The all-important pumpkin

For Americans ,the simple pumpkin has come to symbolize everything that is important and meaningful about autumn. Everyone knows it is autumn when pumpkins begin to appear at roadside stands. Soon afterward, pumpkins will decorate doorsteps at Halloween. Then they'll be part of Thanksgiving holiday decorations. They'll also be baked into breads and pies. Farmers will know winter is near when morning frost is on the pumpkin. Every autumn there are pumpkin festivals held all over the country. They are a type of harvest celebration. Pumpkin queens and kings are named. Prizes are given for the biggest or the best-decorated pumpkin, or the best tasting pumpkin pie.With the help of fertilizers some pumpkins have been grown to the size of a small car.
Pumpkins are popular with children, not so much for eating as for making jack-o-lanterns at Halloween. Most Americans do not realize that this tradition comes all the way from Ireland and Scotland. It originated over 2000 years ago with the Celts who lived in what is now France and the British Isles. They celebrated a harvest festival on October 31. It was a joyous occasion, but also in some ways a sad one. It marked the beginning of the long,dark,cold winter. They believed that in the darkness, the spirits of the dead walked upon the earth. Great fires were built on the hills to protect the people from bad spirits. People hollowed out turnips, a root plant, and put a candle inside. They carried them if they went outside to protect themselves from evil spirits.
When the settlers came to America, they brought their customs with them. They did not have turnips, so they used pumpkins instead. Today, of course, children look forward to Halloween and the carving of pumpkins. First the pumpkins is hollowed out and the seeds and pulp taken out. Then funny or scary faces are carved into the side. In the evening, a candle is put inside and the face glows in the dark. Sometimes pumpkins are painted and decorated. As Halloween approached, jack-o-lanterns pop up on doorsteps everywhere.
After Halloween, Americans look forward to the Thanksgiving holiday. Pumpkins and corn plants are often used decorations during this time. They symbolize autumn and the spirit of the season. It is a time of giving thanks for the harvest for the family, and for all the good things that families enjoy.

Britney Spears

it is not easy catching up with the busiest teen in show business(her new CD, Oops! I Did it again, hit stores may 16th, she is about to go on tour and then there are all those dance rehearsals),but we did! Britney called us on her cell phone from a limo on the way to a photo shoot. We asked the important stuff-you know, like, what is your favorite pizza topping, Here is what she said: Q: what is the weirdest part of being famous?
A: People think you change when you become a celebrity, but what is really weired is that the people around you are the ones who change. All you wanna do is just be normal, but the people around you won't let you.

Q: since you travel so much, do you ever forget where you are?

A: Oh, yeah! this morning I was on my way to a radio station, and I am like "where are we?" I had no idea because I am in a different city every day.

Q: what is the favorite city you have visited on tour?

A: My favorite city? Probably New York or L.A. because they are really really big cities and so much fun, and the shopping is good. Chicago is goo, too.

Q: So you like to shop?

A: Oh, yeah! I love to shop!

Q: Do you take any toys or good luck charms with you on tour?

A: I have a cross necklace that I always wear, and I think of it as a good luck charm. It is a gift from one of my best friends.

Q:what is your favorite video game?

A: you know what ? I am not much of a video game player, I have to say. But when I was playing PlayStation or whatever with one of my friends the other day, I liked the NBA Jam basketball game. I also like Pokemon. I don't know, I think the characters are cute. When I was in Japan, I saw them everywhere.

Q:What do you like to do in your spare time?

A: Just normal things, like go to the movies. if I had a day off and I was at home in Florida. I'd probably get in the car with my girlfriends and just drive to the beach and lay out.

Q: what is your hidden talent?

A:My hidden talent? can it be silly or goofy? Um,yoga. And I play basketball, too. When I was in high school, I played basketball. I was a point guard.

Q: do you play much anymore?

A:No, not at all. Sometimes when I go home I'll get the basketball out, but I am kinda busy!

Q:What was the best pet you ever had?

A: Probably the one I have right now. She is a Yorkshire terrier named baby, and she travels with me everywhere.

Q:do you ever practice your dance steps in front of your bedroom mirror when you were a kid?

A: Oh, of course, all the time. I was a total goob, but I thought I was just everything.

Q:how about now?

A:No. no. Only when I am with my girlfriends. When we are getting ready to go somewhere, we are gonna turn on music and we'll sing - but not in front of the mirror!

Q:what phrases do you use way too much?

A: Probably "well" and "ummm" and probably I say "that is beat" a lot. "that a beat "like "that is good" It means like " that is cool"

Pretty beat, huh?

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what is your favorite pizza topping?

pepperoni and cheese

Favorite TV show?

Probably "Friends" and "Party of five". and "Felicity" I love "Felicity". But I don't really get that much time to watch television.

ice cream?

cookie dough.

Place to go on vacation?

Probably Hawaii, "cause it is beautiful there. I have just been there once"

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.