ceremony". During the ceremony men and boys dive to the ground from high wooden towers with only two thin vines (藤) tied to their feet.

　　Cherry Blossom Viewing - Japan

　　Dates: The cherry blossom season is different from year to year depending on the weather.

　　The festival is well-known. The Japanese celebrate the days when the flowers finally blossom. Only a few days later, the petals (花瓣）fall to the ground, like pink snowflakes. That means the traditional festival only lasts for several days. In Japan, almost everyone has picnics in the parks to view the flowers.

　　Sinhalese New Year 一 Sri Lanka

　　Dates: 13th or 14th, April

　　Just like in many other countries in South East Asia, this is the time when people celebrate the traditional New Year, an ancient celebration which marks the end of the harvest season and is one of two times of the year when the sun is straight above Sri Lanka. There are a lot of delicious foods during the celebration.

21. Where can you go to see dangerous actions during the festival?

A. Thailand. B. Vanuatu. C. Japan. D. Sri Lanka.

22 How is Cherry Blossom Viewing different from the other festivals?

A. It is a traditional festival.

B. It is a very famous festival.

C. Its date is different every year.

D. It provides visitors with delicious foods.

23. In Sri Lanka, Sinhalese New Year indicates ______.

A. the arrival of lots of tourists

B. the end of the harvest season

C. the beginning of farming

D. the sun is closest to the country

　　When I was 4 years old, I met my best friend Ann in kindergarten. She was really small as she was only 3 years old, a year younger than the rest of us. At first I was annoyed with her. The teachers had to help her with everything! She even needed them to hold her hand as she was going down the slide.

　　When one of the kids had his or her birthday, we would bring candies and balloons, eat a cake and sing happy birthday in kindergarten. I was so excited when my birthday was drawing near. One day, one of my favorite teachers came to me, holding the tiny girl's hand. "You girls can celebrate your birthdays together! Gaja, your birthday is on the 19th and hers just a day later! Isn't that amazing?"

　　I was excited on my 4th birthday. When I saw Ann, she came to me. She was holding two beautiful crowns (王冠）made out of paper. One was green and the other was red. She gave me the red one and wished me a happy birthday. I was thankful. From that day on, we were inseparable (分不开的).

We're now finishing high school in the same class and in fall we're going to share an apartment at University of Chicago, She's going to study fashion design and I'm probably going for architecture (建筑）. That makes me especially stressed out, because I only have a month left to decide and I'm interested in so many things! To this day, I'm still so happy that