① {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It's on the fourth Thursday of November. And it is also a time for tradition and sharing. Even if they live far away, family members gather for a reunion at the house of an older relative. All give thanks together for the good things that they have.

    ② {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It is on the first Sunday after the full moon which falls on or after March 21st. It is said that on that day Jesus Christ comes back to life. But now for most people, it is a spring holiday, while for children, it means, more than anything else, Easter eggs or chocolate eggs!

    ③ {#blank#}3{#/blank#} It's also called Double Fifth Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth moon of the lunar calendar. It is one of the most important Chinese festivals with a history of more than 2,000years. It was originally designed in memory of ancient poet called Qu Yuan.

    ④ {#blank#}4{#/blank#} It is a very important Chinese festival. There will be a big family dinner. People who work far away from home will try to come back. At night, people can enjoy the moon while eating moon cakes. They are the special food for this festival.

    ⑤ {#blank#}5{#/blank#} It falls on the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar in China. The aim is to promote respect for the elderly. According to centuries-old customs, people climb mountains to admire the view.

A. The Double Ninth Festival    

B. The Mid-autumn Festival C. Easter Day     

D. The Dragon Boat Festival   

E. Thanksgiving Day

    When people travel abroad(国外), they sometimes stay in the homes of the local people. This is a homestay.

    I am living with an old English couple, in the west of London. They have a clean four-bedroom house. This is a new house. It has two bathrooms and a garden with many beautiful flowers. I have a bedroom of my own.

    There are some shopping centres and a restaurant next to the house, and the house is close to an underground station. It takes about 30 minutes to take an underground to the centre of London.

    I think a homestay may be a good choice for you if it is your first time to visit abroad. The local people are friendly and ready to help. If you want to celebrate the holidays with them, you will get to know more about their culture and customs.

    A couple (夫妇) have travelled around the world in 297 days—without taking any planes Tom Fewins and Lara Lockwood used 78 buses, 61 trains, 34 cars, 18 boats, six bicycles, and even one elephant. They wanted to prove that tourists can still be well travelled without damaging the environment. They aimed to product less than 3,000 kg of carbon dioxide(二氧化碳)， compared with six times that amount if they had gone by plane.

    They spent ten months travelling44，609 miles through l 8 countries on land and sea．The couple's world tour began in June 2008 with a two-hour bus journey to London from their home in Oxfordshire．They took the train，Eurostar，to Brussels and then caught a bus and train to Hamburg before going to Copenhagen．The couple even rode on an elephant for l 5 miles through the Chinese part of the Mekong River(湄公河)．

    The couple hoped to write a book based on their journey to teach other travellers how to travel without damaging the environment．

It was five to nine on Sunday evening. Cindy was in the kitchen. She stood there and thought happily," My parents will be home soon,"{#blank#}1{#/blank#}For the first time she made a cake for her mother, so it didn't look so good.

The kitchen was in a mess(杂乱). {#blank#}2{#/blank#}She turned off all the lights and waited excitedly in the dark. Later, she heard the key getting into the door.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

When her parents were walking in quietly, Cindy turned on the lights suddenly(突然) and said to her mother, "Happy Birthday, Mom!" A chocolate cake was waiting for them on the table.

 {#blank#}4{#/blank#} "Look at the mess! What did you do here?" she shouted.

"But Mom, I only wanted to make a..."

"Dear, "said Cindy's father, "please take a look at the table. What is that?"

"I know- it's a mess, a big mess," Cindy's mother said angrily(生气地)."I have to clean it. I'm too tired to say a word, and I can't stand looking at the table. How... !"

Cindy was not happy. She didn't think mother liked the chocolate cake.

Just then her mother saw the chocolate cake on the table.

Cindy's mother ran to her at once and said, "Sorry, my dear. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}" Then they sat down and shared the cake. They were so happy.
 

    "How are you?" is a nice question. It's a friendly way people in the United States greet each other. But "How are you?" is also a very unusual question that often doesn't have an answer.

    When a person meets a friend on the street and asks "How are you?", he only expects to hear the answer "Fine." even if the other person isn't! The reason is that "How are you?" isn't really a question and "Fine." isn't really an answer. They are simple ways of greeting people and saying "Hello".

    Sometimes, people also don't say directly what they mean. For example, when someone asks "Do you agree?", the other person might be thinking "No, I disagree." But it isn't very polite to answer so directly, so the other person might say. "I'm not so sure." It's a nicer way to say that you don't agree with someone.

    People also don't say directly what they are thinking when they finish conversations with others. For example, many conversations over the phone end when one person says, "I've got to go now." Often, the person who wants to hang u gives an excuse: "Someone's at the door." "Something is burning on the stove!" The excuse might be real, or it might not be. Perhaps the person who wants to hang up simply doesn't want to talk any more, but it isn't very polite to say that. The excuse is more polite, and it doesn't hurt the other person's feelings.

    Whether they are greeting each other, talking about an opinion， or ending a conversation, people often don't say directly what they are thinking. It's an important way that people try to be nice to each other, and it's all part of the game of language!

    Once upon a time, there lived a generous and kind-hearted king. But, the people weren't happy with their king because he was too lazy and wouldn't do anything other than eating and sleeping. He spent days, weeks and months in his bed. The king became a couch potato and the people started to worry about him.

    One day, the king realized that he couldn't even move his body. He invited famous doctors from various parts of his country and offered them generous rewards to make him fit. Unfortunately, none could help the king gain his health or fitness.

    One morning, a man called Rishi visited the land of the king. He heard about the illness of the king and told one minister that he could easily cure the king. Hearing these promising words, the minister became very happy.

    Since he couldn't move his body, the fat king asked the minister to bring Rishi to the palace, but Rishi refused and ordered the king to come to meet him. After a lot of effort, the king met the man. Rishi encouraged him and said he was good and very soon the king would gain his health. He asked the king to come for treatment every day from the next day on. Also, Rishi told the king that he would treat him only if he came on foot to his place.

    The king was unable to walk even a few steps on the road, but accompanied by his followers, he reached Rishi's place. Unfortunately, Rishi wasn't available there and his friend said the king could come and meet him the next day for treatment. This was repeated for two weeks and the king never met Rishi and never had any treatment. Suddenly, the king realized that he was a lot lighter, lost a lot of weight and felt more active than before. He realized the reason why Rishi asked him to reach his place by walking.

    Very soon, the king regained his health, and the people were very happy in his kingdom. The king had a lot of wealth, but no amount of wealth could make him healthy.