Celebrate!

Pinatas(彩饰陶罐)

    In Mexico, children often get pinatas on their birthday．Their parents put chocolates and other sweets inside the pinata and hang it on a tree．Then the children hit the pinata with a stick. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Noodles

    In China，people often celebrate birthdays by eating with family or friends，and the last dish of the meal is always noodles. The noodles are long and thin. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} You can't cut them. In Chinese culture，long noodles mean you will have a long life.

Business birthdays

    A business birthday shows that a company is successful．Many businesses in the USA celebrate important birthdays, like 10, 50 or 150 years．{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Sometimes they make TV advertisements．It is a good chance to advertise the business.

Name days

    As well as a birthday, many people in Southern Europe also celebrate their name day. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} People have big parties and open their houses to anybody who wants to come．People bring small gifts，often flowers or a box of sweets．

Islamic New Year

    In Muslim(穆斯林) countries across the world，people celebrate Eid. Eid means festival or celebration．During Eid，people visit family and friends，as well as people who are sick or in hospital．{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Children receive toys，too．Children often wear special traditional clothes during the Eid celebrations.

A．You have to eat them in one piece.

B．They go out for a meal to celebrate.

C．Companies hold parties and send cards.

D．They give presents, such as sweets and food.

E．It breaks and the sweets fall out on to the ground.

F．This is one of the two important festivals in this country.

G．In Greece, name days are more important than birthdays.

    Many people don't realize the importance of music education in the schools today. A new study showed, however, music education is extremely important.

    In college, music education is one of the largest programs. Teachers have to learn general education materials and techniques. They must learn to play every instrument; they must learn music history and music theory; they must learn instrument repair and teaching methods; they must learn conducting and so much more. At the same time, much of our culture and tradition is absorbed in music.

    Music plays a very important role in our education.

    Music helps with math and science. Students learn to count, and how to multiply and divide. Students also use science to help them discover what sounds good together and what doesn't. Students also need science to understand something called the “overtone series", which is about how music is produced by vibration（颤动）and why.

    Students learn a lot about languages through music．Many songs are written in other languages, including ancient ones. Students must learn to translate these works to understand what they are singing about. A song is likely to be a famous short work set to music; so students are exposed to that very often while singing.

    Students learn a huge amount of cooperation （协作）of body parts through music, so parts of the body can work better together. Students must use motor（肌肉运动的）skills in order to play an instrument. Singers and wind（管乐器）players must learn breath control and be in good shape to play.

    Students learn about art. Some famous pieces were written about important pieces of art, and students learn about the artists and styles as they're playing the music.

    Music education also brings higher thinking to our children. It allows them to think about complex patterns. Students have to be aware of what every other musician does at every time. In that way, it develops cooperation, as well. They tend to develop more ability for learning.

    As one can see, music is very important to education.

    Did you know that the color of uniforms（制服）can influence the performance of an athlete？ It may sound strange, but a study suggests this might be true.

    Two British scientists studied the results of four spots in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games where the athletes had been given either a red or a blue uniform. They discovered that when there was a big difference in the score, color had no influence on the result . But if it was a close match, the athlete in a red uniform was more likely to win. Then they looked at the uniforms of the soccer teams at the Euro 2004 tournament. Again, teams wearing red won more games.

    The two scientists got their idea from earlier studies of wild animals. It had been discovered that when a male（雄性）shows red on its body, it sends a signal（信号）of its power and strength. For example, in many kinds of monkey, the more the male shows off its red scars（伤疤），the more females it can attract.

    Based on this fact, the British scientists thought that the idea might work for humans, too. According to them, when an athlete sees a competitor in a red uniform, he gets a feeling that his competitor could be stronger than him. And that kind of feeling may have a bad influence on the player's performance in the actual game.

    Although the idea is interesting, most people don't accept that color signals in the animal world can really be useful to humans in sports. They think that it is unreasonable to develop an idea based on such a small number of examples. Much more research has to be done to prove the influence of uniform colors on the performance of athletes.

    Children who do better than their companions at school tend to go on to enjoy better health as adults, research suggests. The study was based on a 30-year follow-up of more than 14.000 children born in Sweden in 1953.

    The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health study found the least popular children had a nine times higher risk of heart disease. They were also more at risk of diabetes (糖尿病),drugs, alcohol and mental health problems.

    The degree of popularity, power and status enjoyed by each child, was evaluated when the children reached sixth grade in 1966 by asking them who they most preferred to work with at school. Individual children were classified into five status bands depending on how many nominations (提名) they have received.

    The leader researcher Ylva Almquist, from the Center for Health Equity Studies at the University of Stockholm, said children with a low status might lack social support and information, this will lead to a more negative self-image, which could lead to lower expectations and poor choices in life.

    "For example, children in lower peer status may adopt a more health-damaging lifestyle, including behaviors such as heavy smoking and drinking. These behaviors are known to be major risk for heart disease." she said.

    She said the study shows that schools should work to promote social equality in the classroom, and to improve children's self-image.

    Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, said, "Children who feel undervalued or are bullied (欺凌) at school often grow up lacking self-confidence. They then seek comfort in overeating, smoking or drinking, and all too often find themselves in poor health. It is important to do whatever we can to help children and young people feel valued."

    Full House was an American television show from the 1980s to the 1990s. It was among the most popular TV shows of its time. The show followed a single father who asks his friends to help him raise his three young girls. The last episode (集）of Full House aired in May 1995.

    But on Friday, the No 1 trending topic on Twitter in the U.S. was Fuller House. The new show is the long-awaited sequel (续集）series that follows the now-adult characters from Full House. The streaming service Netflix released 13 episodes of the new series at midnight Friday.

    Fuller House trended throughout the night and into Friday morning on Twitter and Facebook. The actors on the show were among :he :op 10 U.S. Google searches, as well Longtime fans of Full House admitted that they stayed up all night to watch the entire season.

    Excited fans tweeted about having waited more than 20 years for the sequel. But some viewers were not impressed with Fuller House. And television critic Hank Steuver of The Washington Post called the show, “a retread' He says the show is not some golden treasure* of family-friendly programming.

    Although most of the main characters from the original Full House have returned for Fuller House, the show's youngest character, Michelle Tanner, refused. Michelle was played by twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. The Olsens are now active in the fashion world. One episode of Fuller House even joked about their absence. One of her sisters on the show asks where Michelle is. Her father, Danny Tanner, responds: “Oh, she's busy in New York running her fashion empire.”

    If you have a chance to go to Finland, you will probably be surprised to find how "foolish" the Finnish people are.

    Take the taxi drivers for example. Taxis in Finland are mostly high­class Benz with a fare of two US dollars a kilometer. You can go anywhere in one，tell the driver to drop you at any place，say that you have some business to attend to，and then walk off without paying your fare. The driver would not show the least signs of anxiety.

    The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their guests，but also serve outside diners. Hotel guests have their meals free, so they naturally go to the free dining rooms to have their meals. The most they would do to show their good faith is to wave their registration cards to the waiter. With such a loose check，you can easily use any old registration card to take a couple of friends to dine free of charge.

The Finnish workers are paid by the hour. They are very much on their own as soon as they have agreed with the boss at the rate. From then on they just say how many hours they have worked and they will be paid accordingly.

    With so many loopholes(漏洞) in everyday life, surely Finland must be a heaven to those who love to take "petty advantages". But the strange thing is that all the taxi passengers would always come back to pay their fares after they have attended to their business and that not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms. And workers always give an honest account of the exact hours they put in. As the Finns always act on good faith in everything they do, living in such a society has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”.