Usually, people 【小题1】 (go) on holiday to relax when they don’t have to work. These days, a new kind of holiday is getting more and more popular—helping people in developing countries through volunteer projects. A volunteer holiday is a very 【小题2】 (meaning) way to see cultures of other countries. Volunteers often work with people of the country to help the poor. More and more people enjoy 【小题3】 (take) a volunteer holiday because it offers them a chance 【小题4】 (see) the country they are visiting in a different way.

Lantern Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.   This is the first full moon of the new year, 【小题1】 (symbol) unity and perfection. Lantern Festival is an important part of Spring Festival and 【小题2】 (mark) the official end of the long holiday.There are many legends concerning the origins of Lantern Festival.

According to one legend, a celestial (天上的) swan came down to the world where it was shot down by a hunter. The Jade Emperor, the 【小题3】 (high) god in Heaven, vowed to avenge (报复) the swan. He planned to send a troop to Earth on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, with orders to kill all humans and animals. 【小题4】the other celestial beings disagreed with this course of action, risking their lives 【小题5】 (warn) the people of Earth. As a result, before and after the fifteenth day of the first month, every family【小题6】 (hang) red lanterns outside their doors and set off firecrackers and fireworks, giving the impression 【小题7】 their homes were already burning. By successfully tricking the Jade Emperor in this way,humanity was saved from death.

Over time, Lantern Festival 【小题8】 (gradual) evolved into its present form. When Buddhism was introduced to China during the Eastern Han Dynasty, the emperor commanded that on the night of the full moon of the first lunar month, lanterns should 【小题9】 (light) to honor Buddha, adding a new dimension to Lantern Festival. And according to Daoism,Lantern Festival is associated 【小题10】 the primitive Goddesses of Heaven and Fire, who were born on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

Amsterdam is a city with an estimated 800,000 bikes within the capital. In contrast, the city has 【小题1】 population of only 750,000 — 【小题2】 (little) than the number of bikes. About 490,000 bicyclists take to streets and ride more than 2 million kilometers each day.

Amsterdam is one of the most important centres of bicycle culture with special 【小题3】 (facility) for cyclists such as bike paths and bike racks. 【小题4】 (compare) to other transportation in the city, bikes are cheap, fast and clean while also offering health benefits. Bikes also take up 【小题5】 (relative) little space.

Over 60% trips in the inner city 【小题6】 (make) by bikes and 38% of trips by bike overall in the greater city area.

Amsterdammers ride a wide 【小题7】 (various) of bicycles, including the traditional Omafiets to anything from modern city bikes, road bikes, mountain bikes, etc. Many tourists also discover Amsterdam by bike, 【小题8】 is the typical Dutch way. One of the benefits of bicycle riding is that in the city centre, driving a car is discouraged, 【小题9】 (park) fees are expensive, 【小题10】 many streets are closed to cars or are one-way. Bicycle traffic, in fact traffic in general, is quite safe.