I'm Liu Li. I am a middle school student now. It seems that my life has changed a lot in the last few years. For example, I used to have short hair, but now it grows long. I used to be afraid of the sea because I didn't know how to swim, but now I am a good swimmer in our school. I used to be short but now I'm tall. As for eating, I used to eat meat but now I eat more vegetables than meat. When I was younger, I didn't use to read any books, but now I like reading storybooks. When I was in primary school, I used to play football after school, but now I have to go right home and do homework, I didn't use to like math and I used to be terrified of tests, but now I like all the subjects and never mind tests any more. In the past, I used to have time chatting with my parents, but now I hardly ever chat. I have to study. I miss the old days.

    Once upon a time, a proud (骄傲的) Swallow lived in a large tree. He liked his colorful feathers (羽毛) and his long tail so much that he believed nothing could be better than them. One day he saw a Crow and thought. "How silly this bird is! All his feathers are black." He looked at himself lovingly and enjoyed his own feathers.

    Just then, the crow flew and sat on the same branch as the Swallow. The Swallow said, "All your feathers are black and your tail is so short." The Crow smiled and said. "But they help me fly." The Swallow said. "So do mine. But look at how beautiful they are!" He spread (展开) his wings and flew a little closer to the Crow. The Crow saw that the Swallow had lots of blue feathers and some white and pink ones, too. He looked at his own feathers and thought, "It's true. The Swallow's feathers are much prettier than mine."

    The Crow said, "Swallow, you're right. You have lovely feathers and a long tail, but only in summer. Your little feathers cannot keep you warm in winters at all. While you shiver (颤抖) in the cold, my thick feathers keep me warm in the cold winters."

Spring is a warm season.  There are a lot of interesting things for you to do.  Let's see and join in one of them. 

Take a walk in the park

A long walk in the park is good for your health.  And you may forget your boring things when you are walking.  Sometimes the sun is behind the clouds, and this time is the best for walking. 

Birdwatching

Spring comes and the birds come along with the warm weather.  Go out and hear the birds singing in the trees and watch them flying in the sky.  This can bring you much relaxing fun. 

Play in the rain

The next time you are indoors or even outdoors on a wet spring day, throw away the umbrella.  ____ rain boots and a rain jacket and play outside in the rain.  It is a happy time for you. 

Go on a picnic

It may be wet sometimes, but on a sunny day, spring gives us good weather for outdoor activities like picnics.  This is a good time to go out as a family or group of friends.  It must be fun. 

①The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides a year into twenty- four solar terms. Start of winter, Lidong in Chinese, the 19th solar term of the year, falls on November 7th this year.

②Lidong was once a big day in ancient(古代的) China. Before the day, the emperor(帝王) would take a shower and have no meat. On that day, the emperor and his officials(官员) would all dress in black and go out of the city to welcome winter. Today, to welcome the day, some people choose to have swimming competitions in the rivers in some cold places such as Harbin in Heilongjiang Province.

③As winter comes, the weather gets colder and colder. Chinese people often eat enough food to keep their bodies warm and healthy. On the day of Lidong, people in North China love eating dumplings. In South China, people love to eat chicken, duck and fish. In some places in Guangdong Province, people eat sugar cane(甘蔗) on the day. They think this is good for their teeth. In Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, people will eat green onions for good health. In Taiwan Province, people often eat mutton.

④Lidong is the time to start wearing warm clothes. In old times, the emperor would hand out warm winter clothes to the officials on the day. People would also remember to give" clothes" to their lost family. They would also have delicious food to show how much they missed the lost ones.

 Sugar painting is a traditional Chinese form of art. Just as its name suggests, the paintings are made from. sugar. They can be either regarded as works of art or eaten as desserts. In and around China's southwestern Sichuan Province, it is usual to see. some folk artists producing sugar paintings along the streets, in the parks and around the schools.

 The art of sugar painting goes back to the Ming Dynasty, about 400 to 600 years ago. At that time, the upper- class people used sugar paintings as offerings to gods. Some common patterns were tigers, lions, dragons and so on. Later it became popular among the common people. In the Qing Dynasty, sugar painting became more popular. Many people made a living by making and

selling sugar paintings as desserts. The patterns for sugar paintings included all kinds of things that people liked.

 Sugar painting is very different from the other forms of painting. First, the artist doesn't use brushes, oil paints or paper to create paintings. instead, the artist uses brown sugar or white sugar as the main material, a spoon and a shovel as the tools, and a marble slab as the" paper". When the painting is done, the artist uses a wooden stick to hold it. Second. the artist has to produce the work very quickly, since it's nearly impossible to paint if the hot sugar cools down. Thira, the sugar painting is finished in one stroke, so the artist should design a pattern and the order of stroke in mind before any action. And the artist must follow the order while making the painting, or he/ she will ruin it. To know the whole process very well, the painter has to practice hundreds of times in the first place.