It may be hard to believe, but the American Revolution(革命)—the war that freed the American states from British control—began over a cup of tea. Tea was not the only thing that caused the war, of course, but it played a very big part.

    The British people's love of tea is well-known. When the British won control over mush of North America in the early 1700s, they brought their tea- drinking habits with them. Tea quickly became the continents most popular drink. As tea could not be grown locally, just as in Britain, it was shipped into the country—mostly from India.

In the early 1700s, the Britain government made a special deal with the East India Company, as an English trading company. They agreed that no other company was allowed to bring tea to Britain or any country controlled by Britain, including America. It was a great deal for the East India Company, since it meant that the company could decide whatever price it wanted for its products. And it always decided on a high price!

In North America, the local people did not like having to pay such high prices. Instead of overpaying for tea from the British, they turned to Dutch traders, who secretly brought tea to the country that was just as good—and much less expensive. Although this broke the law, the American people didn't care. They got the same cup of tea at a much lower price.

The East India Company, however, didn't like this at all. By the 1760s, they were losing millions of pounds each year to Dutch traders—a huge amount of money in a time when ￡60 a year was considered a good income. Instead of reducing their prices to compete with the Dutch, the company asked the British government for help and the government agreed.

    In 1767, the British introduced new law that increased the prices of all goods which were brought into America. These laws helped make the East India Company even richer and forced local people to pay much more for everything. The American leaders asked the British government not to do so, but the British refused to listen. These unfair laws increased Americans' anger about British rule and the rest, as they say, is history.

    China is a country with many colorful days and festivals. The Dragon Head Raising Day (Longtaitou) is one of them.

    This special day is on the second day of the second month in the Chinese lunar calendar (阴历). It stands for the start of spring and farming. This year, the day fell on March 10.

    The dragon is important in Chinese culture. We Chinese people call ourselves the "descendants(传人) of the dragon". Therefore, people celebrate the Dragon Head Raising Day with many customs(传统) about dragons.

    On the day in ancient times(古代), people put ashes (灰) in the kitchen. This was to "lead the dragon into the house". People believed that with the help of the dragon, they could have a good harvest (收成) in autumn.

    Also, people eat special foods on that day. The foods are usually named after dragons. For example, people eat "dragon whisker (细须)" noodles and dumplings called "dragon teeth".

    Today, many customs have faded away (消退). But one that has remained is the cutting of hair. It was said that a haircut during the first lunar month may bring bad luck to the mother's brothers. So many people have their hair cut on the Dragon Head Raising Day.

    You may know the English letters A, B and C. But do you know there are people called ABCs? Do you know there is such a thing as "a banana person"? How strange! ABC means American-born Chinese. An ABC is a Chinese, but was born in the United States. Sometimes, people call an ABC a "banana person". A banana is yellow outside. So, when a person is a "banana", he or she is white inside—thinking like a Westerner and yellow outside—looking like a Chinese.

    Usually, ABCs know little about China or the Chinese language. Some of them don't speak Chinese. But if ABCs cannot speak Chinese, can we still call them Chinese people? Yes, of course. They are overseas(海外的)Chinese. These people may be citizens(公民)of another country like the US, Canada or Singapore. But they have Chinese blood. Their parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents were from China. They all have black eyes and black hair. But they are not Chinese citizens. They are people of the People's Republic of China. For example, we all know the famous scientist C. N. Yang(杨振宁). He got the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957. Chinese people love him. But he is an American citizen.

①Reading is a good hobby for all kinds of reasons. 

②First, reading is fun. You can always keep yourself happy if you like reading. You will never feel bored or tired. 

③Second, you can read a book almost anywhere: in a car, on a plane, or even in the bathroom. All you need is a book. 

④Third, reading is useful. It's also a good reason. If you take reading as a hobby, you will get better and better at it. And you will read faster and find it easier to understand what you read. As your reading skills improve, you will probably find your schoolwork becomes much better. 

⑤Some people say that reading is out of date. This is not true. You can read books online by using computers or mobile apps. Good readers may become writers. They always have more things to write about. 

⑥Reading is a wonderful hobby. Why not start reading right now? 

Do you know the town Glastonbury? It's small, quiet town in England. It's very special. Why? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} However, every year in June, about 200,000 music lovers come here for "Glasto". {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It's one of the most famous music festivals in the world. The festival started in 1970 and is held at Worthy Farm, about 10 km from the town Glastonbury. It usually lasts for five days.

At the Glastonbury Festival, you can walk around and hear different music in different places. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} They play their music here so it has almost everything.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} It's very fantastic when the weather is good. But in summer, it rains a lot during the festival. As for the music lovers, they don't care about it at all — they sing and dance in the rain when the performers are playing.

It's sometimes quite different to get tickets for the Glastonbury Festival because lots of people want to go there. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}