In much of Asia, especially the stalled “rice bowl” cultures of China, Japan, Korea,{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Vietnam, food is usually eaten with chopsticks.

    Chopsticks are usually two long, thin pieces of wood or bamboo. They can also be made of plastic, animal bone or metal. Sometimes chopsticks are quite artistic. Truly elegant chopsticks might{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (make) of gold and silver with Chinese characters. Skilled workers also combine (结合) various hardwoods and metal{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(create) special designs.

    The Chinese have used chopsticks for five thousand years. People probably cooked their food in large pots,{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (use) twigs (树枝) to remove it. Over time,{#blank#}5{#/blank#}the population grew, people began cutting food into small pieces so it would cook more quickly. Food in small pieces could be eaten easily with twigs which{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(gradual) turned into chopsticks.

    Some people think that the great Chinese scholar Confucius,{#blank#}7{#/blank#} lived from roughly 551 to 479 B.C., influenced the{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(develop) of chopsticks. Confucius believed knives would remind people of killings and {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (be) too violent for use at the table.

    Chopsticks are not used everywhere in Asia. In India, for example, most people traditionally eat{#blank#}10{#/blank#} their hands.

    Gabi Rizea only discovered his talent for woodcarving three years ago, and has since put{#blank#}1{#/blank#} to good use, saving dozens of old tree stumps (树桩) from {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (remove) by turning them into impressive works of art.

    Rizea became a woodcarver{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (complete) by accident. Three years ago, after buying himself a new chainsaw (链锯), he{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (start) “playing” with it on a block of wood. He tried carving a human face into the wood, and to his surprise, it turned out pretty good. Today, he is so good at woodcarving that his home city allows him to work his magic on old tree stumps and so far about 40 works of art{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(create) in the local parks.

    “In 99% of the cases, the wood just doesn't match my ideas,” he said in an interview. “I first have to remove all the rotten parts, and sometimes{#blank#}6{#/blank#} is left isn't enough for my designs.”

    Following his recent rise to fame, Rizea has been asked by many{#blank#}7{#/blank#} (city), including the capital of Romania to transform their old tree trunks {#blank#}8{#/blank#} works of art. He promised to honor their requests, but he will never repeat any of the artworks{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (find) in his home city.

    In spite of his obvious talent, the Romanian {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (art) recently got into art school in order to fully master woodcarving.

    It was a dreadfully cold and cloudy afternoon. I was on the bus with my children, aged four and two, {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(head) home when it started to rain. I realized this would mean a wet walk home {#blank#}2{#/blank#} the bus stop.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} my house was only two blocks away, it was not a pleasant walk with one small boy asleep in the pram (手推婴儿车), the other one in a raincoat and no umbrella for myself. A pick-up truck passed us on the road. I tried to thumb a ride but failed. My little boy woke up with a start and began to cry. I {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(convince) that things might become worse and nobody would bother to help on such a terrible day. A few minutes later, {#blank#}5{#/blank#}truck drove by, but to my surprise, I saw it pulling back and the driver looking directly at us. A young man put the window down. “Hey, here's an umbrella for you, please take {#blank#}6{#/blank#}.” He called out. I stood there{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(astonish), barely believing that the man {#blank#}8{#/blank#}existence was unknown to me only moments ago, could be so{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(consider). “Come on, give this to your mummy,” he said to my older son. I accepted the offer and expressed my gratitude to him.

    This man might have needed the umbrella for himself later during the day but preferred to give it to me. It was a lesson to me {#blank#}10{#/blank#} it's possible to give without expecting anything in return.

    One Sunday morning in August I {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(go) to the local music festival. I left it early because I had an appointment {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(late) that day. My friends walked me to the bus stop and waited with me until the bus arrived.

    I got on the bus and found a seat near the back, and then I noticed a man {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(sit) at the front. He was pretending that a tiger toy was real and giving it a voice. He must be {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(mental) disabled. Behind him were other people to whom he was trying to talk, but after some minutes, he walked away and sat near me, looking {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(annoy).

    I didn't want to be laughed at for {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(talk) to him but I didn't like leaving him on his own {#blank#}7{#/blank#}.

    After a while I rose from my seat and walked to the front of the bus. I sat next to the man and introduced{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (I).

    We had {#blank#}9{#/blank#}amazing conversation. He got off the bus before me and I felt very happy the rest of the way home.

    I'm glad I made a choice. It made {#blank#}10{#/blank#} of us feel good.

    Have you ever wondered{#blank#}1{#/blank#}children always seem to have bas of energy and never run out of steam? Researchers have discovered that children have levels of recovery of endurance athletes. In fact, scientists say children's muscles recover from "high-intensity exercise" a lot {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(quick)than athletes. A study looked at the performance levels of children when they were cycling, and compared their fitness to {#blank#}3{#/blank#} of athletes. Rwsearcher Dr Sebastien Ratel suggested they{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(find)the children used more of their aerobic metabolism and were therefore less tired during the high-intensity physical activities. The children also recovered very quickly—even faster than the well-trained adult endurance athletes.

    The researchers hope that{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(they)finding will help scientists have a better {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(understand) of how the human body changes with age. It could lead to advantages in the fight{#blank#}7{#/blank#}diabetes and other diseases. Dr Ratel said the research was{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(particular)important as more children were become less active. He warned." With the diseases related to physical inactivity{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(rise), know the changes with growth that might contribute to the risk of disease."{#blank#}10{#/blank#}is helpful for children to maintain their fitness as they grow up and play as much as they could so they renin healthy as adults.

    Mr.Johnson lived in the woods with his wife and children. He owned {#blank#}1{#/blank#} farm, which looked almost abandoned. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (lucky), he also had a cow which produced milk every day. He sold or exchanged some of the milk in the towns nearby {#blank#}3{#/blank#} other food and made cheese and butter for the family with what {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (leave).The cow was their only means of support, in fact. One day, the cow was eating grass {#blank#}5{#/blank#} it began to rain heavily. While making great efforts to run away, she {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (fall) over the hill and died. Then the Johnsons had to make a living {#blank#}7{#/blank#} the cow. In order to support his family, Mr. Johnson began to plant herbs and vegetables. Since the plants took a while to grow, he started cutting down trees {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (sell) the wood. Thinking about his children's clothes, he started growing cotton too. When harvest came around, he was already selling herbs, vegetables and cotton in the market{#blank#}9{#/blank#} people from the towns met regularly. Now it occurred to {#blank#}10{#/blank#} that his farm had much potential and that the death of the cow was a bit of luck.