The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It lifts the curtain of spring. After that everything turns green and full of energy and people clearly see that the daytime is becoming longer and the weather is becoming warmer.

    ⒈Flying a kite.

    Spring is the best season for kite-flying. As a traditional folk activity, it has a history of more than 2, 000 years.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} It also has the effect of promoting blood circulation and speeding up metabolism(新陈代谢).

    ⒉Wearing fabric swallows.

    Wearing fabric swallows is a custom in some regions in Shaanxi. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The custom originated during the Tang Dynasty (618—907). The swallow is a harbinger(预兆) of spring and a symbol of prosperity and happiness.

    ⒊Making a Spring Ox.

    Skilled artists build the frame of an ox out of bamboo strips and the legs with wood. Then they paste(粘贴) some paper and paint onto it.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} It is said that if more red and yellow paper is used, then there will be a good harvest that year.

    ⒋{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    People in China began holding a special ceremony on the first day of the Start of Spring about 3, 000 years ago. They made sacrifices to Gou Mang, the God of Spring, who is in charge of agriculture. By the Qing Dynasty (1644—1911), welcoming spring had become an important folk activity.

A. Welcoming spring.

B. The image of an ox is complete.

C. At that time, there were eight solar terms.

D. The Start of Spring is the first solar term of the year.

E. Flying a kite can help build one's health and prevent diseases.

F. It is said that the egg can be set upright on the first day of the Start of Spring.

G. People like to wear a swallow made of colorful silk on their chests on Start of Spring.

Four Ways to Give Truly Meaningful Gifts

    Buying someone you love a gift that expresses your truest feelings isn't always easy. But when you get it right, the joy they show is worth it. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Listen up.

    While you may think it's a great idea to surprise someone by giving them something you think is meaningful, it's best to get them exactly what they have told you. For example, you heard friends say they wanted the newest bike but you bought them a gym membership instead. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} So get them what they've specially asked for.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    In the spirit of showing love, we might go big. However, we may not be thinking of what really makes the person happy. You might think buying your father the latest TV is perfect, but then when you get it home, it lights up the living room like a stadium and is totally wrong for the space. So think smart.

    Keep it open.

    Many of us may consider giving cash impersonal（没人情味的）. But this may save you some concern. The receiver can be allowed to choose whatever they want. In a recent survey of over 7,000 Black Friday shoppers, 39 percent said the receiver they were shopping for was “picky（挑剔）”. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Create an experience.

    Visit websites where you can get the latest tickets for a play, buy a surf lesson, or even something unexpected like a flight lesson. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} For example, if your kids are into NASCAR, just imagine the look on their faces when you score them a ride at a race car driving school. So give them a time that they will remember to heart.

    Everyone knows that fish is good for health.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}But it seems that many people don't cook fish at home. Americans eat only about fifteen pounds of fish per person per year, but we eat twice as much fish in restaurants as at home. Buying, storing, and cooking fish isn't difficult. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}This text is about how to buy and cook fish in an easy way.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Fresh fish should smell sweet: you should feel that you're standing at the ocean's edge. Any fishy or strong smell means the fish isn't fresh.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}When you have bought a fish and arrive home, you'd better store the fish in the refrigerator if you don't cook it immediately, but fresh fish should be stored in your fridge for only a day or two. Frozen fish isn't as tasty as the fresh one.

    There are many common methods used to cook fish.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} First, lean it and season it with your choice of spices. Put the whole fish on a plate and steam it in a steam pot for 8 to 10 minutes if it weighs about one pound. (A larger one will take more time). Then, it's ready to serve.

A. Do not buy it.

B. This is how you can do it.

C. The easiest is to steam it.

D. The fish will go bad within hours.

E. It just requires a little knowledge.

F. When buying fish, you should first smell it.

G. The fats in fish are thought to help prevent heart disease.

    What can help us when we fail?

    Failure is a part of life since our earliest moment of life. We often think of failure as something bad. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}, which is neither bad nor good. However, what can help us when we fail?

    Don't be afraid of failure

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. If we never fail at something, we probably haven't learned all that life has to teach us. So failure means taking something away from the experience.

    Never stop trying

    Trying or learning something new is often half the battle, don't give up trying. You may get disappointed because of failure. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Nobody can be our safety nets all the time in our livesonly we can act as our own safety nets. Become your own best friend, do everything that you can possibly do for yourself.

    Don't look back

    We spend too much of our lives looking back. There's nothing back there to see. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} and I'm sure that you'll find yourself in a better position.

A. Try to avoid failure

B. Failure is how we learn

C. Learn to depend on ourselves

D. We are often unwilling to accept our failure

E. But failure is a normal and natural part of life

F. But if you give up, your progress will come to an end

G. Spend just 10 percent more of your time looking forward to what life holds for you in the future

    Sticking to your body's natural sleep-wake cycle is one of the most important strategies for achieving good sleep. If you keep a regular sleep schedule, you will feel much more refreshed and energized than if you sleep the same number of hours at different times. This holds true even if you change your sleep schedule by only an hour or two.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Try the following ways to help you stick to your body clock, and you will have a better sleep.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Keeping a regular sleep-wake schedule helps set your body's internal clock and improve the quality of your sleep. Start by setting realistic bedtime that will work with your lifestyle.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} If you're getting enough sleep, you should wake up naturally without an alarm. If you need an alarm clock to wake up on time, you may need to set earlier bedtime.

    Avoid sleeping in — even on weekends or nights you've stayed up late.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} If you need to make up for late night, choose a daytime nap rather than sleeping in. This way allows you to pay off your sleep debt with disturbing your natural sleep-wake rhythm.

    Be smart about napping. As mentioned above, napping is a good way to recharge and make up for lost sleep hours. But if you tend to have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep throughout the night, napping can make things worse.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Besides, limiting them to 15 to 20 minutes in the early afternoon is a good idea.

A. Never sleep after dinner.

B. Consistency is vitally important.

C. Try to go to sleep and get up at the same time every day.

D. Don't turn to sleeping pills every time you can't sleep quickly.

E. If sleeplessness is a problem for you，consider ridding naps altogether.

F. Choose a time when you normally feel tired, so that you will fall fast asleep.

G. The more your weekend / weekday sleep schedules differ, the worse the jet lag-like symptoms you will experience.

    What will you do if you can't eat everything bought in the canteen? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} According to a survey, what students waste every year could feed over 10 million people.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} According to Xinhua News Agency, the food wasted by Chinese people is about 50 million tons of grain every year, which could feed 200 million people.

    Food waste, which has become a global issue, serves as a mirror that reflects various cultural and social issues in different countries. In the West, for instance, consumerism, the belief that it's a good thing to use a lot of goods and services, is often to blame for food waste. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Chinese people are well known for being hospitable and generous. Many even feel that they lose face if their guests have eaten all the food. On campus, a generation of single children is less aware of the food waste issue. Students nowadays are well protected by their families and hardly have any concept of how much toil (辛劳) others go through in order to provide them with the food they eat.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} There are over 925 million hungry people in the world, most of whom live in underdeveloped countries and areas. They don't have enough food to eat. Many children die for lack of nutrition each year in some African countries. And farmers work very hard to grow the crops. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} It's also important that everyone should think about how they can do their bit to reduce food waste.

A. Most of us would simply throw away any leftover food.

B. Students' waste is extremely serious.

C. China features its own eating culture.

D. Compared with them, some live in a different world.

E. But canteen waste is merely the tip of the iceberg.

F. So there's no excuse that we should waste our food.

G. Students can never realize the serious food crisis.