A Bite of China

    Are you aneating-lover? Do you want to eat every delicious food in the world? Then do you watch the popular program A Bite of China? It's a TV program on Chinese delicious food which has been produced by CCTV. Is there any holiday that isn't celebrated with special festival food? Here are several traditional Chinese foods:

    Noodles are asymbol of long life in Chinese culture. They are as much a part of Chinese birthday celebration as a birthday cake with its candles lit in many western countries. Since noodles mean long life, it is considered very unlucky to cut it off.

    Although westerners sometimes may be very sorry to see fish lying on the plate, in Chinaa whole fish is a symbol of richness. In fact, at a party it is a tradition to serve the whole fish last, pointed towards the most valued guest. Fish also has a special meaning because the Chinese word for fish, yu, sounds like the word for richness or plenty, and it is believed that eating fish will help your wishes come true in the year to come.

    A very popular dish during the Dragon Boat Festival is Zongzi. This tasty dish is made of rice dumplings with meat, peanuts or other delicious food in bamboo leaves. The tradition of Zongzi is meant to remind us of a great man, Qu Yuan in Chinese history.

Cats are the most popular pets among Americans. So it is not surprising there are many expressions about cats. Do you know any of them? Now let me introduce some to you.

Some cats like to catch small birds, like canaries. If someone looks very proud or satisfied with himself, we say he looks like the cat that ate the canary.

Sometimes, a cat likes to play with a small animal it catches. So if you play cat and mouse with someone, you change between different kinds of behavior when dealing with another person. For example, a child might offer something sweet to her little brother, and then take it away when she reaches for it.

A cat will often catch a small animal and present it to its owner. The saying that looks like something the cat dragged in describes something in bad condition.

A fat cat is a person with a lot of money.

There are many other expressions about cats in America. How interesting! Which kind of cat are you, or which kind would you like to be?

    Compared with other European countries, lifestyle in Italy is slower and more relaxing in its own way. Italians love to chat over a cup of coffee, go out for a walk in the middle of the day, and enjoy long lunches and dinners.

    The family is important to Italians. They can't think of spending a day without talking about their parents and children, or a weekend without a family lunch or dinner. Italians living outside their country miss their family a lot.

    Italians like simple life. Their days start and end with a cup of coffee. A cup of coffee after every meal is a must. Italians love to spend time over a hot cup of coffee and even hotter conversation with friends. Topics are usually about family, football and politics(政治).

    Sport is a very important part in lives of many Italians. Football is their favorite sport. There are hundreds of football clubs with top football teams in Italy. Also, many top players from all over the world play in Italy. Volleyball is also popular and so is rugby, with the top rugby team playing for the European Challenge Cup.

Every Italian province, city, town and street has a historical event that took place there and the Italian calendar is filled with national holidays that they love to celebrate.

    China is a great country with the largest population in the world. In order to solve the population problem, our government carried out one﹣child policy （政 策）before. When it is carried out for some time, many people not only see its advantages but also disadvantages.

    From 2016, two﹣child policy is put into effect. In my opinion, two﹣child policy is good. First of all, two﹣child policy is the gift for some only child. For some families, maybe the parents are only child and they also can have only child. Besides the loneliness of their child, when their child grows up and they grow older, their child marry an only child girl, the burden（负担）on their child and his wife is too heavy. Their child and his wife have to take care of two couples. Usually, a young couple looking after an old couple is a little difficult. But if their parents have two children, they can share the burden of taking care of their parents. It would be much better. Secondly, two﹣child policy can guarantee （保证） the number of Chinese population.

    All in all, one﹣child policy has been out of date. And two﹣child policy is needed and necessary. It can solve the problems of nowadays （现在）and the future.

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    Clothing is a language. It tells us about individual people: their personality, age, place in society and so on. If we want to know more about society, we can look at traditional clothing.

    The continent of Africa has a long history and a rich culture, and this is shown in traditional dress. You often find three colors— red, gold and green in the clothing. The first color stands for the blood of millions of people who suffered as slaves(奴隶), the second is for the rich resources of the African earth, and the third represents the grasslands of home.

    The patterns on the clothing also have a meaning. A common pattern is in the form of a cross “×”, which stands for “unity”. Another pattern is a rectangular（矩形） box, which represents “strength”.

    Because clothing has a strong social meaning, people are very careful in choosing what to wear. It would be a serious mistake to wear the wrong clothing, or to wear clothes in the wrong way. For instance, in Ghana, a woman should wear her waistband differently according to the importance of the social event. 

    Traditional dress also tells us about everyday life. African designs are famous for loose(宽松的) clothing. The climate, with the hot sun and wide temperature ranges(变化), requires that the clothes are comfortable for daily life. 

    Although many people wear western clothes, particularly in the big cities in Africa, traditional dress is very highly valued(评价). This is because it has deep cultural meanings.

    The Nobel Prize is named after Alfred Nobel (1833--1896), a Swedish inventor and businessman. During his lifetime, Alfred Nobel contributed to more than 350 inventions and set up 87 companies around the world. When he died, he left the largest part of this fortune, a total of 9 million, to be used to found the Nobel Prize. Now the prizes are given to the people in six areas: peace, literature(文学), physics, chemistry, medicine and economy.

    Winners can be individuals (个人) or organizations. The Red Cross, for example, has won three times. Prizes are sometimes shared between up to three people. Prize winners receive a medal, a certificate (证书) and 10 million Swedish crowns(克郎，货币单位). Generally those who win a Nobel Prize value the honor more than the money they receive.

    The youngest person ever to win a Nobel Prize was just 25 years old. He was Lawrence Bragg, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1915 together with his father. The oldest winner is Leonid. He won the Prize in Economic Sciences in 2007 when he was 90 years old.

    So far, more than ten Chinese people have won dais great prize. The most recent ones are Mo Yan and Tu Youyou.