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    Huw Thomas fell in love with Megan. But then an accident changed his life, and he had to move to Canada. Megan promised to write to him. But Huw never heard from her … until one day a letter arrived.

    He saw the letter came from where he and his father had lived in their early years. Who was writing to him? He turned the envelope over in his hands several times. Then he took out the letter and read:

Dear Huw,

    I don't know if this letter will reach you, and I don't really know why I'm writing to you after all these years, but …

    Huw turned to the end of the letter and saw:

Best wishes

Megan

    He couldn't believe it. He turned back to the first words of the letter and read:… after all these years, but I've just found your letters to me from Canada. Believe me, this was the first time I'd read them and they made me cry, even after 50 years. I found them in a box of my father's papers. They were never opened.

    Huw, I never knew that you'd written to me. I thought your new life in Canada had made you forget me. Now I realize that my father kept your letters. I can still remember asking him if there was any letter for me, and he always said▲, my girl. I told you he was no good. Finally, after about a year, I believed him.

    But why did he keep the letters? Do you think he wanted me to find them when it was too late? Anyway, he's dead now, so I can't ask him. All I can say is I'm sorry. Sorry for what my father did, sorry that you never heard from me and sorry for… everything.

    I hope that at least this letter reaches you. Of course, I'll understand if you don't want to write back to me, but if you do, I am still Megan Jenkins, and I still live at the same address.

Best wishes,

Megan

    Huw read the letter again. Everything with Megan came back to him. He had never forgotten her. He couldn't. Every day he looked at her face on the wall. He had a drawing of her. It had traveled everywhere with him. But to hear from her again …

    "Are you all right, Dad?" asked Mike, coming into the room.

    Marco Polo was born in Italy in 1254. When he was 17, he travelled across Europe and Asia along the Silk Road with his father, who wanted to do trade with the Chinese. Finally they arrived in Beijing. They were guests at the Emperor's Palace. Although Marco was young, he was very clever and could speak four languages. The Emperor was impressed by him and they became friends. He asked Marco to serve in his court and sent him to do many important tasks across the country.

    Marco was amazed by how beautiful China was. He was impressed by Beijing and the Emperor's Palace, especially the Summer Palace which he described as "The greatest palace that ever was..."The walls were covered in gold and silver and the hall was so large it could easily seat 6,000 people for dinner.

    There were inventions and developments in China which couldn't found in Europe at that time. Marco was surprised to see Chinese people using paper money in the markets. In Europe, people paid for goods with gold and silver. He could not understand how people paid for food and valuable things with paper! He was also puzzled by the black stones people used to burn to produce heat. The black stones were coal, but Marco had never seen coal before!

    In 1291, after 17 years of service to the Emperor, Marco returned to Italy. He was now a very wealthy man. A writer wrote down all the stories that Marco told him in a book called The Description of the World, which became one of the best - selling books in Europe.

    Although people enjoyed reading the book, many of them thought that Marco's stories about China were too fantastic to be true. But Marco always stood by his tales. Just before he died, aged 70, Marco was asked the question, "Was it all true?" And this was his answer, "I have only told a half of what I saw!"

    What time of day can you think most quickly? Are you a morning person?" Or does it take you a few hours to get your brain going? A lot of recent research suggests that we should pay attention to our body clock. It can tell us what time of day we can perform best at.

    Many people work best later in the morning. This is because the body's temperature takes time to rise through the day. Taking a warm shower when you wake up can help your body's temperature rise quickly.

    But everyone's body clock is different and some are special. Morning people will get up early and work better early in the day." Evening people will work later, but work better towards the end of the day.

    Research shows that we're better at some activities at certain times of the day." Physical performance is at its best between 3p. m. and 6p.- m.-,- so it's better to exercise later in the day.

    Between noon and'4p. m. , people begin to pay less attention. This is because we think less quickly after, a big meal. Research also shows we become sleepy around 2 p.m. This is why people in Spain take a short sleep in early afternoon.

    Finally'it is best to eat when we' re active. This allows our body to burn calories (卡路里) better and stops our blood sugar levels from getting too high.

Chinese music has a very long history. It's one of the oldest types of music in the world. Chinese ancient music was different from modern pieces. The ancient Chinese played instruments, but they didn't have a lot of songs with words. A lot of the music was for ceremonies and big events. 

The most famous instrument in ancient China was the guqin. It's a kind of stringed instrument（弦乐器）. People thought the guqin was very beautiful. They believed it could make people happy or sad, and even change the weather! 

In the Tang Dynasty（618-907）, there were many kinds of instruments. Music was important to the government. As a result, there were lots of musicians at the palace. Some of them came from other countries. They played their own music and sometimes they taught the Chinese how to play new instruments. 

During the Song Dynasty（960-1279）, the Chinese developed new instruments. One of these was the pipa. It's a kind of guitar with four strings. Musicians wrote more than 200 songs for it. These songs are still popular today. 

In the Ming Dynasty（1368-1644）and the Qing Dynasty（1644-1912）, there were many new styles of music. Some music was for the theatre. Other music was for the home, Beijing Opera is a traditional form of Chinese theater. It uses many different instruments, including the guqin and the xun. 

Today, Chinese music is a mix of traditional and modern music. There are many pop stars in China and people listen to music from all over the world. But traditional Chinese music is still popular, too. 

When talking about the Chinese food going abroad, you can't forget River Snail Rice Noodles, or Luosifen. It is one of the most popular snacks in Liuzhou City, Guangxi province. The dish is famous for its strong smell. Do you know how to make Luosifen?

The first step is to prepare some rice noodles, river snails and different kinds of ingredients. To make it, firstly, people should soak (浸泡) the rice noodles in water until they are soft. After that, wash the river snails and make soup. When the rice noodles and the soup are ready, then boil rice noodles with sour bamboo shoots (酸竹笋), dried tofu skin, fresh vegetables and peanuts in river snail soup. The taste mostly comes from the sour bamboo shoots. This ingredient gives Luosifen its unique taste. "Without the sour bamboo shoots, Luosifen will lose its soul (灵魂)," some people say.

In the 1970s, Luosifen was just a cheap street snack in Liuzhou. People outside of the city knew little about it. It became an intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) of Guangxi in 2008. Four years later, a popular Chinese food show, A Bite ofChina, made Luosifen known to the public and then it became a household name, from then on, Luosifen has become popular around China.

Now more and more Luosifen restaurants are opened not only in the big cities in China, but also in many foreign(外国的) countries like the US, Australia, Germany and so on. People can also buy instant (速食的) Luosifen online on apps such as Taobao and TikTok, You can enjoy Luosifen wherever you like.