Basketball stars become hip-hop singers. It's true. In NBA, hip-hop music is very popular. Many of the players, like Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers, write rap(说唱) words when they travel on planes from one city to another. Some of them even have rap radio shows and others perform(表演) in music video.

    When some of the younger stars play basketball, they even try to look like hip-hop singers. “Hip-hop is just part of their culture,” says one player. “All of us grew up listening to rap and playing basketball, and rappers grew up doing the same thing.”

    Master P. is a famous rap star who wants to become a basketball player. Two NBA teams have invited him to join them. They enjoy listening to his music. An NBA player has become a rapper. He has made four successful rap albums(专辑).

    NBA has a closer connection to hip-hop than any other sports league.

    The Silk Road is the name of different roads that long ago connected Europe, Africa and Asia. People reached these different places along these roads. Scientists believe people began to travel the Silk Road about 3000 years ago. By the time the Chinese silk trade became important in the world. The Silk Road covered almost 6500 kilometers. It went from Rome to China, which is from the West to the Far East.

    Merchants travelled along the Silk Road to carry silk, of course. They also carried and traded other things like spices (香料), cloth, jewels and gold.

    Along and around these ancient path(小路), have come many fascinating and mysterious stories.

    It is said that Roman soldiers who lost a war travelled through central Asia. They decided to live somewhere near the ancient Chinese villages. Some of these Romans married local Chinese women and the legend of the blond-haired, blue-eyed tribes of China was started.

    Some historians believe that the people of Kashmir were taken away from their country Israel. They were prisoners (俘虏) of war almost 2800 years ago. People say that these people travelled along the Silk Road. They kept their Jewish way of life for a long time.

    During its busiest period, the Silk Road allowed people from many different cultures and countries to meet each other and mix. The Silk Road allowed the sharing of valuable things and new ideas. It included people and trading goods from different areas. All these peoples travelled the Silk Road. And they shared goods, stories, languages, and cultures.

    In modern times, the old Silk Road routes (路线) are still used, but now they are crossed by trains instead of camels and horses. There is even silk route museum in Jiuquan in China. It has over 35, 000 objects from all along the Silk Road. In this way, China protects the history of many countries and peoples.

    Today we are learning about World Water Day. Our teacher asks us to find something about it and then write a report. So I look for the following information on the Internet.

    World Water Day is on March 22 every year. It teaches people the importance of fresh water. And it asks people to do something to save water. Nowadays, the water problem is a serious problem for the people in the world.

    Many schools give much support (支持) to World Water Day. They are trying to teach students the importance of saving and reusing water. For example, Michigan State University held a contest(竞赛)for" best World Water Day poster" in2017. Primary school children in the Philippines took part in a "My School Toilet" contest in 2010.

    As for World Water Day, there is also a theme (主题) for each year, such as "Leaving no one behind" in 2019, " Nature for Water" in 2018 and" Why Waste Water?" in 2017. The first World Water Day started in 1993. It is an international day now.

    If someone says to you: "give me five", do not search your pocket to get five yuan! It will make others laugh! The person's not asking for your money, but your fingers.

    In the US, "give me five" or "give me the high five" is a popular gesture (动作). You can see it often in films or on TV It means the clapping (拍) of each other's raised right hands together.

    People do it when they meet for the first time or something happy happens. For example, a student has good marks in exams or wins a lottery ticket (彩票). If a football team wins a game, the players will give high fives to everyone around to celebrate.

    This gesture may come from the old Roman gesture of raising the right arm for the emperor to show respect. This also showed that the person raising his am did not have a sword (刀) in his hand.

    Why not try to give the high five to your friends?

    Xi'an celebrates the first-ever China Hanfu Day on April 18. There were catwalk shows and traditional music concerts held by people wearing traditional Chinese clothing. Hanfu fans from all over China gathered there to take photos and put them online for a Hanfu photo competition, which lasted until May 18.

    The national holiday is on the third day of the third month of the Chinese lunar calendar as China Hanfu Day, which is said to be the birthday of the Yellow Emperor (黄帝). In ancient China, this day was also known as Shangsi Festival (上巳节). It is organized by the central Committee of the Communist Young League (CCCYL,中央共青团)in cooperation (合作)with anime video site bilibili.com. Its purpose is to encourage young Chinese to take pride in traditional clothing, as well as classic Chinese culture.

    Hanfu is the traditional clothing of the Han people who lived in China before the Qing Dynasty. It has been around for about 3,000 years and changed greatly across different dynasties. However, some of its major characteristics have remained. One characteristic is the appearance of the front of the clothing. There are two parts that overlap (交叠) on the front, which is called "jiao ling (crossing collar)". Another major characteristic of Hanfu is that it usually uses ribbons(系带) instead of buttons (扣子), sometimes decorated with a few buttons.

    "China is becoming a leading power in the world, and the Chinese public feels more confident about its traditional culture,"Chen Chuyu, leader of a Beijing-based hanfu institution, told People's Daily Online. "Wearing traditional clothing might be an interesting way of showing how they feel about this."

Xiajiang Village is in Chun'an County (县), Zhejiang and has a population of about 800. It takes about 3 hours to drive from Hangzhou to get to the small village. It is famous for its beautiful views. Many tourists like to spend their holidays here. 

The village has a history of over 800 years. The first people here were from Sichuan during the Northern Song Dynasty. From then on, they have called the village home. 

It has beautiful views, but the village is far from big cities. So few people knew about it in the past. One part of the famous movie My People My Homeland was made here in 2020. The successful movie has brought a lot of tourists here from then on. 

Tourists like the green mountains, fresh air and clean water here. Everywhere in the village, you can notice green grass, red flowers and nice trees. There are also many things for tourists to do here. They can learn to make zongzi, visit farmers' houses and learn some farming work. At night, they can live in bed-and-breakfast places. The village was named in the list (名单) of Best Tourism (旅游) Villages in 2023. 

It is never very hot in summer or very cold in winter. So come and see the beautiful village at any time of the year.