Few people I know seem to have much desire or time{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (cook). Making Chinese dishes 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 was shocked when I learnt she hadn't cooked once in all that time.

    While regularly eating out {#blank#}5{#/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 affordable but doing this most days adds up. There could be an even {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (high) cost on your health. Researchers have found that there is {#blank#}7{#/blank#} direct link between the increase in food eaten outside the home and the rise in {#blank#}8{#/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#}9{#/blank#} dinner, get a few cooking tips from her. Cooking food can be fun. You might also begin to notice the {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (effect) not only on your health but in your pocket.

    Whenever anyone asks me where my favorite place in China is, I say Dali without hesitation. Dali, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (surround) by mountains for hiking and lakes for bicycling around, is the kind of place that everyone likes.

    Last year I met a couple of young students I'd known {#blank#}2{#/blank#} I travelled to Dali, and we agreed {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (cycle) along the lake in a small town outside of Dali. The lake {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (it) was pretty easy to cycle around, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} flat paths passing through a lot of little villages. While cycling, a woman recommended an hour-long boat ride for about 40 RMB each--a bit expensive but {#blank#}6{#/blank#} adventure we felt like having, so we paid for it.

    In about 20 minutes we witnessed in {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (excite) how a fisherman fished with his fishing birds. A string was tied around each bird's neck so that when it dived for fish, it was unable to swallow them. The birds {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (give) a fish as payment for their service after the fisherman had a satisfactory catch. I'd {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (previous) read about this fishing method, but it was pretty exciting to see first-hand.

    The day finished with a brilliant sunset, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} I climbed onto a roof to get a photo of.

    "Carnival" comes from tow Latin words, {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(mean) "No more meat". In Europe, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} it began, people saw carnival as the last chance to have fun at the end of the winter season. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(have) fun meant eating, drinking and dressing up. The most famous carnival was in Venice. At first, it lasted for just one day. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}time passed, the carnival period was extended. People walked around the street wearing masks, doing {#blank#}5{#/blank#}they wanted without {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(recognize).

    Later, wearing masks was limited by law. Finally, at the end of the 18th century, masks {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(ban) completely. But in {#blank#}8{#/blank#}late 1970s, the tradition was revived by students and the festival was developed for tourists. Today, carnival in Venice is celebrated for five days in February. Hotels are {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(full) booked and the narrow streets are crowded {#blank#}10{#/blank#}wonderful costumes. If the key to Rio is music and movement, then in Venice it is the mystery of masks.

    The debate {#blank#}1{#/blank#} junk food in schools has gone for many years, and people on both sides feel very strongly. Some people believe junk food, such as candy, cookies, potato chips, and soda, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (taste) good, but it's not good for the human body. This is {#blank#}3{#/blank#} they have made an effort to ban it from schools. They think taking junk food out of schools will make kids healthier.

    Others, however, believe this kind of ban doesn't make much of a difference. Instead of banning junk food, they suggest students should be given choices between healthy and unhealthy ones. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (learn) to make healthier choices on their own is an important part of growing up.

    There is a tendency to think of each of the arts as {#blank#}1{#/blank#} separate area of activity. Many artists, however, would prove {#blank#}2{#/blank#} there has always been a warm relationship between the a warm relationship areas of human activity. For example, in the late nineteenth century the connections between music and painting were especially close. Artists {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (invite) to design clothes and settings for operas and ballets, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} sometimes it was the musicians who were inspired by the work of contemporary painters. Of the musical compositions as responses to the visual arts, perhaps the most famous is Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

    Mussorgsky composed the piece in 1874 after the death, at the age of 39, of the artist Victor Hartman. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} their friendship had not been a particularly long-lasting one, Mussorgsky was shocked by Hartmann's unexpected death. The following year the critic, Vladimir Stasov, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} decided to told an exhibition of Hartmann's work, suggested that Mussorgsky {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (try) to relieve his grief by writing something in memory of Hartmann.

    The exhibition served as Mussorgsky's inspiration. The ten pieces that make up Pictures at an Exhibition {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (intend) as symbols rather than representation of the paintings in the exhibition. Between each is a promenade (舞曲中 行进), as the composer walks from one painting to {#blank#}9{#/blank#} The music is sometimes witty and playful, sometimes almost alarming and frightening. Thought a range of surprising contrasts, Mussorgsky manages {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (convey) the spirit of the artist and his work.