Tang Dynasty poets sang for about three centuries in different tones. There were many famous poets living in the Tang period such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi and Li Shangyin. Quan Tangshi edited in the Qing Dynasty is a collection of about 48, 900 poems that were written by over 2, 200 poets. But it doesn't cover all the poems of the Tang Dynasty.

During the Tang Dynasty, poems were recited when lovers walked under the moonlight. Poems were also recited when soldiers fought on the battlefield. People recited them in the open air or at temple fairs.

In the Tang Dynasty scholars（学者）had to be poets. Their readers were not only people of high social position but also common people. Poets recited poems；women singers sang poems and other ranks of people, including old women and children, read Tang poems. This atmosphere affected foreigners who visited the country at that time. As a result, Tang poetry was introduced to some adjacent countries, like Japan and Vietnam.

Tang poetry is a most brilliant page in the history of ancient Chinese literature. It's a miracle（奇迹）in the cultural history of mankind. The Tang Dynasty was a powerful empire with a vast territory. It inherited（继承）Chinese civilization that went back to ancient times, and was combined with the best of other cultures and adopted the benefits of other nations in the world. Tang poetry wasn’t the only spiritual wealth created by people of the Tang Dynasty. Philosophy, handwriting, painting, music and dance all gained new peaks of development. Tang poetry, however, was the jewel in the crown and the greatest achievement in the Tang Dynasty.

   The 30 miles of steep（陡峭的）roads that snake through the mountains of Logan Canyon in Utah are enough to make most drivers' hands sweat. But Andersen, a 46-year-old father of four, wasn't expecting any trouble on the road last New Year's Eve, when he set off for a ski trip to the Bear River Mountains with nine-year-old daughter Mia, four-year-old son Baylor, and nine-year-old neighbour Kenya. Andersen had driven through the Logan Canyon hundreds of times over the years.

The weather was fine-but the higher they drove, the more slippery the roads became. Rounding a sharp U-turn at mile marker 473, Andersen saw a truck that had skated off the road and immediately tapped his brakes. In an instant, the car was sliding at 25 miles per hour towards the shoulder of the highway, then rolling down a steep ten-foot dam towards the extremely cold Logan River. As it hit the water, the car tipped towards the passenger side, hesitated, and then rolled onto its roof and sank into the river.

There was no time to tell the kids what to do. The crash had broken a few windows, and within seconds, the upside-down car was filled with water. "It was frightening how fast we were completely underwater, "remembers Andersen, a soft-spoken product development manager. "You're thinking, is this how it's all going to end？"

Having lost the sense of direction, Andersen began to search the freezing water for the kids. Miahad been right next to him in the front seat；now, in the blackness, he couldn't find her. "I thought, if I didn't get out, maybe none of us were going to get out." Andersen got out of his seat belt, swam through a broken window, and, deeply and quickly, breathed air at the surface. That's when he saw a group of men, about ten in all, appear at the top of the dam. One after another, they raced down into the water. Leading all the three children to safety, they began to shout at the father, "Who else is in the car？"Andersen says respectfully, "It was like the sight of angels（天使）."

   What's the easiest way to stay warm in the super cold？【小题1】. At least that's what Santa Claus told me.

Over Christmas, Dennis and I went to Finland. We brought back some tips for keeping warm in a cold temperature.

Three layers（层）work wonders.

Start with the base layer, which sits right on your skin: choose something absorbent（有吸收力的）.【小题2】.

A sweater is a good choice. The most important layer is the outer clothes, which should be waterproof（防水的）and windproof.

【小题3】.

You lose heat from every millimeter of uncovered skin, which was the biggest lesson I learned on the trip. My whole body was well covered. But I missed one spot: my face. So it often felt like the wind was going to blow my nose off.

Exercise and don't just stand still.

When it's cold, exercising may be the last thing you feel like doing, but be smart.【小题4】. When we first got to Finland, we were freezing. But after a couple of minutes jumping around, we felt less cold.

Have a heater.

You may want to turn it on all the way up, but it's best to keep it between 18 and 20 degrees.【小题5】. Remember not to create a huge difference between inside and outside.

How are you doing these days？

Aimed at providing a platform that students can have a chance to exchange and make use of their books, the annual campus book fair will soon held in our school. The fair will attract the huge crowd from the entire school, who are to sell, purchase but exchange their second-hand books with their peers.

As a regular visitor, I've found myself increasingly draw by the fair. For one thing, the fair exhibits books of hundreds of type on diverse topics, motivating us to further develop their reading habits and helping to broaden our horizons. About another, most books are sold at a low price than what the bookstores offer.

Please let me to know if you have any suggestions on how to host such a book fair better.

Yours,

Li Hua