Festivals, Sports, Hobbies and Shopping

Chinese New Year， also known as the Spring Festival， started thousands of years ago. It is a time for enjoying family and friends， for remembering ancestors， and for giving gifts of “red envelopes” . Do you know the story of Chinese New Year？

A long time ago， there was a monster named Nian. Nian visited a little village in China each year and scared everybody he saw. He thought that was great fun. He liked to do this as the new year began， to remind people that Nian was still around.

But one day， just by luck， one of the villagers was wearing red clothes. When Nian jumped out to scare him， Nian took one look at the red clothes and ran away. He startled the villager so much that the villager dropped the metal bucket he was carrying. It made a horrible noise. Nian looked fearfully over his shoulder， and began running even faster.

The villager told everyone of his luck. His red clothes scared Nian. And the noise of the bucket sent him running away. When Nian appeared the next year， everyone in the village rang their bells， beat their drums and waved their red clothes. So Nian ran away. Thats why people in China believe the color red expresses luck， and why all the children and many adults light firecrackers on Chinese New Years Eve.

ancestor n. 祖先envelope n. 信封monster n. 怪獸scare v. 恐吓

remind v. 提醒 startle v. 使……惊恐bucket n. 桶horrible adj. 令人恐惧的

fearfully adv. 恐惧地appear v. 出现beat v. 敲击drum n. 鼓

wave v. 挥动express v. 表达adult n. 成年人firecracker n. 鞭炮

How do we celebrate the Spring Festival？

Have you ever heard of hip-hop dancing？ It is popular with many young people today. They like it because they can create their own moves. They use this dance to show their love for life. It also shows that they feel good. They just want to be themselves and enjoy every day， and they are not afraid of difficulties.

Hip-hop dancing has a history of more than 50 years. It first appeared in the 1960s in the US. In the early time， it appeared in New York and Los Angeles. At that time， many young African Americans often danced to the music in the streets. They used their legs， arms， heads and even shoulders to dance. Many young people still use most of these moves today.

In 1983， a film called Flashdance made hip-hop dancing popular all over the world. Some people performed hip-hop dancing in the film. People enjoyed their performance. They began to dance like them. After that， it became popular.

There are two kinds of hip-hop dancing： new school and old school. More and more young people are learning hip-hop dancing. People think that it is a good way to exercise their bodies， and it is good for their health.

difficulty n. 困难 appear v. 出现 shoulder n. 肩膀

Flashdance 《闪电舞》 perform v. 表演 performance n. 演出

school n. 流派

If you are free， would you like to learn hip-hop dancing？ Why or why not？

When most teenagers are spending their free time playing with friends， 16-year-old KeNyzjah is filling orders， updating her website and getting new branding photos. She owns KayKe Bakery， a home-based business in Virginia， specializing in custom cakes and cupcakes.

One day in 2020， she felt bored at home. She turned to her mum for help. Her mother pointed her to a box of cake mix in the cupboard. Then she started to learn to bake and soon became interested in it. At first， she failed a few times. But she didnt give up. She tried making more cakes the next day and she got better.

KeNyzjah watched hours of online videos to come up with a recipe and to teach herself baking skills. “Once I saw other people decorating cakes on the Internet. At that time I wanted to be a cake artist instead of just a baker，” she said.

KeNyzjah opened the bakery with the help of her parents. She took business classes at school. She is trying to find more ways to promote her business and find new clients.

“Its great to do what I love at such a young age. I really enjoy it，” she said. “Hard work does pay off.”

update v. 更新 website n. 网站 branding n. 品牌

home-based 以家庭为基础的 business n. 生意 specialize v. 专门从事

custom cakes 定制蛋糕 recipe n. 配方 give up 放弃

instead of  而不是 decorate v. 装饰 promote v. 促进

client n. 客户 pay off 得到回报

What do you think of KeNyzjahs day？ Why do you think so？

I am a teacher at a private school. I have four children and my month payback is not high. One day， one of my shoes was broken when I was teaching， so I had to run to the store to buy a new pair of shoes. I planned to go to Walmart to buy them because they were very cheap there.

I stopped at a shop Payless instead. Shoes were on sale there—buy one and get 50% off for the second pair. I tried on many pairs before I found a perfect pair， but it was marked 25 dollars. I looked in my purse and found out that there was 58 dollars left.

I noticed a woman and her husband were looking for shoes that would fit her. I showed her the shoes I was trying on and she liked them. I let her try them on and they fitted her perfectly. I told her she could buy them and looked for a different pair. After I found another pair of shoes， I noticed the couple were counting change.

I walked up to the woman without thinking and took her shoes. I then went to the cashier desk and paid for both the pairs. I turned around and gave her the pair， then said “Happy Birthday” and left. I was in a hurry to go back to work.

private adj. 私立的 payback n. 薪水 instead adv. 相反

perfect adj. 極好的 mark v. 做标记 notice v. 注意到

husband n. 丈夫couple n. 夫妇 count change 数零钱

cashier desk 收银台 in a hurry 匆忙

After reading the story above， what do you think of the writer？ Why？