Coffee and tea are two of the most popular drinks in the world. However, people usually like one more than the other. These drinks also have very different uses.

Coffee started just over 1,000 years ago. Coffee is made from beans. Something in the coffee beans makes a person feel active. Most people do not drink coffee to relax.Instead, they drink coffee to get going. Many people drink coffee in the morning to help them wake up. Others will also drink coffee during short breaks in the afternoon to keep going through the working day. Some people may visit coffee shops just to meet and talk with friends. However, many people in coffee shops drink coffee while working on their computers.

People in China started to drink tea over 4000 years ago.Tea is made from leaves. These days, some people drink tea for health,using it to help with stress or losing weight*. However most people in tea-drinking countries think tea is more than a healthy drink. In fact, tea drinking in some countries is part of the culture. In Turkey, tea is always there when people meet. Whether in someone’s home or a company, tea is always offered as a way of welcoming. In the UK, homes and offices usually have tea time. Tea and other dishes are served at tea time in the afternoon. It is a way of relaxing with friends or co-workers.

Which is more common in your country, coffee or tea? Which do you like to drink more?

April 23 was an unforgettable day for me. That day, I visited the Consulate General of Portugal （葡萄牙总领事馆）in Shanghai along with eighteen of my fellow reporters.

We met Nuno Lopes. He had been working as the vice-consul（副总领事）at the consulate since 2006. He is a very amiable（亲切友好的）man with a sense of humour. He enjoys living in Shanghai and he knows a lot about Chinese culture.

After we had watched two videos at the consulate, the most exciting part arrived—we could ask our questions! All of us raised our hands. Through this Q&A session, I was deeply impressed（使留下深刻印象）by the differences between China and Portugal. According to Lopes, family is very important to every Portuguese person. In China, however, an increasing（渐增的）number of people are spending more time using their smartphones than chatting with their family members. Life in Portugal is slow-paced compared to that of China. Moreover, unlike students in China, Portuguese students spend lots of their time outdoors. They don’t have many extra classes to attend.

I found Portugal to be a very fascinating（迷人的）country. I’m now looking forward to visiting it myself and truly getting to experience the charm（魅力）of its unique（独特的）culture.

Yangzhou paper cutting, with a history of 2,000 years, can be dated back to the Sui Dynasty, making Yangzhou one of the places where paper cutting first became popular.

In the Sui Dynasty, the people of Yangzhou would cut colorful paper or silks and satins(缎子) to celebrate festivals. It is said that Emperor Yang came to Yangzhou three times. In winter, the flowers and trees in the garden became dry and weak. The emperor ordered the girl servants to cut fine silks and satins into flowers and leaves and use them to decorate the trees and lakes, copying nicely the looks of spring and summer. Since then, “colorful cutting” has become a popular art in Yangzhou.

In the Tang Dynasty, the paper cutting industry was highly developed and a large amount of high-quality paper was made as presents to the Court (宫廷).In the Qing Dynasty, because of the economic development, the people of Yangzhou became interested in wearing fine clothing, especially embroidered(刺绣的) clothing. The embroidered designs were based on paper-cuts, The most well-known of them was Bao Jun, a paper cutting master. He won a high reputation(名声) as Magic Scissors(剪刀) for his wonderful cutting skills.

After the People’s Republic of China was started, the Chinese government accepted the importance of paper cutting like many other arts and skills. In 2007, China Paper-Cuts Museum opened to the public in the back garden of the Wang’s Residence(住所), Yangzhou, greatly helping the development of Yangzhou paper cutting.