Why do Chinese people love hot pot so much? As the winter months are coming in, more and more people are sitting around a table enjoying this kind of traditional meal. I find myself wondering what it is about this traditional meal, which has existed for more than 1, 000 years. What makes it a Chinese food favorite? It seems that the answer lies beyond the dish itself.
Hot pot isn't just designed to keep you warm during the cold months; it's also a social experience. It's a "theater" cooked food that turns a meal into an event. There is a lot of fun for everyone to have in adding some foods to the hot pot.
Hot pot is eaten over two to three hours. For this reason, it is often considered an evening's entertainment, and a time to spend with friends and families. However, many Westerners would be put off by the idea of other people sticking chopsticks in their food. When we come to eat at the table in the UK, we often have our own shares, although the experience is still a social one.
A similar experience to the hot pot can be found in Korean barbecue restaurants，which let you cook your own meat. This allows people to have their meat done however they want.
For most Westerners, the idea of going to a restaurant to cook their own food is very strange. But having a go, I find it's now one of my favorite meals in Beijing. The steam from the pot left my clothes smelling of food when I got home, but perhaps this was also part of the experience. When the cold wind is blowing outside, I am sitting around with my good friends, eating and drinking. For me it's like a dinner party where my taste buds (味蕾) and my appetite are equally satisfied in the warm company of friends.
We are what we eat. That is an old expression, but one worth knowing. A recent look at diets around the world shows that people who eat healthy food—and not too much of it—live longer. But which areas of the world have the best diets？Researchers found that foods in some of the healthiest diets—Mediterranean, New Nordic, Japanese and French—may be very different, but they are all heavy on local, seasonal and limit processed foods, which are high in vegetables and seafood and low in red meat.
Mediterranean diet contains lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and olive oil. The diet has proper amounts of fish and poultry (禽肉). Red meat and foods high in sugar and salt are not big parts of this diet.
New Nordic diet has whole grains like oats and rye, vegetables such as carrots, broccoli and eggs, seafood, fruits, oil, lowfat milk and cheese. Very sugary desserts are not common in this diet.
Japanese people are some of the longestliving people on the planet, with women up to 87 years old and men up to 80. The Japanese diet is the reason for such lengths of life. The diet has many foods that are low in calories and high in nutrients. Japanese people eat a lot of seaweed, tofu, rice, vegetables and fish. The tradition there is to stop eating when your stomach feels 80 percent full.
However, French people eat fatty foods but do not get fat. And they live a long time. This phenomenon is called the "French Paradox". The reason why the French eat fatty foods without getting fat may be simple. They eat less. Serving sizes in French restaurants and in products sold in stores are smaller than those in most countries. And generally speaking, most French people do not snack. This means they do not eat food between meals.
Living a healthy lifestyle lies in forming the right eating habits. Here are some of the good habits you can develop when it comes to healthy eating.
Drink plenty of water, you must drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. You may need even more water if you are in a hot environment or if you are exercising.
Eat breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. A recent study has shown that those who eat breakfast will use an average of 100 calories less during the day than their colleagues who skip breakfast. They will also be able to concentrate better.
Don't skip lunch. If you do so, your blood sugar level will drop and your metabolism (新陈代谢) will slow down. When you get home you are starving and eat everything you can find.
We all need to snack from time to time, but please choose your snacks carefully. In fact, it's a good idea to eat two healthy snacks besides your three main meals. Choose healthy snacks like fruits, low fat yogurt, cottage cheese with apple sauce.
Eat your fruits and vegetables. We should eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Take a piece of fruit for a snack, add some bananas and raisins to your favourite breakfast cereal (谷类食物), have a salad of lunch, and eat at least one vegetable at dinner each night.
Do not eat your dinner too late. Try to eat dinner at least 3 hours before you go to bed, this will give your body a chance to digest most of the food before you rest for the next 8 hours. Plan dinner for the week ahead of time and make sure you have everything you need in the house so other family members can get ahead start on dinner if you have a late meeting at the office.
When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at hospital.
On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned toast in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was to reach for his toast, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him spread butter and jelly on that toast and eat every bite!
When I got up from the table that evening, I remember bearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the toast. And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burnt toast."
Later that night, I went to kiss daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his toast burnt. He took me in his arms and said, "Your momma put in a hard day at work today and she's really tired. And besides, a little burnt toast never hurt anyone!"
You know, life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people. What I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other's faults is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship. This good quality is the base of any relationship—husbandwife or parentchild or friendship! As far as I'm concerned, I'm not the best engineer as expected. However, I have made my efforts. That's enough.
So learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life. Burnt toast isn't a dealbreaker! Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket but into your own. You will appreciate the value of every soul including yourself.
Are you interested in losing your body fat to look slimmer(苗条)? This article concentrates on losing fat, not weight or muscle. You will naturally look slimmer, and be and feel more healthy and attractive.
Steps
⒈ Doproperexercise.
These are exercises that get your heart rate as high as possible and burn fat. Doing at least one hour of cardio(有氧运动)every day along with one hour of strength training a few days per week is the best habit. This will make you lose fat faster, combined with muscle exercise and a healthy, low-fat diet.
⒉
Eating whole, unprocessed foods is the best way to not take in too much fat. This means eating foods that are in their natural state such as fruit and vegetables. Buy raw foods and cook meat yourself, with plant oil. Protein(蛋白质)helps gain muscles. You can find protein in foods like milk, fish, beef and eggs. Get filled with low calories foods such as vegetables.
⒊ Watch what you drink.
Don't drink soda, alcohol and fruit juice all the time, since these drinks contain a lot of "empty calories" which will only lead you to put on unnecessary weight. Green tea is good, healthy choice. Drink one full glass of water every morning when you wake up—it is said to make you lose weight faster.
A. Build muscles.
B. Eat healthily and diet.
C. These exercises include running, jogging, swimming, etc.
D. Read on if you are interested in getting all of these advantages!
E. This will make you eat less fattening food, thus making you slimmer.
F. Before going on a diet, you should consult with your doctor to avoid side effects.
G. Drink two cups of water with each meal to fill you up, avoiding eating too much.
In a remote village, selling chestnuts was the main source of livelihood for local villagers. In late autumn, the hills were covered by the trees and chestnuts were 1 from the branches of the trees, which 2 with the wind attracting local villagers to 3 them at this time of year.
The villagers took the chestnuts, carried them home and 4 them out. The whole family sifted (筛) and sorted them according to their 5, and then transported them to the city for wholesale or retail. Every villager knew that if they wanted to sell for a good price, what really 6 was to send the selected chestnuts to the market first. Many families, which were short of 7, would go to the nearby villages to hire workers with high 8.
Still, to many people's 9, there was a young man in the village who could never need help, 10 he had limited hands. He lived with his blind and old mother. He always arrived at the market one step ahead of the other ones 11 he could sell out of all the chestnuts and then happily drove back with his truck 12.
The secret of the young man was: after picking chestnuts, he put them 13 into a sack (麻袋) and carried them to the truck. When he set out, he chose the road, 14 and bumpy (不平的), to go, 15 the small ones would jump to the 16 of the bag and the larger ones would stay on the top of the bag. It would save time for classification and selection. When inquired how he found the way, the young man 17: "If you put your heart into it, you will find the right way. This is not an accident but a(n) 18 result."
There will always be people who get 19 or complain when they hear bad news. As a matter of fact, if you use your head, you will be 20 to the people and things in the environment. When you turn your mind into action to move forward step by step, you can also create a new world for yourself.
Chinese tea is good for cleaning our digestive system. From time time, we would like to have a cup of Chinese tea after meal. Sometimes, we use Chinese tea for cooking, especially tea eggs.
Tea eggs, a popular Chinese food, (sell) along the busy sidewalk or at a market food stand. It is not only a quick and delicious way to fill up your stomach, a unique way to learn Chinese culture of food.
Chinese tea eggs are easy to make. Simply prepare some (boil) eggs. Gently tap the egg shells with the back of a teaspoon and crack the shells. Next, (careful) place the cracked eggs in the pot with marinade (卤汁) and boil for about 15 minutes. Then let the eggs soak (浸泡) in the (mix) for about 4 hours, makes the eggs have enough flavor. The dark color of the marinade gives the egg a marbled effect. Before (serve), gently reheat the eggs with the marinade.
Although a tea egg comes from China and (have) much to do with Chinese cuisine (烹饪), other similar recipes have been developed throughout Asia.
要点提示：
1）合理饮食，避免吃脂肪高及含糖多的食物，多吃新鲜蔬菜和水果；
2）锻炼身体，合理锻炼有助于身体健康；
3）保证充足睡眠，不要熬夜；
4）你的其他建议……
注意：词数100左右(开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数)。
Dear Jane ，
I'm glad to receive your letter. But at the same time, I'm sorry to hear that you are not very well these days.
……
Yours sincerely ，
Li Hua
The eightyearold Carol lived with her father David, mother May and elder brother Rob. The little family happily lived in a beautiful village surrounded with beautiful_nature. The village was at the foot of a mountain, with beautiful views of the snowy mountain. The family survived on growing seasonal plants and trees. Their life is totally surrounded by nature and beauty.
While they lived a very happy life, Carol did not love the beautiful atmosphere of the village.
She really wanted to move into the city and enjoy the city life. She wanted to shop, move around the city, watch movies, _and eat in fantastic restaurants and cafes, etc.
However, there was hardly any chance that Carol's family moved to the city as they had everything in the village.
One day, Carol fell asleep during the early noon and she had a sound sleep. Of course, she had a strange dream. She saw her grandmother in her dream as a fairy and her deceased grandmother granted her a wish. Carol requested her that she should love to enjoy the city life as she always desired.
Grandmother understood the desire of Carol, but still wanted to convince her that the peaceful village life is better than the city life.
She told Carol, "Baby, you cannot have access to fresh fruits and vegetables from plants as you have at your home. You cannot breathe fresh air. You cannot play with animals. You can hardly find any trees. You will not find peace as you see here! Do you still want to go to the city?"
Without hearing the concerns, Carol asked her grandmother to grant the wish. Grandmother granted her wish, but with a condition. Carol was told that she would only have 6 hours to spend in the city. Later, she would return to the village. Carol agreed.
注意：
1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2）至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1：
Carol then found herself in the city with her friends.
Paragraph 2：
Carol's brother Rob was calling her for lunch and Carol woke up.
