范畴：人与社会 主题：美食文化 体裁：说明文 难度：★★★★ 建议用时：8分钟 评价：____/10
Do you like Kung Pao Chicken? The dish is among the top 10 most popular dishes in China. All of the dishes on the list are easy to make and they have interesting stories. Let's meet three of them.
Shredded pork with garlic sauce
Does this dish have anything to do with fish? No! In fact, yuxiang is a Sichuan seasoning. The seasoning is made of red chillies, green Chinese onions, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sugar and wine. A woman in Sichuan was good at cooking fish. Once she used the seasoning for fish on pork. Surprisingly, it tasted great!
Twice - cooked pork slices in hot sauce
There are different stories about this dish. One says that the dish came about by accident. A person in Sichuan boiled some pork to remember his ancestors. After the ceremony, his family wanted to eat the pork. To make it more delicious, he stir - fried the pork and added salt, sauce and garlic. Many people started to cook pork this way.
Kung Pao Chicken
It's made of diced chicken fried with chillies and peanuts. The dish was named after Ding Baozhen. He was a Chinese official who lived during the late Qing dynasty. He loved this dish very much. He asked his cook to make it every time he invited friends to eat at home. Then people named it after Ding's official title—gongbao. Soon the dish became quite famous.
Interesting stories 1. ________ some Chinese dishes
| | |
|--|--|
| Shredded pork with garlic sauce | * It has 2. ________ to do with fish.
* Once a woman in Sichuan cooked pork 3. ________ the seasoning for fish.
* To her 4. ________, it tasted great. |
| Twice - cooked pork slices in hot sauce | * A man in Sichuan boiled some pork to 5. ________ his ancestors.
* To make the pork more 6. ________ for his family to eat after the ceremony, he added some seasonings and stir - fried the pork 7. ________. |
| Kung Pao Chicken | * An official in the late Qing dynasty liked diced chicken fried with chillies and 8. ________.
* He enjoyed 9. ________ friends to eat at home and then asked his cook to make it every time.
* His title was "gongbao". That's 10. ________ the dish was named Kung Pao Chicken. |

1. behind/about 2. nothing 3. with 4. surprise
5. remember 6. delicious 7. again 8. peanuts
9. inviting 10. why

范畴：人与自我 主题：自我认识 体裁：说明文 难度：★★★ 建议用时：7分钟 评价：____/10
The human body has its limits. But some people really surprised us by testing these limits. Here are a few interesting examples.
How long can you hold your breath underwater?
Practising holding your breath in the water is not safe sometimes. With a little training, a person can hold his or her breath for two to three minutes. Aleix Segura Vendrell is a diver from Spain. He can hold his breath for about twenty - four minutes. This was once the world record for breath - holding.
How much can a human lift?
Usually, a healthy person can lift 50 to 60 kilograms. It is safe. But athletes can lift a lot. Andy Bolton is a British weightlifter. He lifted 457.5 kilograms from the floor to his thigh. That's the most that any human can lift, according to New Scientist.
How long can we stay awake?
When people don't get enough sleep, they get angry easily. Sometimes, they can't even think very clearly. According to HuffPost, Randy Gardner from the United States holds the record for the longest time spent staying awake. He didn't sleep for about 264 hours. That's about 11 days.
Testing the 1. ________ of the human body
| Names | Countries | Facts and examples |
|--|--|--|
| Aleix Segura Vendrell | Spain | • Sometimes it can be 2. ________ for people to hold their breath underwater.
• By training, a person can do it for two or three 3. ________.
• Vendrell is a diver. He made a world record by 4. ________ his breath for about 5. ________ minutes. |
| Andy Bolton | The UK | • It is usually safe for a healthy person to 6. ________ 50 to 60 kilograms.
• As a 7. ________, he once lifted 457.5 kilograms from the floor to his thigh. |
| Randy Gardner | 8. ________ | • 9. ________ enough sleep, people can get angry easily. Sometimes, they can't think very clearly.
• Gardner once 10. ________ awake for about 264 hours, about 11 days. This is a world record. |

1. limits 2. dangerous 3. minutes 4. holding
5. 24/twenty - four 6. lift 7. weightlifter 8. America
9. Without 10. stayed