2. Making barbecue could be
very complicated, but exciting. The process of creating the barbecue is
even more fun and important than the result.
First, the family has to decide on matters such as exactly what kinds of
food and in what quantities. Next,
shopping is often done by two or more family members, while the others stay at
home to prepare the grill, the table, and the tableware. When everyone is ready to start grilling, the
smells from the roasting food and the sound of the crackling coals make
everyone super hungry. A constant stream
of people and dishes floods out from the kitchen onto the backyard table, just
like ants finding and saving their food.
Finally, when all the food is ready and the cold drinks have been
poured, a barbecue symbolizes summer itself.
3. You can’t have the same night lifestyles
out of Taipei. If you are a resident of Taipei and travel overseas, one of
the first things you will notice is that during the evening hours, cities seem
to close their doors before the night has even begun. Supermarkets, department stores, and
drugstores close before 9:00 p.m. Movies
stop playing and buses and subways stop running before midnight. The sidewalks are nearly empty, and few cars
venture forth on the streets. In Taipei, however, one can
play 24 hours every day. Movies run
until the early hours of the morning, KTVs and MTVs operate 24 hours, and
crowded discos and pubs play loud music to dancers and drinkers until
dawn. In Taipei, the nights are as busy as the days.
4. Dictionaries are not just
for you to look up words, but also have other functions that you may not notice
before. We all know about looking up words in dictionaries, and perhaps
finding cities in an atlas or a description of some fact in an encyclopedia,
but few of us realize that these books can also be a source of pleasure. Dictionaries, for example, not only contain
the meaning and pronunciation of words.
They can also tell us where the words come from or how to distinguish
similar words. Atlases, too, not only
show maps of countries; they contain interesting information about race,
language, history, and biology.
Encyclopedias can be entertaining: just choose one, open it up, and
start learning about something you never knew before! We too often use reference books in a hurry;
we should realize that they can be as much fun as they are useful.
5. Taking trains is a fashion that will never
fade. In this modern world with faster means of transportation available to
more people, the train nevertheless continues to be popular. In most countries, train tickets are often
sold out. Why do so many people want to
take the train? Perhaps it is because
they are reasonably priced--cheaper than an airplane--and have large windows
from which we can comfortably view the passing world. Maybe trains are popular because they never
get stuck in traffic jams, as cars and buses often do. Another reason may be that trains are older
and sometimes seem a little romantic.
For whatever reason, do not be surprised to see people preferring trains
to other modes of transportation far into the future.
6. Do you know the differences between snack
food, junk food, and fast food? Actually, they are easy to
distinguish. Snack food refers to any
food which is eaten between the three primary meals of breakfast, lunch, and
dinner. Snack food can be any kind of food,
such as leftovers, fruit, candy, and a sandwich. Junk food refers to any food which is not
nutritious and may actually be bad for us, such as candy, deep-fried meat, and
doughnuts. Finally, the term fast food
is used for foods cooked at fast-food restaurants. Some fast food is also junk food, as it
contains too much salt and oil. In
short, when you want some snack food, don’t eat junk food or fast food!
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