Chocolate is one of the most popular foods in the world. It is popular among people, especially among children. Many people choose it as a birthday gift. When a child gets a box of chocolate as a gift, he may feel very happy.

      Chocolate tastes nice. People eat chocolate candy, chocolate cake, and chocolate cookies. They also drink hot chocolate.

      Chocolate is made from cocoa beans(可可豆). Here are some interesting things about cocoa beans.

      In the past，the Mayas and the Aztecs used cocoa beans as money because they were small，easy to carry，and not easy to find. A turkey cost ninety cocoa beans and a small rabbit cost thirty cocoa beans. They also cooked the beans and  mixed(混合)them with water. Sometimes they added corn or hot pepper. They did not add sugar. The drink was very expensive. Only rich people could afford it.

    A Bite of China, the seven-part documentary (纪录片) introduces Chinese food through the geography, history and culture.

A Bite of China is fill of &eat pictures of food, from expensive food to local food. The documentary shows Chinese food culture and how to make the delicious food.

    How to make dishes is only one part of food culture. The program tries to bring something new by showing more cultural elements (元素) about dishes, such as eating habits, and people's life. For example, one part tells China's history of rice growing. It explains why rice is the main food of the southern Chinese, while the northern ones mainly eat wheat flour (面粉).

    And a part about pickles(腌制食品) tells about a woman in Beijing. She returns to her hometown in Jilin and makes pickles for the first time for her lonely mother.

Another part shows happy moments of sons and daughters making New Year cakes after they return home from different cities to celebrate with their lonely parents in Zhejiang.

A Bite of China also shows social changes when showing food culture. For example, some members of a family work outside but leave the old in their hometowns - in this case, food can make people remember the happy time.

    My parents have always said that they never felt comfortable traveling by train when they were my age. It's always a mystery to me when they talk about the crowded and noisy train compartments*, wheels clicking on the rails, and the boring and tiring journeys.

However, train travel is quite a different experience today, especially after high--speed rail was widely put into service in China. Nothing can match train journeys for the comfort and speed. Few things could be more impressive than China's high--speed rail system, especially the speed at which it developed—and is still developing. Such speed is known as "China speed".

    China speed means a lot to the country. The past 30 years have witnessed China's rapid development in various areas, like the economy and technology. We've seen dozens of tall buildings appear almost overnight, with roads and highways connecting every comer. And mobile payments and online shopping are playing increasingly important roles in everyone's life. China speed has changed our country and impressed the world. But as we enjoy the benefits of China speed, the problems it brings us can't be ignored, such as the air pollution or traffic problems. As a high price is being paid, maybe we should think about what China speed will bring us in the next 30 years. We need to know that our future depends on the choices we make today, so it is our duty to give China speed a new definition. If you pay close attention to the word "speed", you might notice that each letter stands for something interesting: Society, Progress, Economy, Environment and Development. Our society's progress depends largely on the balance among our economy, the environment, and the development of our future. That is what we need to keep in mind as China continues to speed ahead.