A funny thing happened to my sister Tina last month. She lives in Japan and teaches English. In Japan, people don't usually wear their outdoor shoes in the house or in school, and a lot of buildings have places for shoes. So her school has a special place for shoes. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}
Tina teaches English in the evening. One Friday, she went to school, and she put her shoes in the shoe box as usual. Then she had an interesting spoken English class with her students. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} But to her surprise, her shoes weren't in the box. There was only one pair of those there, and they weren't her shoes! She had to get home in a hurry. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}
On Monday, at her next English class, her shoes were in a shopping bag on her desk! There was a note that said, “I'm so sorry. I took your shoes by mistake!” {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Somebody felt a lot of shame!

A Bite of China

    Are you aneating-lover? Do you want to eat every delicious food in the world? Then do you watch the popular program A Bite of China? It's a TV program on Chinese delicious food which has been produced by CCTV. Is there any holiday that isn't celebrated with special festival food? Here are several traditional Chinese foods:

    Noodles are asymbol of long life in Chinese culture. They are as much a part of Chinese birthday celebration as a birthday cake with its candles lit in many western countries. Since noodles mean long life, it is considered very unlucky to cut it off.

    Although westerners sometimes may be very sorry to see fish lying on the plate, in Chinaa whole fish is a symbol of richness. In fact, at a party it is a tradition to serve the whole fish last, pointed towards the most valued guest. Fish also has a special meaning because the Chinese word for fish, yu, sounds like the word for richness or plenty, and it is believed that eating fish will help your wishes come true in the year to come.

    A very popular dish during the Dragon Boat Festival is Zongzi. This tasty dish is made of rice dumplings with meat, peanuts or other delicious food in bamboo leaves. The tradition of Zongzi is meant to remind us of a great man, Qu Yuan in Chinese history.

    Rock art is the name given to pictures drawn on rock by ancient peoples. In the American Southwest, rock art can be seen on the walls of caves and mountains. Many of these places are in the Four Corners area, where the states of Arizona，Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico meet. More than 7, 000 rock art places have been found just in Utah, where the area's dry climate(气候)has helped keep the art.

    There are three forms of rock art. The first is petroglyphs, which are pictures carved(雕刻)into the surface of rock. A sharp(尖利的)stone may have been used as a carving tool. A heavy stone may have been used to hit the sharp stone into the surface. The second form of rock art is pictographs, which are pictures painted on the rock. The paint was made from plants and trees. The artists painted with fingers, brushes made from hair，or bird bones. The third kind of rock art is geoglyphs(峡口浮雕), which are designs made in the ground by taking away stones.

    Some rock art shows faces, hands, animals, and trees. Other pictures are symbols such as lines, circles, and squares. Some scientists think these symbols marked the location of water or good hunting grounds. Some think the symbols were put there during special celebrations. Others think the symbols showed the movement of planets and stars. Still others believe that they were just doodles.

    Some rock art may be a form of writing. Large scenes are shown on mountains. Some scenes seem to tell a story. A hunting scene may include animals and people with hunting tools. A scene with many people holding hands could mean friendship. Rock art in caves may have been a way to decorate the artist's home.

    Some rock art in the Southwest is about 200 years old. Other rock art may be 10, 000 years old. Scientists think an ancient people called the Anasazi created the older works. They were farmers and lived in caves.