What is a Chinatown? Is it a town in China? Of course not! It is in a foreign country. It is a place where many overseas Chinese live together. There are lots of Chinatowns in America. The biggest one is in New York. There are about 150,000 people in it. It is also a good place to go.

Shopping in Chinatown is fun. You can find lots of things there. Most of them are made in China.

Mott Street is the best place to shop because the things there are very cheap.

Chinatown has more than 200 restaurants. You can enjoy traditional (传统的) Chinese food there. New Silver Palace Restaurant is one of the best restaurants. Why don’t you have breakfast with a cup of green tea in it? You can eat some Shanghai food in Red Restaurant.

Living in Chinatown is comfortable (舒适的). You can find hospitals, schools, libraries and supermarkets in it. In some schools, students must study Chinese. Many overseas Chinese send their children to these schools. They want their children to learn more about China and its culture.

“How are you?” is a nice question. It’s a friendly greeting that people in the United States use. However, “How are you?” is also an unusual question. It’s a question that often doesn’t need an answer. The person who asks, “How are you?” expects to hear the answer “Fine,” even if the person isn’t fine. The reason is that “How are you?” isn’t really a question and “Fine” isn’t really an answer. They are common ways of saying “hello” or “hi”.

Sometimes, people don’t say exactly what they mean. For example, when someone asks “Do you agree?” the other person may be thinking, “No, I don’t. I think you’re wrong.” It isn’t polite to disagree very strongly, so he might say, “I am not so sure.” This is a nicer way to say that you don’t agree with someone.

People also don’t say exactly what they are thinking when they finish talking to other people. For example, many conversations over the phone end when one person says, “I’ve got to go now,” or the person who wants to hang up gives an excuse such as “Someone is at the door,” or, “Something is burning on the stove.” The excuse may be real, or not. The person who wants to hang up simply doesn’t want to talk any more, but it isn’t polite to say so. An excuse is polite, and it doesn’t hurt the other person’s feelings.

Whether they are greeting each other, talking about an opinion, or ending a conversation, people often don’t say exactly what they are thinking. This is one way of being nice to people, and it’s a part of the game of language.

Kites have a long history. They may date back to long time ago. They were made of bamboo and silk in `China. Nobody knows exactly how or when a kite was first flown, but it is said that when a Chinese farmer tied a string(绳子) to his hat to keep it from blowing away in a strong wind, the first kite was born.

Children like playing with kites. Kites for work or play are made of wood, bamboo, paper or silk. In 478 B.C., a Chinese philosopher(哲学家，思想家), Mo Zi, spent three years making a kite out of light wood and bamboo. The earliest record of kite flying was in about 200 B.C. when the Chinese General Han Xin of Han Dynasty flew a kite over the walls of a city. He wanted to know how far his army wouldhave to travel.

In the 13^th century, Marco Polo wrote about how the shipping businessmen flew the huge kite in the wind before sailing(航海). They predicted the sailing in this way. If the kite went high and straight, it meant a quick and successful sailing, but if it did not fly well, it was a bad omen(预兆). In the late 1500s, the kite was introduced to European by Italians. Kite flying was first mentioned in England in a popular book in 1589.

The Silk Road is the name of different roads that long ago connected Europe, Africa and Asia. People reached these different places along these roads. Scientists believe people began to travel the Silk Road about 3000 years ago. By the time the Chinese silk trade became important in the world, the Silk Road covered almost 6500 kilometers. It went from Rome to China, which is from the West to the Far East.

Merchants travelled along the Silk Road to carry silk, of course. They also carried and traded other things like spices(香料), cloth, jewels and gold.

Along and around these ancient paths have come many fascinating and mysterious stories.

It is said that Roman soldiers who lost a war travelled through central Asia. They decided to live somewhere near the ancient Chinese villages. Some of these Romans married local Chinese women and the legend of the blond-haired, blue-eyed tribes of China started.

Some historians believe that the people of Kashmir were taken away from their country Israel. They were prisoners of war almost 2800 years ago. People say that these people travelled along the Silk Road. They kept their Jewish way of life for a long time.

During its busiest period, the Silk Road allowed people from many different cultures and countries to meet each other and mix. The Silk Road allowed the sharing of valuable things and new ideas. It included people and trading goods from different areas. All these peoples travelled the Silk Road, and they shared goods, stories, languages, and cultures.

In modern times, the old Silk Road routes are still used, but now they are crossed by trains instead of camels and horsed. There is even a Silk Route Museum in Jiuquan in China. It has over 35,000 objects from all along the Silk Road. In this way, China protects the history of many countries and peoples.

One of the most famous vegetables in the world is the potato. It grows in many places and does not need much rich soil. Four hundred years ago, the potato was not known to Europeans. But today it is one of the main foods in Europe. About half of the world’s potatoes are grown in Europe.

    In France the potato was not planted as food a long time ago. Here is a story about Houis. In 1778, he saw some potato flowers. He liked them so much that he picked one and put it in his buttonhole (纽扣孔) He was interested in the flowers but not the potatoes. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the potato was eaten in almost all the countries of the world.

  根据短文内容判断正误。

All over the world, people drink tea. But tea doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. In different countries people have different ideas about drinking tea.

In China, for example, tea is always served when people get together. The Chinese drink it at any time of the day at home or in tea-houses. They like their tea with nothing in it.

Tea is also important in Japan. The Japanese have a special way of serving tea called a tea ceremony(茶道). It is very old and full of meaning. Everything must be done in a special way in the ceremony. There is even a special room for it in a Japanese home.

Another tea-drinking country is England. In England, the late afternoon is “ teatime”. Almost everyone has a cup of tea then. The English usually make tea in the teapot and drink it with cream and sugar. They also eat cakes, cookies and sandwiches at teatime.

In the United States , people drink tea mostly for breakfast or after meals. Americans usually use tea bags to make their tea. Bags are faster and easier than making tea in teapots. In summer, many Americans drink cold tea--- “iced tea”. Sometimes they drink iced tea from cans(易拉罐), like soda.

It has been around for centuries, but up until very recently, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) wasn't fully accepted abroad. The 2001 film Treatment(《刮痧》)tells the story of a Chinese man in the US who's charged with guasha, a form of TCM treatment, to cure his grandson's disease.

During the last 10 years or so, however, TCM has been getting increasingly popular all over the world. A report says this style of health care, which includes different forms like herbal medicine and exercise, has spread to 183 countries and areas.

"We have set up 10 TCM centers outside China, and all of them are popular among locals," said Wang Guoqiang at a news meeting on Dec 6. "Governments of 86 countries and areas have signed agreements with the Chinese government on TCM corporation(合作)."

One of the reasons behind the growing popularity of TCM is the increase of scientific research into it. And after Tu Youyou-the Chinese scientist who discovered the anti-malaria(抗疟疾)drug qinghaosu(青蒿素)-won the Nobel Prize, TCM became even more famous all over the world.

However, all these achievements in TCM don't mean that it's problem-free. Over the years, TCM has faced challenges in being able to prove that it has certain effects.

Some researchers have suggested TCM should be more exact and work together with western medicine.

"Bringing together with western medicine and TCM, rather than being in competition, is where the potential(潜力)for great effects is," said Bernhard Schwartlander, the China representative(代表)of the World Health Organization.

“Where is the university?” This is a question many visitors to Cambridge (剑桥) ask. But no one can give them a clear answer, for there is no wall around the university. The university is the city. You can find classroom buildings, libraries, museums and offices of the university all over the city. And most of its members are the students and teachers of the thirty-one colleges.

Cambridge was already town long before the first students and teachers arrived 800 years ago. It grew up by the river Cranta, and the river was once called Cam. A bridge was built over the river as early as 875. So the town got its name “Cambridge”.

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries more and more land was used for college buildings. The town grew much faster in the nineteenth century after the opening of railway in 1845. Cambridge became a city in 1951 and now it has a population of over 100,000. Many young students in other countries want to study at Cambridge. Thousands of people from all over the world come to visit the university town. It has become a famous place all around the world.

b. Cambridge became a city.

d. The first students and teachers arrived at the town.