Xinjiang Is a Beautiful Place我們新疆好地方/

What do you know about Xinjiang？ You might think of delicious fruits， mutton kebabs（羊肉串） or the stories of Afanti（阿凡提）. But there are more about Xinjiang than those.

The documentary Xinjiang shows us all about Xinjiang’s food， beautiful scenery and diverse cultures. Xinjiang is a beautiful place in Northwest China（中國西北部）. There are mountains， lakes， deserts， grasslands and glaciers.

mutton /?m?tn/ n. 羊肉 kebab /k??b?b/ n. 烤肉串

documentary /?d?kju?ment（?）ri/ n. 紀(jì)錄片

scenery /?si?n?ri/ n. 風(fēng)景 diverse/dai?v??s/ adj. 多樣的

culture /?k?lt??（r）/ n. 文化 desert /?dez?t/ n. 沙漠

grassland /?ɡrɑ?sl?nd/ n. 草原 glacier /?ɡl?si?（r）/ n. 冰川

The Taklamakan Desert（塔克拉瑪干沙漠） is in Xinjiang. It is the world’s second-biggest shifting-sand（流動沙丘） desert. Very few plants can live in deserts. The Populus euphratica（胡楊） is one of them. Its roots can go 50 meters deep under the ground. The trees can live for（活到） 1，000 years.

You may know Hami because of the Hami melon（哈密瓜）. Hami melon tastes sweet and juicy. Xinjiang is home to many popular fruits， for example， grapes in Turpan（吐魯番） and pears in Kuerle（庫爾勒）. Why are there so many sweet fruits in Xinjiang？ The temperature changes a lot from morning to evening. It has long hours of sunshine each day. Farmers are also good at growing fruits. People sell the fruits to other parts of China and abroad.

There are 47 ethnic groups（民族） in Xinjiang， like Han， Uygur（維吾爾族） and Kazak（哈薩克族）. People in Xinjiang are good at singing and dancing. In Kuqa， people usually play the lute. The dance is also very cheerful. Dancers use almost every part of their bodies， especially the waist and the neck.

Kanas Lake is very beautiful. In spring and summer， the colour of the water changes along with the weather. There is an old story about the “l(fā)ake monsters”. The monsters live very deep in the lake. They often drag horses and camels into the lake when they are drinking the water. Some people say that they see the lake monsters swimming in the lake. So many tourists go there and want to have a look with their own eyes.

In Journey to the West（《西游記》）， Xuan Zang and his three disciples had to climb over the Flaming Mountain. The Flaming Mountain is in Turpan（吐魯番）. The red mountain got the name because of its hot temperature. In summer the mountain’s ground temperature can reach 80 degrees centigrade（攝氏度）. It is the hottest place in China.

Hand pilaf is a common dish in Xinjiang. It’s made of mutton， carrots， onions and rice. It tastes really delicious. People usually pick the food by hand at home. Now people use chopsticks and spoons in public（在公眾場合）.

root /ru?t/ n. 根 ground /ɡra?nd/ n. 地面

juicy /?d?u?si/ adj. 多汁的 temperature /?tempr?t??（r）/ n. 溫度

abroad /??br??d/ adv. 在國外 ethnic /?eθn?k/ adj. 民族的

lute /lu?t/ n. 琵琶 cheerful /?t???fl/ adj. 歡快的

especially /??spe??li/ adv. 尤其 waist /we?st/ n. 腰（部）

monster /?m?nst?（r）/ n. 怪物 drag /dr?ɡ/ v. 拖，拽

camel /?k?ml/ n. 駱駝 tourist /?t??r?st/ n. 游客

disciple /d??sa?pl/ n. 徒弟 flaming /?fle?m??/ adj. 燃燒的

reach /ri?t?/ v. 到達(dá) pilaf /?pi?l?f/ n. 肉飯

common /?k?m?n/ adj. 常見的 chopstick /?t??pst?k/ n. 筷子

spoon /spu?n/ n. 勺子