Winter solstice, as the name shows, means the coming of winter. As an important solar term in the traditional Chinese calendar, it is also a traditional holiday for Chinese, which is also called “冬节”， “长至节”，“亚岁”, etc. Generally, winter solstice occurs between December 21st and 23rd. According to the traditional Chinese calendar, five days constitutes a pentad and three pentads constitutes a solar term. One year is divided into twelve periods and twelve climates which are regarded as twenty-four solar terms. The Winter Solstice is one of twenty-four solar terms. On this day, in the Northern Hemisphere the period of daytime is the shortest of the year and the period of night is longest. . In Northern China during winter solstice there is a custom of eating dumplings.

    What do you usually do in your spare time? Chatting online is now a national pastime in China, especially among the post-90s and post-00s generation. To some people, however, online chats can seem like a kind of polite conversation. Yet hidden rules and standards do exist, as long as you take the time to look for them.

    Get to the Point

    When sending a friend request, include your real name and any other identifying information. Remember, everybody's time is precious. If there's something you want, cut right to the chase. Never send an "Are you there?" without any follow-up messages. The quicker that you get to the point, the more likely the other person is to reply.

    Send the Right Things

    Please send texts, not voice messages. It might be easier for you to speak than type, but what about the person on the other end? They may be unable to listen to a 59-second message right now. Also, never send personal information by voice message—it is hard to note down. Emojis, GIFs and memes can save the day when you find yourself in an embarrassing conversation, or words fail you.

    Try to Understand

    You can always judge a person's mood by their text messages. If the person you're talking to says "Good night" or "I'm going to take a shower." that's probably not what they're actually going to do, it is just an excuse to stop talking to you. If someone hesitates for longer than three seconds before saying "Yes", they probably really mean "No". If you receive these emojis from friends who are older, read them literally (照字面地) (as a smile, a wave or a laugh). For the post-90s and post-00s generation, however, they could be speechlessness.

    Where were dominoes (多米诺骨牌) from? Modern dominoes first showed up in Italy during the 18th century. But it is believed that the earliest dominoes were Chinese playing cards. Italian missionaries (传教士) in China may have brought the game to Europe. Do you think so?

    Do you like to play with dominoes? Dominoes are small rectangular (长方形的) pieces made of wood or plastic (塑料). People can place dominoes in different shapes. Then, they push one domino down and the rest of the dominoes fall one by one. It is interesting to watch.

    But placing dominoes is hard. To make sure the dominoes fall smoothly, the space between each domino is important. According to domino—play. com, if a domino is about 4 cm long, then the space between two dominoes should be1—2 cm. If the space is too big, the dominoes will stop falling halfway. If the space is too small, the dominoes will fall too quickly and won't look interesting.

    Beginners can start by putting dominoes in a straight line. This is the easiest shape. Professional (专业的) players can place dominoes in many other shapes, including big circles, beautiful flowers and even famous paintings.

    Schools in the UK are quite different from those in China. In the UK, at the beginning of the term, students must select their courses and teachers first.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} So in the first term, don't select too many courses, or you'll feel nervous and it may influence your study. Then you have to ask for some teaching plans. There is some information about subjects, time arranging, marks and textbooks. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Different teachers have different teaching methods.

    If the teacher is called "killer" by the last grade, many students will give up choosing him, because this kind of teacher will leave too much homework, give too many exams and too low grades.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} How to buy textbooks makes each student feel hard. The textbooks in the UK are very expensive. Each copy is about $30 -50. In order to save money, many students buy some used textbooks. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    In class, discussing is very important. The teachers always encourage you to ask questions or show your own opinions freely. They don't usually ask you to sit well. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} They usually don't give you much homework to do. So in the schools in the UK you can learn knowledge and do exercises by yourself. You must do almost all things independently.

A. And some students usually borrow textbooks from the school library.

B. At the same time, you must select the teachers.

C. Selecting is very important for your grades in the UK.

D. Instead, they allow you to sit or stand everywhere you like.

E. There is another thing after you select the courses and the teachers.