Chinese Spring Festival marks the first day of a new year, so the first meal is rather important. People from the North and the South have different   26  about the foods they eat on this  27  day. In Northern China, people   28  eat Jiaozi. The word Jiaozi in Chinese means the   29  and the beginning of time. According to historical  30 , in the past people from the North and the South both ate Jiaozi on Chinese New Year’s Day. Perhaps   31  the areas in Southern China   32  more rice than those in Northern China, southern people slowly  33  to eat many other kinds of food on New Year’s Day.   34  , the most common foods for the first   35  are noodles, New Year Cake and Tangyuan. The noodle  36  long life. The New Year Cake is called Niangao in Chinese, which   37  the hope of improvement in   38  year after year. Tangyuan is a symbol of   39   according to the Chinese.
To  40  a New Year visit to relatives and friends is an important activity during the Spring Festival. People also send cards to   41   a New Year’s greeting. What children love most is to set off firecrackers.   42  , as the pace of life is becoming faster and faster, people have   43  new ways to celebrate the Chinese traditional New Year. For example, many people no longer send out greeting cards.   44  , they use short messages or emails. Also to travel during the New Year holidays has come into   45  .

Recently, a professor of philosophy in the U. S. has written a book called Money and the Meaning of Life. He has discovered that how we   41  money in our day-to-day life has more meaning than we usually think. One of the exercises he asked his students to do is to   42  every penny they spend for a week.   43  they spend their money, they can see what they really   44  in life.
He says our relation with others often becomes clearly   45  when money enters the picture. You might have   46  with somebody and you think that you are very good friends. But you will   47  him only when you ask him to lend you some money. If he does, it brings   48  to the friendship that seems stronger than ever before. Or it can suddenly  49 the friendship if he doesn’t.
Since money is so important to us, we consider those who possess a lot of it   50  very important. The author interviewed some millionaires for   51 . Question: What is  52  thing you have discovered about being rich, because you are a self-made man? Answer: What makes me surprised most is how people give me  53 . I am nothing. I don’t know much. All I   54  money
People just   55  making more and more money, but what is it   56 ? How much do I need for a given purpose in my life? In his book, the professor uncovered an important need in modern society: to bring back   57  that money is an instrument   58  the end．  59  plays an important role in the material world, but expecting money to give happiness may be  60   the meaning of life.

I have learnt a lot about Chinese life and culture while teaching in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province and found them very interesting．
First, family life is quite   36  in China． In the USA, many young people   37  home after they finish their education and start working． However, in China, it is   38  for people to live with their parents until they get married．   39 , many of my Chinese friends told me that their  40  lived with them and helped take care of them when they were children． It seems that Americans think independence is more important   41  the Chinese think family relationships are more important．
Bargaining is another   42  that I have tried to learn． In the USA, prices are   43  and you can’t ask for a lower price． However in some small Chinese stores and tourist places, you are   44  to bargain． My Chinese friends taught me to ask for 40 percent or 50 percent   45  the original price． If the salesperson doesn’t agree to my price, I should   46  to leave and he might let me come back and sell me the item． It is a skill that you have to   47  if you live in China．
Tipping hasn’t been easier to   48 ． In the USA, many people in the service   49  want to get   50  money for serving customers． Tipping is not a part of Chinese culture．   51  I tried to tip a taxi driver． He looked a little   52  and refused to take the money．
In dinners, perhaps what surprises an American visitor most is that some of the Chinese hosts like to put food into the plates of their   53 ． Actually, this is a   54  of true friendship and politeness． My Chinese friend told me if I didn’t want to eat it, I should just   55  the food in the plate． 

Years ago, if a teenager had some problems in his life, he might go home and write in his diary; now, a teenager with  21   problems might go onto the Internet and write about them in a blog(博客). In many ways, a diary and a blog are very  22 . But what makes bolgging different from writing in a(n)      23  diary?
The biggest difference is that a blog is much more 24  than a diary. Usually, a teenager treats his diary like a book full of  25  that he does not want to  26  with others.
It’s interesting that someone who writes in a blog  27  a diary will probably write nearly the same information.
I have a little sister, and sometimes I go online to read her  28 . She writes about things like waking up early for swimming practice and not studying enough for her chemistry test.   29  I was her age, I wrote about the same things, but  30  in my dairy. Then, after I had finished writing, I would hide my diary in a secret place because I was  31  that my sister might read it.
The biggest  32  with blogging is that anyone can read what you write. If I was angry with a friend during high school and wrote something  33  about him in my diary, he would never know.  34 , if my sister ever wrote something bad about a friend, that friend might 35   her blog and get angry.
There are also  36  to blogging, of course. If I was feeling sad one day and wrote in my diary, “ Nobody cares about me”, because no one would   37  about it. However, if my sister wrote the same sentence in her blog, her best friends would quickly  38  and tell her how much they 39   her. Blogs help people  40 in contact with their friends and know what the people around them are doing.

Cars are an important part of life in the United States． Without a car， most people feel that they are___36___．And even if a person is poor， he doesn’t feel___37___poor when he has a car．
Henry Ford was the man who first started ___38___cars in large numbers． He probably didn’t know how much the car was going to ___39___American culture．The car made the United States a nation on ___ 40___． And it ___41___to make the United States what it is today．
There are three main reasons that the car has become so___42___in the United States． ___43___，the country is a huge one and Americans like to __44__around in it ．The car__45__the most comfortable and cheapest form of transportation． With a car， people can go any place___46___spending a lot of money．The second reason is that the United States never really developed an efficient（有效地） and inexpensive form of public___47___． Long distance trains have never been as ___48___in the United States as they are in other parts of the world．Nowadays there is a good system of air-service provided by ___49__．But it is too expensive to be used ___50__． The third reason is the most ___51__one．The American spirit of ___52___is what really made cars popular． Americans don’t like to wait for a bus or a train ___53___a plane． They don’t like to have to ___54___an exact schedule． A car gives them the freedom to schedule their own time．And this is the freedom that Americans want___55___to have．

In some countries, people eat rice every day.   36   they eat it two or three times a day，for breakfast, lunch and supper. They can   37  it, fry (煎) it or   38   it into rice noodles. They usually eat it   39  meat, fish and vegetables.
Some people do not eat some kind of   40 . Muslins, for example, do not eat pork, and Hindus do not eat beef.
The Japanese eat a lot of fish. Japan is an island and its   41  go all over the Pacific looking for fish to   42 . The Japanese sometimes eat uncooked fish, and they also eat a lot of rice.
In   43  such as Britain, Australia and the United States, the most important food is   44  or potatoes. People there usually make their bread from wheat flour. They   45  potatoes in different ways. They can boil them，fry them and roast (烤) them.
In Africa, maize (玉米) is the most important food.   46  rice and wheat, maize is a kind of cereal (谷物). African people make the maize   47  flour. From this flour they make   48  kinds of bread and cakes. Many Africans are very   49  and they can’t afford to eat much   50  with their cereal.
Cereals are a very important kind of food   51  we also need plenty of vegetables and lots of fresh   52 .
Some people eat   53  fruit and vegetables. They do not eat meat or fish or   54  that comes from animals. They eat only food from   55 . Some people say that food from plants is better for us than meat.

A Shelter for the Homeless
Last summer I was a volunteer (志愿者) at a shelter for the homeless, a place for homeless people to sleep at night. I wasn’t working that summer and was  36  only two classes in summer school, so I had some  37  time.
Three nights a week, I  38  in the kitchen of the shelter along with four other volunteers. We planned and  39  for 45 people hot meals  40  vegetables, chicken, fish and fruit. The homeless people  41  this good food because many of them usually didn’t eat well.
I  42  this volunteer work, making  43  with the four volunteers in the kitchen. One was a very nice elderly housewife, one a movie actor, another a young teacher, and the other a college student,   44  me.
I talked to a lot of the homeless people at the shelter. Their life stories  45  me with sympathy (同情). Some of them had  46  with alcohol (酒) or drugs while others only had bad  47 . One woman worked for almost 30 years for a small company, and  48  she lost her job. She looked for a  49  job,but couldn’t find one, for she was too  50  . She could do nothing but sell her furniture — sofas, chairs, and tables  51  she could pay for her food.The woman  52  on job hunting, but she 53 couldn’t find one.She had no money for her  54  and had to sleep in her car. Then she had to sell her car. Alone,   55  , and homeless, she finally came to the shelter.

As we all know “ The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” and “  26  every successful man there is a woman.” Both these   27  mean the same things. Men rule the  28__ , but their wives rule them.
Chinese people and other foreigners often say,  29_ of the American women like making their husbands and sons successful, but some of them want   30__ for themselves. They want good  31  . When they work they want to  32__ better paid. They want to be as  33__ as men.
In the 1960s, the American women’s liberation   34  was started by women who don’t want to   35  behind successful men. They want to stand beside them, with the same  36__ for success. They don’t want to be told that certain jobs or   37__ are closed to them. They refused to work side by side with men who do the  38  work for higher pay.
In America, a liberation woman must be   39  of being a woman and have confidence in herself. If somebody says to her, “ You have come a long   40  , baby”, she will   41  and answer, “Not nearly as  42  as I am going to go, baby.”
On the other hand , this movement is quite  43  and many American women do not agree.  44__  it has already made some important  45__ in women’s lives.

The best way of learning a language is always using it. The best way of learning spoken English is _26__in English as much as possible. Sometimes you‘ll get your words __27__up and people will not __28_ you. Sometimes people will _29__things too quickly and you can’t understand them. But __30__ you keep your sense of humor， you can always have a good laugh at the mistakes you __31__. Don’t be unhappy if people seem to be laughing __32__ your mistakes. It’s __33__ for people to laugh at your mistakes than to be angry with you， _34_ they don’t understand what you are saying. The most important thing for learning English is： “Don’t be __35_ of making mistakes because everyone makes mistakes.”