chocolate sweet or bitter

we now think of chocolates are sweet, but once it was bitter. We think of it as a candy, but once it was a medicine. Today, chocolate can be a hot drink, a frozen dessert, or just a snack. Sometimes it is an ingredient in the main course of a meal. Mexicans make a hot chocolate sauce called mole and pour it over chicken. The Mexicans also eat chocolate with spices like chili peppers. Chocolate is a product of the tropical cacao tree. The beans taste so bitter that even the monkeys say "ugh!" and run away. Workers must first dry and then roast the beans. This removes the bitter taste.
The word "chocolate" comes from a Mayan word. The Mayas were a ancient people who once lived in Mexico. They valued the cacao tree. Some used the beans for money,while others crushed them to make a drink. When the Spaniards came to Mexico in the sixteenth century, they started drinking cacao too. Because the drink was strong and bitter, they though it was medicine. No one had the idea of adding sugar. The Spaniards took some beans back to Europe and opened cafes. Wealthy people drank cacao and said it was good for the digestion. In the 1800s the owner of a chocolate factory in England discovered that sugar removed the bitter taste of cacao. It quickly became a cheap and popular drink. Soon afterward, a factory made the first solid block of sweetened chocolate. Later on, another factory mixed milk and chocolate together. People liked the taste of milk chocolate even better.

Besides the chocolate candy bar, one of the most popular American snacks is the chocolate chip cookie. Favorite desserts are chocolate cream pie and, of course, an ice cream sundae with hot fudge sauce.

Hooked on Harry Potter

Shh... can you heat that? It is the sound of a magic spell spreading through the air. The spell has been cast by J.K.Rowling, whose magic wand is very plain. It is a pen. Rowling is the English author of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone and Harry potter and the Chamber of Secrets. This month her third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, arrived in U.S bookstores. Just like the first two Potter books, The new one is taking off faster than a speeding broomstick!

Harry is an orphan boy with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead. He lives in England with Mr and Mrs. Dursley, his nasty aunt and uncle, and their greedy son Dudley. When Harry is 11, he finds out that his parents were a witch and wizard. He is a wizard, too. Harry is invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Before long, he is waving a wand, meeting ghosts and mixing potions!

The idea for Harry just "strolled into my head," says Joanne Rowling. "I still do not know where he came from!" Kids sure are glad he's here. The first two Potter books are hits all over the world. They appear in 28 languages!

Anna Hinkley,9,of Santa Monica,California,has read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"seven or eight times". Will Schultz, 11,from Raleigh,North Carolina,is also a fan."It has all the things I like-humor,action",says Will.

Rowling plans to write one book for each of the seven years that Harry goes to Hogwarts School. How will it all end? She offers only one clue: the last word of the last book is scar. Only Rowling knows what that means, but the rest of us will have lots of fun finding out!

tokyo and los angeles

Tokyo and Los Angeles are similar in some ways, different in many others. The two cities have a lot in common. They are both cosmopolitan ports on the Pacific Ocean. Both have tall buildings, freeways, and thousands of neon signs. Baseball and American rock music are very popular in both cities. They also share many of the same problems: too many cars on the freeways,air pollution, and the possibility of earthquakes.
Now let's look at three of the main differences: their people,transportation and weather. Los Angeles is a city of minorities and immigrants. More than half of its inhabitants are minorities: Hispanic Americans, Black Americans, Asian Americans, and immigrants. Mexicans,Central Americans, Chinese,Japanese,Koreans,Filipinos,Vietnamese,and other Asians make up the largest groups of immigrants and refugees. Many of these people are still learning English. In contrast,Tokyo has almost no minorities. Many foreigners live there, but most of them are not immigrants. Tokyo's public transportation is much better than L.A.'s.

Although Los Angeles has an excellent system of freeways, it does not have a subway, and the buses are very slow. In contrast, Tokyo probably has the best system of railroad,subway, and bus lines in the world. About twenty million people use it every day.

Neither city has a bad climate, but most people agree that L.A's weather is more pleasant. L.A. is drier and sunnier that Tokyo. Winters in Tokyo are cool, but snow is quite rare. Summers there are hot and humid. In contrast, L.A. has mild, sunny winters and hot summers. Spring and fall are the most comfortable seasons in both cities.

Tourists love to come to both cities and not just because there is a Disneyland near each of them!

Bamboo

A stand of bamboo thrusts upwards towards the sky. The stems are slender and elegant. Their surface a vibrant fresh green , the leaves rustling softly in the breeze.
For people in Japan, the beautiful colour and gentle whisper of bamboo have a special place in their hearts. Because it is so light, strong and easy to works, bamboo makes a very versatile material. These baskets are for displaying flower arrangements. Bamboo's innate flexibility is put to superb use in weaving these elegant forms. The walls of many houses in kyoto have low curving fences known as inu-yarai,which protect the walls and stop them from getting splattered with mud. They make a graceful addition to these traditional street scenes.
Shishi-odoshi are lengths of bamboo that slowly fill with water and then empty out, making a knocking sound. In the past, they were used to scare away animals and birds, but now people just like the rhythmic sound.

Bamboo grows very rapidly, with some species gaining a metre or more per day. Because of its remarkable vitality and strength, the people of ancient Japan revered bamboo as having mysterious powers.
The tanabata festival is celebrated on July the seventh. Legend has it that two lovers, represented by the stars Vega and Altair in the milky way, are only allowed to meet once a year on the seventh night of the seventh month.
On this day, people write their wishes for the future on slips of paper and tie them to bamboo branches. It is believed that ancestral spirits which dwell inside the bamboo leaves will make these wished come true.

In November, shrines across Japan hold festivals called Tori-no-ichi. Many people come to buy bamboo rakes adorned with models of objects of great value. Rakes are tools used for gathering things together, whether in cleaning up the yard or working in the fields. Eventually, they came to symbolize important amulets that bring success in business.

To this day, bamboo is still considered a symbol of good fortune and it features in many celebrations and rituals.

yuzen

Kimono com in many styles, and various techniques are used for dyeing the cloth. In the yuzen method, colourful designs are painted directly on the fabric. This is a furisode, a long-sleeved kimono created by living National Treasure KIMURA UZAN. The motifs feature seasonal birds, trees and flowers, using designs similar in style to those in traditional Japanese painting. Because of their exquisite beauty, yuzen kimono have remained popular throughout the centuries. The techniques for dyeing yuzen kimono are not used in other methods of dyeing. Seen close-up, the white outlines of the flower patterns are clearly visible. These lines, which separate the different colours, are one of the distinguishing features of yuzen dyeing.
The white lines are the result of applying starch onto the fabric. Once the design has been sketched using a soluble vegetable ink, starch is applied over the lines. At the end of the process, when the starch and the original outlines are washed out, the natural white colour of the fabric will be left visible. The lines covered with starch prevent the days from spreading onto other areas of the fabric. This technique means that many different shades of dye can be used to colour the designs on each kimono. The final process in yuzen is to wash the fabric. Water drawn from underground is used. The water in Japan is generally soft. Ideally, it should also have a very low iron content to bring out the vibrancy of the colours. This step is so essential that yuzen is sometimes called "the art of water". The yuzen dyeing process is named after MIYAZAKI YUZENSAI, an extremely popular fabric painter during the EDO period. Yuzen kimono often feature motifs taken from nature. It is a style that still remains popular today. Since ancient times, people in Japan have had a strong affinity for the beauty of nature. and in yuzen kimono various elements of nature are meticulously depicted to give the kimono an elegant look. This style of kimono resonates with the Japanese people, and beautiful designs of nature are far more important than the fluctuations of mere fashion.
To this day, designs of this kind continue to be loved by people in Japan.

Tokyo Tower

Thrusting elegantly up into the sky, this is Tokyo tower. With a total height of 333 meters,, it is still the tallest self-supporting steel structure in the world.
In Japan, the first sunrise of the year is considered hugely significant. The tower's observation platform is crowded with people on the morning of January the first. It also draws numerous sightseers throughout the year-and over the past half century it has welcomed some 150 million visitors.
After TV broadcasting began in 1953, people in Japan were captivated by this new medium. Tokyo Tower was built to deliver TV signals to the kanto Region. It was the world's tallest tower, and it lifted people's hopes skyward as a new Japan rose from the ashes of war.
Construction began in 1957,Including scaffolding workers,blacksmiths,painters and other skilled workers, a total workforce of 220,000 was assembled. Construction was completed in 1958. On April the tenth,1959, some 15 million people watched live coverage of the parade that followed the wedding of the Crown Prince to Princess MICHIKO. It was about three months after the tower went into operation.

In 1964, the summer Olympic games were held in Tokyo. During the Games, lights were placed up the sides of Tokyo Tower in celebration. In 1988, Tokyo Tower celebrated its 30th anniversary. To mark the occasion, the illuminations were upgraded. Instead of the lights just marking the outline of the tower, the entire structure was bathed with floodlights. This display had a Major impact, changing the look of Tokyo's night-time cityscape.
Now half a century has passed, and Tokyo tower will soon be passing on the torch. A new TV transmission tower is being built in Tokyo.

Nevertheless, Tokyo Tower remains the focus of a belief that is popular among young people. It is called the lights-out legend. It is believed that if a couple watches the lights of Tokyo Tower being switched off, they will always be happy together. Tokyo tower inspired previous generations with hope for the future. Tokyo, too, it continues to have a special mering for so many people in Japan.

bento

Lunchtime at a kindergarten. Each of the children has a home-made bento to tuck into. The term bento is used for portable meals,usually packed in a special container.
The bento is an essential part of Japanese life. It is early in the morning, and a mother is preparing a bento for her child. She not only fills the bento box with ingredients, but also exercises her ingenuity in creating the colour-scheme and even the shapes of the items. Using a cutter in the shape of a cherry blossom, you can cut KAMOBOKO fish paste or ham into petal-shaped pieces. Arranged over rice, this gives a bento the perfect springtime accent. This bento has been created for lunch at a school sports day to encourage a child to do their best in the replay race. The faces are made of ham, and the hats are composed of carrot and fried egg white. The bento has become a medium of communication, a way for the creator to express their feelings for the person who will eat it.

Not all bento are home-made,many shops sell them. Convenience store chains are constantly developing new varieties, and often see a significant spike in the number of customers when they come up with a bento that is particularly popular. The bento sold at main stations are called ekiben. Each area-and even each individual station is likely to have its own speciality. Often the packaging, and the container itself, will have a distinctive design.

This one is shaped like a sinkansen bullet train. It is filled with items that appeal to children, such as spaghetti and mini hamburger patties. There is plenty of pork meat in this bento, and it is sold in a pig-shaped container. It comes with a lid that has a slot in it. So when you have eaten the food, it has another use - as a piggy bank.

bento originated as simple packed meals such as rice balls carried by travellers. But over the centuries, they became more and more elaborate. This is what a bento for a blossom-viewing party would have looked like during the edo period. It contains a variety of foods that were considered luxuries in those days. Recently, some high-class restaurants have begun offering meals in a single container, such as a basket. They are also called "bento"because they reflect the basic concept of filling a container with various delicious ingredients.
bento continue to develop. They have become edible canvases that showcase the skills and imagination of their creators.