As is known to all of us, Beijing Opera is one of the most important opera styles in China. It is an art on the stage which has about 200 years' history. It is not only a treasure of the Chinese nation but also a cultural symbol of China. Similar to western operas, Beijing Opera is a combination of singing, dancing, martial arts, music and literature, so it is also called the "Oriental (东方的) Opera" by western people.

    Beijing Opera uses special imagery in creating the characters. All roles are divided according to sex, personality, age and profession and social status. Hangdang is the general term for role in Beijing Opera. There are four types of roles in Beijing Opera today. They are sheng, dan, jing and chou. The sheng is the male protagonist (主角), the dan the female protagonist, the jing (painted face) a male supporting role with a different characteristics, and chou (clown) a comic or negative figure. Each kind of role has their own face-painting and dressing to indicate their identities.

    The Opera's performance requires not only the gentle voice but also the proficiency (熟练) of martial actions. A successful opera actor must suffer from the tough practicing period. In the old time, the children of poor families were sent to the opera group in order to earn a living. While now, the real opera artists are well respected by opera lovers.

    Mei Lanfang, one of the most remarkable performing artists in Beijing Opera, was born in Beijing into a poor family. His life was bitter and he had no opportunity to go to school, so he went to the troupe (戏班子) when he was 8 years old to learn Beijing Opera. Mr. Mei was on the stage when he was 11 years old to perform the plays of Beijing Opera. He has been an opera actor for more than 50 years, performing hundreds of traditional plays and over 30 modern plays. He portrayed many bright and lifelike female figures on the stage and became the model in Chinese Beijing Opera and even within the entire artistic circle.

Maggie：I have always admired students who hand their homework in on time and never forget to do it. So I was wondering，what are your tips for getting organized? Please post your ideas below to help me!

Justin：Good question，Maggie. I always spend about five minutes tidying up the desktop on my computer. I make a backup of important documents. I delete things I don't need any more and put everything into the correct place. 

Jeff：The most important thing is to start studying a few weeks before the exams and not to leave it until the night before! That's common sense，I think. 

Sawyer：Hi，Maggie. My tip is to have a big notice board in your bedroom，divided into different areas. I've got an area for each subject and another one for other work. I use board pens to write reminders and I make sure I look at it every day. The best part is when I clear something off the board!

The night sky is our earliest library. There，we stored our knowledge，and passed it down around the fire

{#blank#}1{#/blank#} That night，I saw Saturn，one of the planets，and you were a part of it.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

Although starlight is good，light pollution on Earth can be a real problem. For the past 200 years or so，we have used too much electricity to make the night brighter.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}When a lot of light shines up into the sky，some problems may appear. 

Luckily，some cities have taken action，like setting up new downward﹣directing lights along the streets or controlling unnecessary lighting.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} I hope we can watch the night sky in a way humans have watched for thousands of years. 

①Have you ever heard of the British Library? It is one of the largest research libraries in the world. 

②The British Library has more than 170 million items. Its collection includes 14 million books, along with a great number of manuscripts(手稿). In the Chinese collection, people can find more than 450 Chinese oracle bones(甲骨) dating back over three thousand years to the Shang Dynasty and the Diamond Sutra, the world's earliest-dated printed book. 

③Recently, sixteen Chinese online novels have become the first Chinese web novels to be included in the British Library. Readers can look up the information of the 16 books on the library's website and borrow printed copies at the library. 

④The books now in the library's Asian & African collections are The Wisdom of the Great Song Dynasty,Good Spring Time,Magic World and so on. And these works are considered as the classics of Chinese online literature(文学) from the past 20 years. 

⑤The British Library chooses books according to readers' requirements and the value of the books — what the readers want to read and what works are important in culture. The collection of the 16 works shows that online literature has become important. Let's take one of them as an example. 

⑥The novel named Good Spring Time gives special attention to china culture, showing a spirit that encourages people to fight against fate(命运) actively, and describes women's independence, as well as the love and care among family members. 

⑦Although some people think it is not a big deal for the 16 Chinese works to be included in the British Library, others, especially, some fans and writers in China are very excited and regard it as a successful cultural exportation(输出). And they hope for more attention to web novels in the future. 

Saving the Earth shouldn't be so difficult if we can do the following things. 

First，we should take our time. There is no need to hurry like doing 100 things a day to save the Earth. Let's start from easy things. For example，we can walk or ride a bike to work. 

Second，we should open the windows more often. Don't turn on the air﹣ conditioner all day. In this way，we can have the fresh air and save the energy. 

Third，we should enjoy cooking at home and having meals at our dinner table. So we can use our own bowls and chopsticks，not the plastic ones. 

Fourth，we should spend our weekends and holidays in the park playing games or just riding a bike around. 

Fifth，we should learn how to make good use of old things in the house，in the garden

Lastly，no one really has a mountain or a sea. Don't throw rubbish here and there. 

All in all，saving the Earth could be easy. Let's take actions to protect the Earth. 

When talking about the Chinese food going abroad，you can't forget River Snail Rice Noodles，or Luosifen. It is one of the most popular snacks in Liuzhou City，Guangxi province. The dish is famous for its strong smell. Do you know how to make Luosifen？

The first step is to prepare some rice noodles，river snails and different kinds of ingredients. To make it，firstly，people should soak （浸泡） the rice noodles in water until they are soft. After that，wash the river snails and make soup. When the rice noodles and the soup are ready，then boil rice noodles with sour bamboo shoots（酸竹笋），dried tofu skin，fresh vegetables and peanuts in river snail soup. The taste mostly comes from the sour bamboo shoots. This ingredient gives Luosifen its unique taste. "Without the sour bamboo shoots，Luosifen will lose its soul（灵魂），"some people say. 

In the 1970s，Luosifen was just a cheap street snack in Liuzhou. People outside of the city knew little about it. It became an intangible cultural heritage（非物质文化遗产） of Guangxi in 2008. Four years later，a popular Chinese food show，A Bite of China，made Luosifen known to the public and then it became a household name. From then on，Luosifen has become popular across China. 

Now more and more Luosifen restaurants are opened not only in the big cities in China，but also in many foreign countries like the US，Australia，Germany and so on. People can also buy instant（速食的） Luosifen online on apps such as Taobao and Tiktok. You can enjoy Luosifen wherever you like.