Nowadays, lots of foreigners are learning Chinese. Like many of them, I 1 knew two words of Chinese ("Ni Hao" and "Xie Xie") when I first came to Beijing, China in 2009. As you can guess, my life was 2 for a while after I arrived. Simple tasks like ordering food or taking a taxi were quite stressful.

    I knew I had to learn more Chinese, so I 3 a Chinese class. My teacher was 4, although I didn't learn enough to have a real conversation. Later I studied on my own as well, but my progress was still slow. And I decided to 5.

    Around this time, I started playing in a band with a Chinese man who became one of my best friends in Beijing. He taught me a lot of 6 about music, such as "melody". He learned a lot of English from me in return, so it was a good way to 7 language and culture.

    I have learned enough Chinese to 8 many problems like booking train tickets. These days, there are more foreigners who are studying Chinese. I can 9 why it's an amazing language. Finally, I found that the best way to learn a 10 is to make friends with native speakers and spend time with them.

    David Beckham opened his London football academy (学院) in 2005. The academy welcomed boys and girls aged 8 to 15. It accepted 15,0001a year, 10,000 of them free. In America, football is a2sport.3, American football is quite different. Players sometimes kick the ball but they often throw the ball and4with it. They try to take it to the other end of the field. They have four chances to5the ball ten yards (码). They can6and throw it. If they move the ball ten yards, they can try to move it7ten yards.8they move it to the end of the field, they can get six points.

    It is difficult to move the9. Eleven men on the other team try to stop the man with the ball. If he doesn't move the ball ten yards, his team kicks the ball to the other team.10university wants its own team to win. Thousands of people come to watch. They all shout for their11teams.

    Young men and women come on the field to help the people shout more. Each team plays 10 or 11 games each12. The season begins in September and ends in November. If a team is very good, it can play another game13the season ends. The14teams play again on January 1st, the first day of the New Year. Many people go to see these games and many others watch them15TV.

May Day is coming. We are making 1 for traveling. We'll go on a 2 to Hainan. It's a good 3 for holidays and my aunt lives there, too. I hope 4 with her. My mother also 5 this holiday will come very soon. Sanya is a beautiful city in Hainan. It's 6 in May. When we get there, we'll see flowers everywhere (到处). I can 7 skirts there. We can see the sea (大海) there and swim in the sea. We'll 8 a lot of photos. We also want to visit some other places of 9 . Oh, I think the food there is different 10 ours. It must be very delicious. It's wonderful! 

Walking around the city, you will see girls wearing hanfu on the underground or people wearing T-shirt with Chinese characters in the streets. 

This situation is becoming more and more common in China. It's guochao or China-Chic. Guochao adds traditional Chinese culture {#blank#}1{#/blank#} products, and it shows the rise of China's local brands. 

Before 2018, famous foreign companies p{#blank#}2{#/blank#} a main role in the world market. There were few Chinese brands. In 2018, Chinese sportswear brand Li Ning made changes to the situation. It introduced its Wu Dao collection to the world. The collection not only looked cool, but also i{#blank#}3{#/blank#} elements (元素) of traditional Chinese culture. It quickly {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(catch) people's eyes at home and abroad. And it created a{#blank#}5{#/blank#} sales. 

Soon, Chinese local brands became more and more popular all over China. For example, White Rabbit, whose sweet candies bring back childhood m{#blank#}6{#/blank#}for many people, began to sell other products, like milk tea and ice-cream. By doing so, it w{#blank#}7{#/blank#} the heart of young people. 

These brands got what they wanted. Young people gradually turned their attention from western culture to guochao. Some of them are {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (work) together to spread Chinese culture to people around the world. 

According to a survey, 68% Chinese people prefer Chinese brands. Among them, 62% say they are o{#blank#}9{#/blank#}to international brands, but local brands remain the first {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (choose). 

No matter how guochao develops, there is one, thing that won't change-people are, becoming more and more confident about our country's development and culture. 

Winter comes after autumn and before spring. It brings snow and ice. Here are different ways to know it's winter.

The days are short and the nights are cold. The winter solstice (冬至) is the start of the coldest days in winter, and it is the shortest day of the year!

The sun isn't warm in winter. There is lots of snow in winter. People and animals don't like to go outside.

In winter, when you look outside, you'll see a lot of brown things, not the green ones. There are no leaves on most of the trees.

Some animals hibernate. They sleep in winter. But others keep food in autumn to eat in winter, because it is difficult to find food. Many birds fly from the north to warm places for the winter. They will come back when spring comes.

One of the world's most dangerous sports is mountain climbing, and one of the most popular places for this is the Himalayas. The Himalayas are in the southwestern part of China. Of all the mountains. Qomolangma rises the highest and it's the most famous. It is 8,848.86 meters high. and so is very dangerous to climb. Thick clouds cover the top and snow can fall very hard. Even more serious difficulties include freezing weather conditions and heavy storms. It is also very hard to take in air as you get near the top. 

The first people to reach the top were Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary on May 29.1953. The first Chinese team did so in 1960, while the first woman to succeed was Junko Tabei from Japan in 1975. 

Why do so many climbers risk their lives? One of the main reasons is that people want to challenge themselves in the face of difficulties. The spirit of these climbers shows us that we should never give up trying to achieve our dreams. It also shows that humans can sometimes be stronger than the forces of nature.