“BANG! BANG!” Setting off firecrackers(爆竹), which has been the most typical custom on the Spring Festival, is the happiest part of the Festival for most Chinese kids. They light the fuse(导火线) nervously, run away in a hurry, cover their ears with their hands and watch the colorful display with a big smile on their faces. Faced with the beautiful scene, they feel they are the happiest ones in the world as if they had never had a more exciting experience.
While setting off firecrackers can bring kids so much fun, these firecrackers can also be dangerous. Therefore, many Chinese big cities including Beijing began to ban them in the 1980s. Such an activity was completely or partially forbidden in big cities because the government took security, noise and pollution factors into consideration. As a replacement, some buy tapes with firecracker sounds to listen to, some break little balloons to get the sound too, while others buy firecracker handicrafts to hang in the living room.
This year good news came for teens in Beij ing. The ban on firecrackers was cancelled on September 9, 2008. It will add much fun to the coming Spring Festival in tile capital. Hearing the news, many kids were wild with joy.
According to Chinese custom, lighting firecrackers is a must during the Spring Fesrival. People believe the sound of the firecrackers drives away demons(恶魔) and bad luck for the coming year. Their beautiful colours and sound also bring much excitement during this most important traditional Chinese festival.
Since the ban, people complained that the Spring Festival was too quiet and not traditional enough. Children lost the fun and grown-ups lost their childhood memories.
Some even worried that if the ban continued, the next generation would only know the custom of lighting firecrackers through books. This would be a great loss for tradition.
Everybody knows that we can’t give up eating for the slight risk of choking(因噎废食). So in recent years, many cities have resumed the old custom at the request of local residents. This year Beijing kids will also be able to join in.
However, every year there are kids injured by setting off fireworks in a dangerous way. So while enjoying yourself, please bear safety in mind.
Don’t light fireworks among crowds, inside a bottle or with a part of your body right over it.
No matter how much fun firecrackers are, the most important thing is to keep away from danger. We wish every kid an exciting and safe Spring Festival!
Title：Firecrackers back in Beijing on the Spring Festival
for setting off firecrackers |
☆It is the most typical custom of the Chinese. ☆The sound of the firecrackers is ☆Their beautiful colours and sound also make people |
| Fun for kids |
☆Feeling nervous and running away ☆Covering the ears with hands and |
| ☆It is very dangerous for people and their properties. ☆Its noise and smoke cause heavy |
|
| Complaints about the ban |
☆Much fun for kids will be ☆It’s difficult for grown-ups to remember their childhoods. |
| Return of firecrackers |
☆The government ☆If taking proper |
A young man, while traveling through a desert, came across a spring of clear water. ____water was sweet. He filled his leather container so that he could bring some back to an elder__
__had been his teacher. After a four-day journey, the young man__
__ ( present ) the water to the old man. His teacher took a deep drink, smiled_
_ ( warm ), and thanked his student very much for the sweet water. The young man went home_
__a happy heart.
After the student left, the teacher let___student taste the water. He spit it out, __
__ (say) it was awful. Apparently, it was no longer fresh because of the old leather container. He asked his teacher, "Sir, the water was awful. Why did you pretend to like_
__?" The teacher replied," You tasted the water. I tasted the gift. The water was simply the container for an act of kindness and love. Nothing could be__
__ (sweet). "We understand this lesson best__
__we receive gifts of love from children. Whether it is a cheap pipe or a diamond necklace, the proper response is appreciation. We love the idea within the gift rather than the thing.
For years, researchers have looked into a possible relationship between heat and violence. There are conflicting results over whether there is an actual connection between rising anger and rising temperature, but the murder rate constantly increases during the months of July and August, according to the FBI's annual crime report.
Many police chiefs say they put more policemen on the streets when the heat rises. “Calls for service always increase from May, June, July to August，” said New Bedford's Captain Richard Spiriet. “The longer period of time you have the heat, the worse it is. It's just the opposite in the winter time.”
Craig Anderson, a professor and specialist in social psychology at Iowa State University, argues the evidence is clear. “As the temperature goes up, people become more uncomfortable. They become easier to get angry，” he said. “That increases the possibility that a small conflict will be interpreted as more major.” Anderson conducted a couple of studies looking at crime rates over the course of several years within the same area to see when most violent crimes occurred. He found that violent crimes were more likely to occur on hot days and hot months—even hot years had higher violent rates than cold years, according to his research.
Other researches show it is not so much the physical climate, but rather the social climate, that causes increased violence. “During the summer months, people stay up later. They talk with their neighbours. They party with their friends，” said Jack Levin, director of the Brudnick Centre on Violence and Conflict at Northeastern University. “It is more likely to be large numbers of people interacting, and they are more likely to argue.”
Perhaps the realization that there is a link will help spur people in an argument step back and say “Let's cool off.”—both literally(字面上地) and figuratively(比喻地)．
| Title |
Heat and violence |
| Theme |
Violence possibly has a |
| Facts |
☆July and August witness the ☆More policemen are called in with the heat ☆People get angry more |
the research |
☆Fewer violent crimes occur on ☆The ☆People usually go to ☆It is more likely to be |
| Conclusion |
It is not easy to find true friends. Even if you’ve connected with someone, how do you really know he is a true friend? And often you will find that someone who you thought you could trust may have let you down. There are ways you can know if a friendship is true and how you can hold onto that friend.
Generally speaking, a true friend is someone who will be there for you no matter what happens. They will stand by you through bad and good times. They will accept you for who you are without trying to change you, and they will be there to help you grow in new ways.
A true friend will keep you secrets for you trust him. They will be honest and be someone you can depend on. They will listen and be someone you can talk things over with, even if they may not have advice to share with you.
However, friendship is a two-way street. To find true friends and keep them, you must in turn be the same as well. Be there for them in their hard times and share the good times with them. Be someone your friends can depend on as well and offer them the same thing they give to you. A friendship will fall apart fast if only one person is giving and putting all the effort. If you are the only one making an effort, be honest and it works.
Actually, there will be barriers in the road but that is the test of true friendship. If it can survive those barriers, it will be stronger and better than ever. Just as St Thomas Aquinas put it, “There is nothing on this earth more prized than friendship.”
| Find a True Friend |
|
| The writer’s ( on friends |
●True friends( ●Those who you regarded as your friends may make you down. |
| Characteristics of true friendship |
●A true friend will( ●A true friend will keep your secrets and be a good( |
| ( friendship |
●( ●Be someone who your friends can( ●( |
| ( |
●True friendship can stand up to various( |
My older brother and I are busy (arrange) a trip to Africa. We will leave London on 15 July, and we’ll be flying to Morocco. We are going to travel on camels
the Sahara Desert. After the trip by camel, we’re going to travel down the River Nile. We’ll start at Lake Victoria. A little way down the river from Lake Victoria, the water
(actual) gets quite rough. So, we’ll go white-water rafting,
is quite dangerous, but very exciting! After white-water rafting, we’re going on a trip to see wild animals in Kenya.
we’ll be walking for almost two weeks, I’ll need to buy a large, strong, light backpack
advance to carry my
(supply) of food and water. It is so dangerous that our guides will have guns
(scare) the animals away if they come too near. I really want to see
elephant close up. After that, we’ll be moving on to Tanzania,
we’re going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. The African part of our trip will take about four weeks and we will surely have a happy time.
Many of us invest valuable time，energy and money planning our vacations. We do this because we know for sure that going on vacations must be good for us. Research proves this feeling without a doubt. Vacations help us perform better at work, improve our sleep quality and cushion us against depression.
Yet, despite these benefits, many of us return home with a feeling that our last vacation was OK --- but not great. In order to change this, some mistakes should be avoided. A classic one for vacation planners is attempting to maximize value for money by planning trips that have too many components (组成部分).Perhaps you’re planning a trip to Europe, seven cities in 10 days，and you realize it will cost only a little more to add two more destinations to the list. It sounds fine in theory, but hopping from one place to the next hardly gives an opportunity to experience what psychologists call mindfulness(留意) --- time to take in our new surroundings, time to be present and absorb our travel experiences. Another mistake is that we worry too much about strategic issues such as how to find a good flight deal，how to get from A to B，or which destinations to add or subtract from our journey. These issues may seem important, but our psychological state of mind is far more important.
Actually, vacation happiness is based on the following top rules. First, choose your travel companions wisely, because nothing contributes more significantly to a trip than the right companions. Second，don’t spend your vacation time in a place where everything is too expensive so as to keep a positive mood. Third, shop wisely, for meaningful experiences provide more long-term happiness than physical possessions.