During the last winter holiday, I went to China with my parents. The five-day trip left me with a deep impression.

As the capital of China, Beijing is a very beautiful city with fresh air and clean streets which make the travelers feel very pleased. To my surprise, many people there were learning English. Later I was told that they did so because Beijing would hold the 29th Olympic Games and they wanted most foreigners to understand them. They strictly kept the traffic rules. When there was a red light, no one was seen crossing the street.

Of all the places I visited, I liked the Summer Palace best. To our surprise, although it was winter when we were there, we still saw green trees and many fresh flowers. The whole park was very beautiful.We visited a very modern football field. We were told the buildings where the Olympic Games would be held were even better than that. I also enjoyed skiing in Xiangshan. Skiing is an interesting and exciting sport liked by many people.

In my eyes, China is a nice place and Chinese people are very kind. In Beijing Station, there were so many people, and most of them were going home to spend the Spring Festival—the most important Chinese festival, with their families. Passengers helped each other carry luggage（行李）, and they were very kind to foreigners. We were given a card by the hotel we stayed at, on which was the address of the hotel. With the card we never got lost in the city.

The five days passed quickly, but the trip left me a lot of sweet memories.

We drink tea every day. But more than three hundred years ago most of the people in Europe (欧洲) did not know anything about tea. Some people heard about it, but very few of them know what to do with it.

  There is a story about an English sailor (水手) who went to countries in the east, the west and the south. He went to India and China. One day he came home and brought some tea as a present for his mother. She told her friends about the present and asked them to a "tea party". When her friends came to the "tea party", the old woman offered (给) them brown tea-leaves (茶叶). The old woman's friends began to eat them. Of course, nobody liked the tea-leaves.

  At that time the sailor came in. He looked at the table and said, "Mother，what have you done with the tea?"

  "I boiled (煮) it，as you said."

  "And what did you do with the water?"

  "I threw it away，of course." answered the old woman.

  "Now you may throw away the leaves，too，" said her son.

Green is an important color in nature. It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. It is the color of most growing plants, too.

Sometimes, the word green means young, fresh and growing. Sometimes, it describes something that is not yet finished or plants that are not ripe.

For example, a greenhorn is someone who has no experience, who is new to a situation. In the fifteenth century, a greenhorn was a young cow or ox whose horns had not yet developed. A century or so later, a greenhorn was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in war (战争). By the eighteenth century, a greenhorn had the meaning it has today a person who is new in a job.

About one hundred years ago, greenhorn was a popular expression in the American west. Old-timers used it to describea man who had just arrived from one of the big cities in the east. The greenhorn didn’t havethe skills that he would need to live in the hard,roughcountry.

Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have a green thumb. The expression comes from the early nineteen hundreds.

A person with agreen thumb seems to have a magic touch that makes plants grow quickly and well. You might say that the woman next door has a green thumb if her garden continues to grow long after your plants have died.

The Green Revolution (革命) is the name which was given some years ago to the development of new kinds of rice and other grains. The new plants produced much larger crops. The Green Revolution was the result of hard work by agricultural (农业的) scientistswho hadgreen thumbs.

Gao Wenqi, 49, owner of a restaurant in Xi'an, Shanxi, started to offer a new service on April 13, 2013: suspended meals (待用快餐). Now many restaurants in China, such as in Henan, Chongqing and Yunnan, have joined the program.

   You can pay 10 yuan for a meal, which should be sold at 16, and leave it at the restaurant. Then other people in need, such as the disabled(残疾人), the poor elderly or homeless children, can have it without paying.

   This idea comes from the cafes(咖啡馆)in Naples, Italy. It's a tradition that someone there paysin advanceof an extra(额外的) cup or two. Then another coffee—drinker can take them for free.

   “The program is mean ingful. It offers help with dignity(尊严),”said Gao to Xinhua. However, people are worried that someone who is able to pay would also ask for the suspended meals, so there should be rules for this program.

Canada Day

Since 1982, July1st has been officially known as Canada Day. Canadians of all ages take part in this festival across the country.

Canada Day is theyear’s biggest national party. In many towns and cities, the government organizes a lot of events, often outdoors. These include parades（游行）, concerts, festivals,

firework displays and ceremonies for new Canadian citizens（公民）.The celebrations often have apatrioticmood.Canada’s national flag, a symbol for Canada Day, can be seen everywhere and a lot of people paint their faces red and white, which are Canada’s national colors. The celebrations in Ottawa,Canada’s capital city, are especially grand and exciting.

In the province of Quebec, many home rentals（租赁）start on July 1st and last for exactly one year, and many people in Quebec spend Canada Day moving from one house to another. So in Quebec, Canada Day is also known as Moving Day.

Many organizations, businesses and stores are closed this day. Only some bookstores, hospitals and gas stations may be open. Post offices are closed, too. As Canada Day falls in the Canadian summer holiday period, all schools are closed as well. In some areas, special services are provided for large events. The concerts, parades and festivals may cause some traffic jams.

In Britain, people usually begin their talks with weather. For example, they will say“It’s a fine day, isn’t it?”“Do you think it will rain?”

Many people believe that they are able to tell what the weather will be like. But they never agree with each other. One man may say,“How cloudy (阴的) it is now! It’s going to rain.” Another man will say,“No, it’s going to be fine later.”

People always hope the weather they want. For example, when a farmer needs water, he looks for something to tell him it’s going to rain. When a man wants to travel, he is sure the weather will be fine quickly.

Now almost everyone listens to the weather report. It doesn’t always tell us the weather we want, it only tells us what the weather will be like. But sometimes it makes mistakes(错误).

根据短文内容，选择正确答案。

Different countries celebrate the New Year in different ways. Many countries still follow the lunar calendar, meaning that their new year often starts in late January or in February. New Year celebrations for some countries (like China, Vietnam, and Korea) last not one day, but up to two weeks!

In the US, many people attend New Year parties. They drink, dance, and cheer at midnight.

In the southern US, many people eat black­eyed peas for good luck in the new year.

In Mexico and Venezuela, many people wear red or yellow for good luck.

In Brazil, people wear white clothes for good luck, and in China, they wear red clothes and give children red envelopes with money in them.

In Iran, people wear brand new clothes on the first day of the New Year.

In Scotland, people open the front door at midnight to let in the New Year, and open the back door to let out the old year.

In Switzerland, people kiss each other three times at midnight.

In Japan, they ring a bell 108 times to get rid of(除掉) the 108 bad desires.

In Korea, they ring a bell 33 times for 33 old soldiers(士兵).

Napoleon, as a character in Tolstoyˈs War and Peace, is more than once described as having“fat little hands”. Nor does he “sit well or firmly on the horse”. He is said to be “undersized”, with“short legs” and a “round stomach”. The issue here is not the accuracy of Tolstoyˈs description—itseems not that far off from historical accounts but his choice of facts: other things that could besaid of the man are not said. We are meant to understand the difference of a warring commanderin the body of a fat little Frenchman. Tolstoyˈs Napoleon could be any man wandering in the streetsand putting a little of powdered tobacco up his nose—and that is the point.

      It is a way the novelist uses to show the moral nature of a character. And it turns out that, as Tolstoy has it, Napoleon is a crazy man. In a scene in Book Three of War and Peace, the wars having reached the important year of 1812, Napoleon receives a representative from the Tsar (沙皇), who has come with peace terms (和平条款). Napoleon is very angry: doesnˈt he have more army? He, not the Tsar, is the one to make the terms. He will destroy all of Europe if his army is stopped. “That is what you will have gained by engaging me in the war!” he shouts. And then, Tolstoy writes, Napoleon “walked quietly several times up and down the room, his fat shoulders moving quickly”.

      Still later, after reviewing his army in cheering crowds, Napoleon invites the shaken Russian to dinner. “He raised his hand to the Russianˈs... face,” Tolstoy writes, and “taking him by the ear pulled it gently…”. To have oneˈs ear pulled by the Emperor was considered the greatest honour at the French court. “Well, well, why donˈt you say anything?” said he considering it was strange for the representative not to thank him for his favour.

      Tolstoy did his research, but the composition is his own.

All around the world, people drink tea. But tea does not mean the same thing to everyone. In different countries, people have different ideas about drinking tea.  

In China, for example, people always drink tea when they are getting together. The Chinese people drink it at any time of the day at homes or in teahouses. They prefer their tea plain(素净), with nothing else in it.

Tea is also important in Japan. The Japanese have a special way of serving tea called tea ceremony(仪式、典礼). 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 Japanese homes.

Another tea-drinking country is England. In England, the late afternoon is “tea time”. Almost everyone has a cup of tea then. The English usually make tea in a teapot(茶壶) and drink it with milk and sugar. They also eat cakes, biscuits and a little sandwich at teatime. This is the so-called(所谓的) “Afternoon Tea” in England.

  In the United States, people drink tea mostly for breakfast or after dinner. Americans usually use tea bags to make their tea. Making tea with the bags is faster and easier than making tea in teapots. In summer, many Americans drink cold tea—“iced tea”.