not everybody choose to pay for their books. How can we encourage ourselves to be honest? We should listen to our conscience(道德心). This has deep roots in Chinese culture. Confucius(孔子) taught Chinese to be conscientious and honest.

    But there is also a great rational(合理的) reason for “honesty stores”: the more honest people there are in society, the more reasons we have to trust others. And if people trusted each other, they'd be more willing to share. We could contribute to a “sharing economy” where you do not have to think about saving or spending money all the time, but helping other people. For all these reasons, society is built on trust, not only trade.

阅读以上信息，用恰当的单词完成下面的句子，每空一词。

    There is a new park near Andy's home. It's fine today. Andy and his family are in the park now. On their left, there is a café(咖啡馆). On their right, there is a big lake. There are many flowers and trees around the lake. There's a small hill behind the lake. Near the lake, there are two signs(标识). One says, "Don't swim in the lake!" The other says, "No fishing!" But you can go boating on the lake. There is a beautiful garden in the middle of the park. There is green grass and beautiful flowers in it. There are some small shops between the lake and the garden. The park is so nice. Andy and his family like it very much.

Birthday Food Around the World

    What would people like to eat on their birthday? The answer would be different in different countries.

    In many countries, people have birthday cakes with candles. The number of the candles is the person's age. The birthday person must make a wish and blow out the candles. 59. If he or she blows out all the candles in one go, the wish will come true. In the UK, people sometimes put a candy in a birthday cake. The child with the candy is lucky. In China, it is getting popular to have a cake on your birthday. But many people still eat very long noodles for their birthday. They never cut up the noodles because the long noodles are a symbol of long life. In some places, Chinese people also eat eggs on their birthday. They are a symbol of life and good luck. All of these birthday foods may be different, but the ideas are the same. 他们会给过生日的人带来好运。