Food festivals around the world

Stilton Cheese Rolling

    May Day is a traditional day for celebrations, but the 2,000 English villagers of Stilton must be the only people in the world who include cheese rolling in their annual plans. Teams of four, dressed in a variety of strange and funny clothes, roll a complete cheese along a 50-metre course. On the way, they must not kick or throw their cheese, or go into their competitors' lane（赛道）. Competition is fierce and the chief prize is a complete Stilton cheese weighing about four kilos (disappointingly, but understandably the cheeses used in the race are wooden ones). All the competitors arc served with beer or port wine, the traditional accompaniment for Stilton cheese.

Fiery Foods Festival—The Hottest Festival on Earth

    Every year more than 10,000 people head for the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. They come from as far away as Australia, the Caribbean and China, but they all share a common addiction—food that is not just spicy（辛辣）,but hot enough to make your mouth burn, your head spin and your eyes water. Their destination is the Fiery Food and BBQ Festival which is held over a period of three clays every March. You might like to try a chocolate-covered habanero pepper—officially the hottest pepper in the world—or any one of the thousands of products that are on show. But one thing's for sure—if you don't like the feeling of a burning tongue, this festival isn't for you!

La Tomatina—The World's Biggest Food Fight

    On the last Wednesday of every August, the Spanish town of Bunol hosts Ea Tomatina—the world's largest food fight. A week-long celebration leads up to an exciting tomato battle as the highlight of the week's events. The early morning sees the arrival of large trucks with tomatoes—official fight-starters get things going by casting tomatoes at the crowd.

    The battle lasts little more than half an hour, in which time around 50,000 kilograms of tomatoes have been thrown at anyone or anything that moves, runs, or fights back. Then everyone heads down to the river to make friends again—and for a much-needed wash!

    Having a pet dog at home can be beneficial in many ways. It can teach you the value of responsibility, companionship, and caring for something other than yourself. Owning a pet dog is not just a temporary thing{#blank#}1{#/blank#}You should care for your pet dog properly so you do not neglect it and help your parents train the pet dog so it is well behaved. You should also make sure you deal with any issues your pet dog is having responsibly so you do not harm your pet dog in any way.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}You should start by providing the necessities for your pet dog, including food and fresh water. Your parents may already have a feeding schedule set up, with set times in the day for feeding your pet dog. You should follow this feeding schedule and ask your parents if you can help it with giving your pet dog food and water on a daily basis.

    Clean up after the pet dog. You can also be a good pet owner by making sure you clean up after your dog. This means picking up any food that falls out of its food bowl and wiping up any water around its water dish so its feeding area is clean.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Take your pet dog for daily walks.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} You should create a walking schedule with your parents and assist your parents in walking your pet dog. You may put the collar or harness on the dog and take a tarn holding the leash during the walk, with the supervision of a parent.

    Play with your pet dog. You should spend at least ten to fifteen minutes a day playing with your pet dog so that it feels loved and acknowledged by you{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Give food and water to the pet dog.

B. Train your pet dog with simple orders.

C. It is a permanent responsibility that you must care for on a daily basis.

D. Never ever try playing jokes on your pet dog, because it will get hurt easily.

E. You should also use encouraging words and reward it with a treat if it behaves well when playing.

F. You can also pick up any pet toys and put them in one area so that they are not scattered all over house.

G. M you have a pet dog that is medium to large in size, you will need to walk it on a daily basis.

    With the development of our society, cell phones have become a common part in our lives. Have you ever run into a careless cell phone user on the street? Maybe they were busy talking, texting or checking updates on We Chat without looking at what was going on around them. As the number of this new “species” of human has kept rising, they have been given a new name-phubbers (低头族).

    Recently a cartoon created by students from China Central Academy of Fine Arts put this group of people under the spotlight. In the short film, phubbers with various social identities (身份) bury themselves in their phones. A doctor plays with his cell phone while letting his patient die, a pretty woman takes a selfie (自拍) in front of a car accident site, and a father loses his child without knowing about it while using his mobile phone. A chain of similar events finally leads to the destruction of the world.

    Although the ending of the film sounds unrealistic, the damage phubbing can bring is real. Your health is the first to bear the effect and result of it. “Always bending your head to check your cell phone could damage your neck,” Guangming Daily quoted doctors' words. “The neck is like a rope that breaks after long-term stretching.” Also, staring at cell phones for a long time will damage your eyesight gradually, according to the report.

    But that's not all. Being a phubber could also damage your social skills and drive you away from your friends and family. When getting together with family or friends, many people prefer to play their cell phones while others are chatting happily with each other and this creates a strange atmosphere, Qilu Evening News reported.

    It can also cost your life. There have been lots of reports on phubbers who fell to their death, suffered accidents, and were robbed of their cell phones in broad daylight.

    Last week, two companies, Kitty Hawk and Uber, announced their plans to bring flying cars to reality very soon.

    Imagine never having to worry about traffic, stop lights, or road construction. A flying car would get to a place much faster than one travelling by road. On the other hand, imagine having to avoid drones (无人驾驶飞机) and other flying cars. Also, what if your battery dies when you are in the air? And, how will you know where to land?

    Kitty Hawk is a start-up tech company supported by Google co-founder, Larry Page. According to the Kitty Hawk website, its car will be able to travel at speeds up to 40 kilometers an hour in the air. It says under US aviation law such a machine “does not require registration or a pilot's license and may be flown in uncongested (不拥挤的) areas for recreational purposes.” As of now, the car can only be flown over fresh water.

    Kitty Hawk is making a list of people interested in buying the flying car. They must pay a deposit of US$100. Those who get their names on the list early will receive US$2, 000 off the final cost of the car. However, Kitty Hawk has not yet announced the price. Kitty Hawk expects its first flying cars will go on sale by the end of this year.

    At a conference last week, Uber announced plans for flying taxis to begin carrying passengers. Unlike the Kitty Hawk company, Uber does not plan to build its flying cars. Instead, it will use the resources of partner companies.

    Like the Kitty Hawk car, Uber flying taxis will use electric power. Uber says its flying taxis could travel up to 241 kilometers an hour. The company said that could reduce the travel time between San Francisco and San Jose, California from two hours on the road to 15 minutes in the air.

    Riders could use the Uber app to book a flying taxi to take them to their destinations. The company has not yet said how costly air taxi travel would be compared to road taxi travel.

    When you write a message or an email, you might put a smiling face or other pictures at the end to make the message more fun. These pictures are emojis (表情符号). {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Later, they were used on Apple's iPhone and Android phones. Now they are everywhere!

    Emoticon or emoji?

    Before emojis, there were emoticons, which can be made from the signs you can find on your keyboard, for example: for a smiley. Emoji is a Japanese word which means photograph. e ("picture") + moji ("character"). {#blank#}2{#/blank#} There are all kinds of emojis, from faces and weather pictures to things in the kitchen and animals.

    What are emojis for?

    In English, we have a saying: A picture paints a thousand words. For many people, an emoji is like a punctuation mark, or smiling at someone across the room. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} It is like the tone (语气) of voice when we speak on the phone, or gestures used in conversation.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    When someone speaks and looks serious, we try to look serious, too, and when someone smiles, we smile as well. This is how we show empathy (共鸣) and make friends.

    But when we are online, we can't see the person's face and there is no emotion. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Scientists in Australia have discovered that when we look at a smiley face online, the same parts of the brain start working as when we look at a real smiley face. Our mood changes, and we try to change our face to match the emoji.

    The TED speaker series features "ideas worth spreading". With over 1,400 to choose from, we've selected a few that are perfect for students.

    ⒈Larry Smith: Why you will fail to have a great career

We humans may have an unfavorable habit of making excuses for ourselves or being too confident about ourselves. Accordingly, Larry Smith, a professor of economics at the University of Waterloo in Canada, tells us why most of us will fail to have a great career. Luckily, as he puts it, there is a way out—follow your heart, as long as it is good for your career.

    ⒉Andy Puddicombe: All it takes is 10 mindful minutes

Between dance team, volunteering and –oh, right—lectures, your life's crazy factor(因素)is about to go way up. In this entertaining and informative talk, Mindfulness, expert Andy Puddicombe teaches us how to be "more healthy, more mindful and less distracted" by taking just 10 minutes out of the day to be "more present".

    ⒊Shane Koyczan: To this day…for the bullied(欺凌)and beautiful

    This talk is sure to stay with you. Shane Koyczan's "To This Day" is an affecting spoken-word poem about bullying and being different that gained over 10 million views on YouTube. In this talk, Koyczan gives a live reading of the poem, along with some stories about his background.

    ⒋Susan Cain: The power of introverts(性格内向者)

    Does a cup of tea and a good book sound like a perfect Friday night? In this personal talk, Susan Cain argues that introverts have talents and abilities. Our culture may value being outgoing, but the world needs all kinds.