My great-grandmother, Ethel, came from England to the United States in 1921. She brought almost nothing with her-just a few clothes and trinkets(小饰物). But she did bring some customs from "the old country" that she had learned as she grew up.

    One custom was that if you dropped a glass or a cup and it broke, you would throw a little salt over your left shoulder. It was funny that she did that-she wasn't superstitious(迷信的) in other ways. I think that she grew up doing that, so she continued to do it as a connection to her childhood.

    Ethel also taught us a New Year's Day custom that our family continues to follow today. To celebrate the new year, we would travel to a friend's house for a quick visit. My great-grandmother always took a pound of butter with her on our visits. We would enter the friend's house through the back door. The butter we brought was to give our friend a "gift of gold" to symbolize hope for prosperity in the new year.

    After my great-grandmother died, we still visited people on the first day of January, but eventually we stopped bringing the butter. We never did throw salt over our shoulders after breaking a glass or a cup. Some customs are continued when they cross from one country to another, but some customs fade away.

    The story about Miss Evans is a true story.

    On the way to England from the U.S. in April 1912, a new large ship hit an iceberg (冰山) and water began to come over it.

    Everyone came out and went up to the higher part of the ship. The man put down some lifeboats into the water and helped the women and the children to get on them. Suddenly a woman shouted and wanted to stay with her children in the boat, but there was no more room for her. At that moment Miss Evans let that woman take her place. Soon after that the ship went down. Miss Evans lost her life.

    If you speak about Miss Evans in Boston today, nobody knows more about her than that, but she is one of the greatest women in America.

There are many wetlands (湿地) in China ‒ and some of them have become the world's important wetlands. The Chinese Yellow Sea Wetlands are {#blank#}1{#/blank#} them. They are in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province. They are {#blank#}2{#/blank#} to many different kinds of animals. The world's {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Milu deer nature reserve (自然保护区) is on these wetlands. More than 700 Milu deer live there. There are not many red-crowned cranes (丹顶鹤) {#blank#}4{#/blank#} in the world, but every winter, you can see some in the red-crowned crane nature reserve in the Yellow Sea Wetlands.

    The {#blank#}5{#/blank#} in the wetlands is neither too high nor too low. There is  {#blank#}6{#/blank#} rain and sunshine, too. They are a good place for wildlife. But offering food and shelter for special kinds of animals is not the  {#blank#}7{#/blank#} reason we need to protect wetlands. Wetlands are important {#blank#}8{#/blank#} they also prevent floods. But some people want to {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the wetlands to make more space for farms and less space for wildlife.

    More people are beginning to realize the {#blank#}10{#/blank#} of wetlands and wildlife. Every year, on Feb 2, many activities are held to teach people about the wetlands.

Along with firewood (柴), rice, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, tea is considered one of the seven necessities for life in China. Now, it has also won global (全球的) attention as a shared cultural treasure of mankind.

Since ancient times, Chinese people have been planting, picking, making and drinking tea. More importantly, China's tea culture has developed social custom. It is Chinese tradition that a host should welcome visiting guests with boiled tea. A poem by Song poet Du Lei reads: I offer tea, not wine, to a guest on a cold night.

Boiling tea is one of the oldest Chinese tea brewing (煮沏) methods, dating back (追溯) to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Tea leaves were boiled for a long time and sometimes they were cooked together with different kinds of herbs (草药) and fruits. During this process, people can enjoy a quiet time. Later in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), a faster and more convenient method become more popular—steeping (冲泡).

However, the old method is now making a comeback among Chinese young people. On the app Xiaohongshu, here are over 40,000 posts on the topic of "stove-boiled" tea (围炉煮茶). They roast tea leaves before boiling them in a teapot on a stove. People sit around the stove in a natural setting and have snacks with their hot tea. Some also wear traditional hanfu as if it could take them back to those ancient times.

Through "stove-boiled" tea, people can taste a slower life and find their inner peace (内心平和). As is written in one Xiaohongshu post, "It is very relaxing to drink hot tea and chat with best friends."

① Animal behavior is an interesting and attractive study. Scientists research the ways animals use to look for food. They study how animals protect themselves from their predators, and which animals kill other animals for food. All of this helps us understand how useful animals can be.

② Each country or culture raises some animals for food. In the United States, people mainly eat meat from cows, chickens and pigs. In some other countries, people might raise sheep or buffalo for meat. These differences come in part from weather and other environmental conditions (状况). People around the world eat al kinds of fish and shellfish from oceans and rivers. In some countries, people don't always choose some animal groups, such as dogs, for food while in other countries such animals may become people's favorite food.

③ In West Africa, animals provide humans with more than food. They have been helping people do daily work for thousands of years. Horses, oxen, and other work animals pull heavy things. Elephants, camels and other animals carry people and things from place to place. Carrier pigeons (信鸽) have been used to send messages.

④ People also receive health benefits (利益) from animals. For example, dogs and cats can help calm people down. This is helpful for people fighting illnesses. Animals can also reduce stress, helping people to draw their attention to learning new information, such as reading. When people are walking their dogs or horses, it encourages exercise.

⑤ Animals and humans share space on Earth, so keeping a healthy relationship with animals around us is in our best interest.