On Saturdays, Wang Wei puts on a play with his friends in a small village near their university. The villagers can hear them, but they cannot see them. That is because they are putting on a shadow puppet play(皮影戏).

Shadow puppets(皮影木偶)are made of hard leather(皮). The leather is cut out in the shape of a person or an animal. Each puppet is painted in bright colours and put on a stick. Some puppets have arms and legs that can move.

During a shadow puppet play, Wang stands behind a white screen with lights behind it. The villagers sit in front of the screen. Wang and his friends hold the puppets very close to the screen so the villagers can see the puppets’ shadows clearly. Then they move the puppets around and do the voices of the different characters.

Shadow puppet plays are an ancient Chinese art. Now with TV and films, shadow puppet plays are not as popular as before.

Wang and his friends, who are actually members of the school Drama Club, often work very hard for little money, but they do not mind. They want to keep this traditional art alive.

I am glad to see our school English Drama Club is looking for new members. I am now writing to apply to be one of them.

Yours,

Mike

I am Tina. It was 80 years ago when I wrote my first letter to Paul and Renee. I was about 13. Paul was the same age as me, his sister Renee was two years younger, and they lived in France. I was crazy about learning languages, so I was pleased when my French teacher asked us to make pen pals.

They weren’t very good at English, so after six months, we were all writing in French, which improved my French greatly.

The first time I met Renee, she picked me up at the station, and we became good friends at once.

I never met Paul. Renee wrote to me and told me that he died in the army. Renee and I continued writing to each other, and our friendship became deeper. We talked about our families, hobbies and troubles in life. Renee never married and worked as a nurse for half her life. I moved to South Africa for a while, married, had children, and changed jobs. Throughout all this, we kept writing letters.

I’m 93 now and I still write to Renee. She has difficulty writing now, so she phones me to reply. Most people don’t seem to have the time for letters any more, but it gives me great pleasure to write.

My correspondence (通信) with Renee has offered me a wider idea of what’s happening outside the UK. More importantly, this is the most important friendship I have ever had.

Hope this email finds you well.

I’m looking forward to your letter.

Yours,

Lingling

Almost all cultures celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another in some ways. Different cultures celebrate the beginning of a new year in different ways at different times on the calendar.

In Western countries, people usually celebrate New Year from midnight on December 31st to January 1st. People may go to parties,sometimes dressed in formal(正式的) clothes,and they may drink champagne(香槟) at midnight. During the first minute of the new year,people cheer and wish each other happiness for the year ahead. But some cultures prefer to celebrate the new year by waking up early to watch the sunrise. They welcome the new year with the first light of the sunrise.

Many cultures also do special things to get rid of(摆脱) bad luck at the beginning of a new year. For example,in Ecuador,families make a big doll from old clothes. The doll is filled with old newspapers and firecrackers. At midnight,these dolls are burned to show the bad things from the past year have gone and that the new year can start a fresh(重新). Other common traditions to keep away bad luck in a new year include throwing things into rivers or the ocean,or saying special things on the first day of the new year.

Other New Year traditions are followed to bring good luck in the new year. One widespread Spanish tradition for good luck is to eat grapes on New Year’s Day. The more grapes a person eats,the more good luck he will have in the new year. In France,people eat pancakes for good luck on New Year’s Day. In the United States,some people eat black-eyed peas for good luck—but to get good luck for a whole year. You have to eat 365 of them!

请你根据下面的信息提示，介绍我国的传统节日——春节。