According to legend, tea was first discovered by the Chinese emperor and inventor Shennong in 2737 B.C. . It is said that the emperor liked his drinking water boiled before he drank it, so that was what his servant did. One day, on a trip to a distant place, he and his army stopped to rest. A servant began boiling water for him to drink, and a dead leaf from the wild tea bush fell into the water. It turned brown, but it was unnoticed and presented to the emperor anyway. The emperor drank it and found it very refreshing, and tea came into being.

The origin of tea as a medicine for staying awake is unclear. China is considered to have the earliest records of tea drinking, with recorded tea use in its history dating back to the first millennium（千年）B C. The Han Dynasty（206 B.C.—220 A.D.）used tea as medicine. The use of tea as a drink for pleasure on social occasions dates from the Tang Dynasty（618—907A.D）.

The Tang Dynasty writer Lu Yu’s（ 729—804 A.D.）Cha Jing is an early work on the subject. According to Cha Jing writing, around 760 A.D., tea drinking was very popular. The book describes how tea plants were grown and how the leaves were processed. It also describes how tea was developed. The book also discuss where the best tea leaves were produced.

At this time in tea’s history, the nature of the drink and style of tea preparation were quite different from the way we experience today. Tea leaves were processed into the forms of cakes. The dried teacake, generally called brick tea was placed in a store mortar（ 臼 ）. Hot water was added to the powdered teacake and then enjoyed as a hot drink.

If you love chocolate, now you have another good reason to eat it! According to a new study, eating 10 grams of 85-percent dark chocolate three times a day can really make you happy.

Scientists at Seoul National University in South Korea did the study. They divided 46 healthy people into three groups. Every day for three weeks, one group ate no chocolate (the unlucky group); one group ate 30 grams of 85-percent dark chocolate; and one ate 30 grams of 70-percent dark chocolate.

It turned out that people from the 85-percent group were much happier than people from the other two groups. Scientists found more Blautia in the 85-percent group’s gut (肠道). Blautia is a kind of bacteria (细菌). It helps make people feel good.

But scientists say you need to make sure it’s 85-percent dark chocolate. Milk chocolate can do the same, but it is bad for your health because it has too much fat and sugar.

In south China we eat rice every day. Sometimes we eat it two or three times a day, for breakfast, lunch and supper. We usually eat it with fish, meat and vegetable.

The Japanese eat rice, too. They also eat a lot of fish. They sometimes eat raw（生的）fish. In Africa, maize（玉米）is the most important food. People there make maize into flour（面粉）. From this flour they make different kinds of bread and cakes.

In western（西方的）countries such as Britain, Australia and the U.S.A, the most important food is bread or potatoes. People there usually make their bread from wheat flour. They cook the potatoes in different ways. In England the most popular food is fish and chips. Sometimes people cook this food at home, but usually they buy it at the shop. They eat this food at home, in their work place, in the park or on the road. People call it “take-away” food.