Our school has a cooking club, which meets in the kitchen every Friday afternoon. Last week our teacher, Miss Lin, showed us how to make (11) that are not too sweet. She gave each of us some flour, butter, two eggs and a little sugar, and we mixed everything in a big bowl before we cut it into small squares. (12) Twenty minutes later, the whole room smelled so wonderful that students from other clubs came to the door. (13), my cookies were too hard, because I had forgotten to add the eggs. Miss Lin just laughed and let me try again. My second plate came out perfect, (14) I took five cookies home for my little brother.
My (15) is a small town in the east of Taiwan. It is not a big place, (16) it is famous for its food, and on weekends people drive from far away just to eat here. The most popular dish is beef noodle soup, which is made with beef from a farm near the river. My uncle, who has sold pork buns for seventeen years, steams them over hot water for twenty minutes. (17) He says that food cooked in too much oil is bad for the heart. (18), people who care about their health choose his shop, and it is always full. Last Sunday, so many buses came that people waited in line for half an hour.
Mom: Amy, are you still at school? Can you stop at Green Market on your way home? They are having a big sale this weekend.
Amy: Sure. What do you need?
Mom: Two boxes of apples and one pack of chicken, because I want to make chicken soup for dinner tonight. Here is the price list.
| GREEN MARKET WEEKEND SALE |
|---|
| Apples: $120 a box (buy two, get one free) |
| Chicken: $90 a pack |
| Ice cream: $60 a box |
| Cookies and candy: 5 bags for $100 |
Amy: Can I get some ice cream, too? It is so hot today.
Mom: OK, but only one box, because your father is trying to eat less sugar. And please be fast.
Amy: No problem. I will be home before six.
Dear Ken,
Thank you for your last letter. Next Saturday there will be a food festival in the town square near my home. It starts at ten in the morning and ends at five in the afternoon. More than forty shops will sell beef soup, steamed pork buns, and ice cream made with fresh milk, and some will give free food to children.
My mother will cook her famous chicken at the festival. To be frank, I think it is the best chicken in town. My grandmother taught her how to cook it many years ago, so it is very precious to our family.
Take the train to East Station, where I will meet you at eleven. Please write back before Wednesday so that I know how much food to get ready.
Yours,
Peter
Many students drink sweet tea and eat candy every day. Sweet food can stop your hunger for a short time, but you will feel hungry again very soon, because it gives your body little else. Too much sugar can make people fat, and it is also bad for the heart and the teeth. Doctors say that people who eat too much sugar and fat for many years may even meet an early death.
However, none of the doctors asks us to give up all sweet food; they only ask us to eat less of it. Fruit is a much better choice than candy, because although it is sweet, it also has water and many other good things in it.
Small changes, like drinking water with lunch, can improve our health in a big way.
Last month, the teachers of Class 305 asked all 45 students one question: "What snack do you usually bring to school?" Each student could choose only one answer, and the results are shown in the chart below.
| Snack | Boys | Girls |
|---|---|---|
| Fruit | 9 | 13 |
| Cookies | 7 | 6 |
| Candy | 5 | 2 |
| Ice cream | 2 | 1 |
The class teacher, Miss Chen, was happy that fruit was the top answer, because she has talked about healthy snacks many times this year. Still, she plans to talk to the class about candy, because some of the students who chose it bring a bag to school every day. She will also invite a doctor, who is an old friend of hers, to explain how sugar hurts the teeth. Next year, the class will answer the same question again to see if anything has changed.