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.

    Visitors to London often eat in restaurants. The owners and workers in them are all from other countries. The visitors say in these restaurants they don't feel they are in England. Most English people eat at home as much as they can. Sometimes they themselves will think they are in another country when they are in restaurants. When an Englishman goes out of a restaurant, he may find that he doesn't understand why everything is written in French and Italian.

    Most English people think it is better to eat at home, because it is cheaper. They don't want to spend much money on food and they like cooking at home. They like fast food. But for Christmas, they will spend two or three weeks getting ready for it, because they want to have good food.

Hello, everyone!

……

This is a nice room. I like my room very much.

Most of us cannot imagine modern life without social media (社交媒体). We use it almost every day in order to keep up with what is happening in our friends' lives, or find out the latest information.

 The greatest advantage of social media is that we can connect with people much more easily. We are still able to keep in touch with our friends if they are far away. Also, it makes it easier for us to make friends, especially for those who are afraid of making friends face to face. Are you shy? If yes, social media has probably helped.

 Social media is also ideal for making yourself heard. Anyone with a voice can express(表达) it. Anyone with a talent is free to show it. Moreover, anyone with a smartphone and the Internet can be a reporter. As a result, it has become much faster to cover the news than ever before.

 Social media, on the other hand, can make us less confident sometimes. A study found that the more a person uses social media, the sadder he feels about his own life. One reason for this is that people around us put colourful information and perfect pictures online in order to show off their best moments. So we often get an incorrect sense of how wonderful their lives are, compared to our own.

 Social media does not cause sadness; it simply provides a tool for us to use. Is it good or bad? Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai says, "What is interesting is the power and influence of social media. We must try to use social media in a good way". After all, you decide how you use this powerful tool.

A girl went to her father to ask for his advice. She was having a hard time in life. It seemed that when one problem disappeared，another one appeared. It was terrible!

Her father，a cook，took her into the kitchen. He took out pans and poured water into the pans to boil. 

After the water boiled，he put some carrots into the first pan，some eggs into the second pan and coffee beans into the last one. 

After 20 minutes，her father turned off the stove，took out the carrots and eggs and put them in a bowl. He poured the coffee into a cup. 

"Dear，what do you see? "he asked his daughter. 

"Carrots，eggs，and coffee，"she said. 

"Touch the carrots，"he told her. She did and felt that the carrots were soft. After that he asked her to take an egg and break it. She found that the egg was hard. At last，her father asked her to taste the coffee. 

"What's the meaning，Father? "she asked. 

"The strong and hard carrots became soft and weak after boiling. The fragile（脆弱的） eggs became hard in the boiling water. The coffee beans were very special，but they changed the water around them. " her father said，"As you can see，each thing reacted differently to the boiling water. "

"Who are you? "asked her father. "When you have problems，what will you do? Are you carrots，eggs，or coffee? "