Many people still remember the beautiful dance “Thousand-hand Guanyin” in the CCTV Spring Festival Party. The lead dancer of the dance is Tai Lihua.

    When Tai Lihua was two years old, she lost her hearing because of a fever, then she became mute (哑的), too. From then on, her world was silent. But she didn't know this at first. At the age of five, when her schoolmates in kindergarten (幼儿园) played a game about sound, she discovered that she was different from others. She was very sad about it. Her father went to many places to look for the best treatments for her illness. But nothing worked. When she was seven years old, she went to a school for deaf and mute children. In that school, she did well in her studies. Her teacher said she was good at expressing her feelings through dance.

    She also began to love dance and dance became her favorite. She thought she could use dance to express what she thought about life. She worked hard at it and her hard work made her successful. She has been to many other countries to perform and many foreigners like her style.

    The Spring Festival is one of the most important festivals in China. During the Festival, Chinese people have many activities. They paste up Spring Festival couplets(舂联) , greeting the New Year and saying 1to the old year. On the first day of the Spring Festival, people 2, wearing new clothes. Nowadays, children get 3pockets from their parents and their relatives by web chat. It is a good time for people to visit relatives and friends. More importantly, the Spring Festival is celebrated not only in China but also in4parts of the world.

    The Spring Festival was 5 in the UK from 1980. Every new year, people also get together and have lots of activities. They sing songs, dance6music, share photos with  friends or watch7in the cinema. Additionally, the Spring Festival has become a key time for Chinese living in the US. They8in a large evening party to welcome the traditional new year. The Chinese New Year will be welcomed with three weeks of celebrations across Australia. Thousands ofpeople come to Sydney's Chinatown. They enjoy fireworks(鞔炮) and lion dances. The family dinner on New Year's Eve is an important tradition for Chinese9they were born in Singapore or moved there from China. They usually hold it at10because having it in a restaurant takes away the meaning of the tradition.

    The Spring Festival is often called "Chinese New Year" by people in western countries, because people in China 1 the end of a lunar(农历)year, and the start of a new lunar year.

    At Spring Festival, people want to keep away from 2, so that the new year will 3 with good luck. There are a lot of 4 for the Spring Festival. People 5 their houses (before New Year's Day), cut their hair, and buy lots of new 6 to wear. They decorate their houses with couplets, paper-cuts and lanterns. The decorations are all 7, because red is a "lucky colour".

    Older people give young people red packets 8 money in them. People eat jiaozi for New Year and yuanxiao at Lantern Festival.

Then there's the dragon dance and fireworks. These are 9 to bring good luck for New Year. It's a great time and everyone feels 10.

April Fool's Day

    April Fool's Day is a western festival. No one 1 exactly when and how April Fool's Day began. However, there are some stories about2 it came into being. One story3 like this: in the sixteenth­century France, the start of the new year was on April first. It was celebrated 4much the same way 5 it is today with parties and dancing into the late hours of the night.

    Then in 1562, Pope (教皇) Gregory introduced a new calendar for the Christian world, and the new year fell on January first. There were some people,6 who hadn't heard or didn't believe the 7 in the date, so they8 to celebrate New Year's Day on April first.9played tricks on them and called them "April fools". They tried to make them believe that something false was10. In France today, April first is called "April Fish". Frenchchildren fool their friends by taping a paper fish to their friends' 11. When the "young fool"12this trick, the prankster (恶作剧者) shouts "April Fish！" 

    Today Americans play small tricks on friends and strangers alike on the first of April. One13trick on April Fool's Day is 14 down to a friend's shoe and saying, "Your shoelaceis untied." School children might tell a classmate that school has been canceled (取消).15the trick is, if you fail for the joke the prankster shouts "April Fool！"

    In Britain today, on the first of April, even 16newspapers, radio and TV programs tell big lies. You17 read a science18 showing that doctors have found a way to cure (治愈) AIDS, 19you would probably listen to a piece of news about a UFO20on an island.