Tins of cooling ointment (清凉油) have become a currency for Chinese traveling in Egypt.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (visit)the complex of ancient temples at Karnak, Chinese tourist Mr. Ye lost his way among the stone churches and pillars.

    An Egyptian guide gave him directions. To show his {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (appreciate), Mr. Ye handed him a small red tin the size of a large coin. Inside {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (be) a cooling ointment that has the function of refreshing mind and preventing pain. Mr. Ye brought 50 tins with him on his six-day tour to hand out as tips.

    "Before I came to Egypt, the tourism agency told me {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (repeat) to bring cooling balm as a gift to make the trip {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (easy)," said Mr. Ye, a 25-year-old {#blank#}6{#/blank#} family sells Chinese medicine online. Egyptians, he said, are very nice to Chinese tourists, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} they love this little gift."

    Egyptians sometimes demand the balm by running a thumb across their foreheads. Li Xiaodong, an Egyptologist at China's Northeast Normal University, believes Chinese travelers initially brought cooling balm for {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (person) use because it's very hot in Egypt, then {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (discover) Egyptians liked it.

    Some Chinese tourists said giving gifts feels better than handing over money. "If you give essential balm, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} is more like you're giving it to friends," said one Chinese tourist.

    Wang Wei and Wang Kun are brothers and sisters. They have dreamed of {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(take) a great bike trip. It was Wang Wei {#blank#}2{#/blank#} first had the idea to cycle along the Mekong River and finally they{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(ride) bicycles to travel along the river, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} source is in Qinghai Province. When it enters Southeast Asia, it travels slowly through hills and low valleys and the plains {#blank#}5{#/blank#} rice grows. Despite the {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(difficult), Wang Kun and Wang Wei were {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(determination) to begin their journey at {#blank#}8{#/blank#} altitude of more than 5,000 metres in Qinghai Province. During their journey, they enjoyed the {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (continue) change of the weather. At last they reached Dali in Yunnan, where Dao Wei and Yu Hang joined them. The four of them went on {#blank#}10{#/blank#}their great bike trip.

    Yuan Longping was born in 1930.Since he graduated from Southwest Agricultural College in 1953, he{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(devote)his life to finding ways{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(grow)more and more rice. As a young man, he saw the great need for increasing the rice output. At that time{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(hungry)was a serious problem in many parts of the countryside. Yuan searched {#blank#}4{#/blank#} a way to increase rice harvests without {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(expand) the areas of the fields. In 1950, Chinese farmers could produce about 56 million tons of rice. In{#blank#}6{#/blank#}recent harvest, however, nearly 200 million tons of rice were produced. These increased harvests mean that 22% of the world's people{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(feed)from just 7% of the farmland in the world. Yuan Long Ping is now circulating his knowledge in India and many other less{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(develop)countries to increase their rice harvests.{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(thank)to his research, the UN is trying to rid the world{#blank#}10{#/blank#}hunger. Using his hybrid rice, farmers are producing harvests twice as large as before.

    Few people I know seem to have much desire or time to cook. Making Chinese {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(dish) is seen as especially troublesome. Many westerners {#blank#}2{#/blank#} come to China cook much less than in their own countries once they realize how cheap {#blank#}3{#/blank#} can be to eat out. I still remember {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (visit) a friend who'd lived here for five years and I {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(shock) when I learnt she hadn't cooked once in all that time.

    While regularly eating out seems to {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(become) common for many young people in recent years, it's not without a cost. The obvious one is money; eating out once or twice a week may be {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(afford) but doing this most days adds up. There could be an even {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (high) cost on your health. Researchers have found that there is a direct link between the increase in food eaten outside the home and the rise in {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(weigh) problems.

    If you are not going to suffer this problem, then I suggest that the next time you go to your mum's home {#blank#}10{#/blank#} dinner, get a few cooking tips from her. Cooking food can be fun. You might also begin to notice the effects not only on your health but in your pocket.

    Spring Festival is the most celebrated festival in China. On that day and over the following two weeks, people greet each other. Streets and houses {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(decorate)by many things of red color.

    Spring Festival is a time for expressing gratefulness. Gratefulness is a Chinese virtue. A regular activity is offering sacrifice to the heaven and to the earth, and to ancestors. It is meant{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(show) gratefulness to the origin of life.

    Spring Festival is also a salute{#blank#}3{#/blank#}another Chinese virtue, diligence(勤劳).We Chinese people believe that only with{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(we) own hands can we create a happy and beautiful life. Some activities staged during Spring Festival{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(most) reflect daily working scenes such as harvesting and fishing.

    Spring Festival also calls for sharing,{#blank#}6{#/blank#}value long kept by Chinese. As the old saying goes, good fortune should be shared, and misfortune be faced together. In some areas, people bring foods to a public place and have fun together by having games or{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(perform).

    As ware celebrating Spring Festival，the festival is getting more popular in the west.{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (tradition)Chinese activities，such as the dragon dance and the Peking Opera, are performed as a fixed program，{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (add) diversity to local culture. It indicates the trends of mutual (相互的)learning and harmonious coexistence(共存) between civilizations,{#blank#}10{#/blank#}are expected to contribute to the building of a shared future for humankind.

    One sentence from the news in Washington has remained in my mind since a trip last summer: "When you see people run against the crowd escaping{#blank#}1{#/blank#}the danger, they are {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(probable) firefighters, police or journalists.

    I think this is most true for the firefighters. Whenever and wherever {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (disaster) happen — 911 Attacks in New York 14 years ago or the explosion in Tianjin on Wednesday night — it is always the firefighters{#blank#}4{#/blank#}take the lead to run to the very center, saving lives by{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (risk) their own. I cried today near the explosion site, not because of the smoke from the ongoing fire {#blank#}6{#/blank#} because of a short message a firefighter sent to a trusted friend that went viral online. It reads, "If I cannot make it, my father is {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(you); and please remember{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(sweep) my mother's tomb." I was thrilled later to learn that he did make it.

    “Everyone knows it's {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (danger) to be a firefighter. But he has always liked it and has done it for 12 years," his father said. "He survived this time, but no one knows what{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (happen) next time.”