On New Year's Eve, people in Italy throw out all the old things. So there are chairs, beds, clothes and plates in the streets. In Spain, New Year comes more quietly. Everyone holds a bag of grapes. When twelve o'clock comes, people start eating the grapes.

    In Japan, people eat noodles on New Year's Eve. This food is said to bring long life. Early the next morning, some families climb Mount Fuji. There they watch the first sunrise of New Year.

    Cinyee Chiu, an artist from Taiwan, is always happy to try something new. Her amazing works won lots of prizes. Among them, "24 Solar Terms(节气)" is the most popular.

    Ancient Chinese divided a year into 24 parts according to the changes of the weather. It's the 24 solar terms. But not everyone knows them well. Cinyee Chiu put the 24 solar terns in pictures to help people understand them better.

    Cinyee turned each solar term into an animal. But these animals are not just animals. You can also find seasonal fruits, vegetables or beautiful flowers on them.

    When spring comes, water gets warm and fish start to swim around. So Cinyee chose fish as a symbol of Start of Spring. Also, she drew spring vegetables, Chinese chives on the back of the fish.

    White Dew falls on about Sept. 8. It shows the beginning of the cool autumn. There are colorful leaves and cooler nights at this time of year. As the temperature falls, white dew(露珠) is often seen on the grass and trees at night. For White Dew, Cinyee chose a raccoon—a small animal with thick hair. She drew white spots(小圆点) on the raccoon to show dew. And she used the dragon fruit to show the rich colors in autumn.

    The young artist really gave the ancient Chinese culture a new look.

    People in different countries like to eat different food. We all know Chinese like to eat dumplings when their friends come to their homes. Most people like eating dumplings at home sometimes people eat them at the House of Dumplings. Do you know what kind of food people like eating in the UK? Fish and fried potato chips are very popular in the UK. Sometimes people eat them at home, but they usually go to a fast food supermarket to buy them. They can have them in the restaurant or take them away home. Sometimes they also like to eat them in the park.

    A four-year-old girl is lying in the arms of a doctor. She has just become mother-less. A bomb destroyed her home and killed her mother.

    Every day we see pictures like this on TV or in newspapers. We see young Iraqi children begging for food and water from American and British soldiers. They move through towns and cities towards the capital, Baghdad. We see these children following grown-ups, carrying bags of things almost the same size as their small bodies as they run away from their homes.

    "Dad, why are the Americans attacking us? Are we going to be killed? "asks the son of Abu Sinar, an lraqi engineer. Abu finds it hard to explain this war to his eight-year-old son.

    He tries to comfort him by saying, "The bombs are far away from us. The Ameri cans are fighting the soldiers. We are going to be all right. "Abu knows this isn't al-ways the truth, but what else can he do? In Baghdad, parents give their children sleeping pills to make them sleep so that they won't hear the sound of bombing. And all the schools are closed.

    "All we can do is to listen to and hear the war, "said Abu." People in Baghdad, men and women, young and old, have to live in fear. We don't know where the next bornbs are going. We can do nothing but wait to be killed. "