China's Tea Villages

    In most Chinese tea villages, March is the time of year in {#blank#}1{#/blank#} locals start to pick and process tea. The usually quiet villages suddenly become busy centers of activity, as people take out special tools and prepare {#blank#}2{#/blank#} tea processing. In some villages, local residents hold traditional ceremonies,{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (thank) heaven for its blessing. The price of tea {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(pick) in March is extremely high because {#blank#}5{#/blank#}is fresh, tender and contains multiple trace elements.

    China {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(be) famous for tea production since ancient times. Of the goods transported and traded along {#blank#}7{#/blank#}Old Silk Road linking China to the Middle East and Europe, the importance of tea was matched only by silk. China produces Oolong, black, green, white, yellow {#blank#}8{#/blank#}dark (aka post-fermented) tea. The Oolong, green and black {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(vary)are most notable for their high quality.

    Most of China's tea villages are found in remote mountainous areas in the country's south and southwest,{#blank#}10{#/blank#} the beautiful scenery is often hidden under clouds.

    My Stay in New York

    After graduation from university, I had been unable to secure a job in my small town. So I decided to leave home for New York,{#blank#}1{#/blank#}I might have a better chance to find a good job.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (earn) some money to pay the daily expenses, I started to work in a local café as a waiter. I believed that as soon as I{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(offer) a good position, I would resign at once.

    Over time, the high cost of living became a little burden on my already{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(exhaust) shoulder. On the other hand, my search for a{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(respect) job had not met with much {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (succeed). As I had studied literature at university, I found {#blank#}7{#/blank#} quite difficult to secure a suitable job in big companies. Mother had just said that if I wanted to have a better career advancement, I had to find work in the city. Perhaps{#blank#}8{#/blank#}my mother had told me was deeply rooted in my mind. I just did as she had expected.

    Soon I had lived in the city for over six months but I still did not like it. Apparently, I had difficulty {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(adapt) myself to life in the city, let alone finding a suitable job. After nine months of frustration, I eventually decided to go back to my small town. Not until I returned {#blank#}10{#/blank#}I realize that a quiet town life was the best for me.

    In many people's opinion, man's first real invention,{#blank#}1{#/blank#}is also one of the most important inventions in history, is the wheel. All transportation and every machine in the world depend{#blank#}2{#/blank#}it. The wheel is the{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(simple) yet perhaps the most remarkable of all{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(invention) because there are no wheels in nature.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}, then, did man come to invent the wheel? Perhaps some early hunters found that the body of {#blank#}6{#/blank#}heavy animal could be rolled through the forest on logs (圆木) more{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(easy) than they could carry it. However, the logs{#blank#}8{#/blank#}them) weigh a lot.

    It must have taken a great prehistoric thinker to imagine two thin slices of log connected, at their centers by a string stick. This would roll along just {#blank#}9{#/blank#}the logs did, yet be much lighter and easier{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(handle). Thus the wheel and axle came into being and with them the first carts.

    Johann Strauss was born in Vienna in 1825. Although his father did not want him to become a {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(music), Strauss Junior studied the violin {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(secret) as a child. When his father discovered his son practising on a violin one day, he gave him a beating,{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(say) that he was going to beat the music out of the boy. But that didn't prevent the boy from becoming one of the {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(great) composers of all time.

    He wrote his first waltz(华尔兹）at the age of six. At nineteen, he decided to devote {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(he) to music. He formed his own orchestra and made a successful tour of Europe and soon became known {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the Waltz King. The emperor of Austria was so {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(please) with his music that he appointed him the conductor at the court balls of Vienna. It was for these occasions {#blank#}8{#/blank#}he wrote some of his most popular waltzes, among {#blank#}9{#/blank#}was the well-known favorite The Blue Danube（蓝色多瑙河）in all, the talented Johann Strauss {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(write) more than 500 masterpieces.