Knife-peeled noodles are a kind of food in Shanxi Province, enjoying great fame and a （历史）of hundreds of years. The name shows the way the dish is prepared. A （厨师）holds dough（面团）in one hand, and cuts it into pieces with a special knife in the other hand. Then they are directly thrown into a pot of boiling water. The whole process looks like an （令人兴奋的）kung fu performance. As one piece of noodle falls into the boiling water, the （第二）is flying in the air, and the third has just been peeled off. Within （仅仅）a minute, 200 pieces of noodles can be cut out. The noodles have a shape of a （叶子）, with medium thickness and thin edges. The noodles are smooth and （柔软的）.  

 Shanxi people have a special feeling when having this kind of noodles. On their birthdays, a （碗）of noodles means long life；at the Spring Festival, people （吃）noodles for a successful new year. Knife-peeled noodles in Shanxi are not made just to satisfy a （饥饿的）stomach, but a way to express Chinese people's feelings of life.  

Jack was a great novelist with a younger brother, who was famous for his cooking skills. Few people know about their family(背景). When they were young, they lived in a community, where noises were heard all day long. Their family was so poor that sometimes they even could  not (买得起) to buy daily necessities(日常用品). They did not dare to go (到处), as they had to go without showers for a long time. "It was (令人尴尬的)," Jack said, "to go around with bad smells."

Later, the war(反对，对抗) their neighbouring country happened. They had to move from place to place with their parents. However,( 两者都不) of them failed to teach themselves. Jack liked reading novels, which helped him to get through the hard times. While he was reading, he would(想象) what life would be like in the future. That's probably why he had published a lot of fairy tales, where people enjoy peace and freedom. But his writing style began to change.(最近), he wrote about the suffering that wars brought about to common people.

After the war, both of the brothers settled in the capital. His brother, Peter, became a chef and opened a restaurant there. "As a boy who often went hungry in his childhood", he said (幽默地), "I never thought I would be a chef." Peter had his own secret ingredients of his food. So his restaurant was a great success. On weekends, parents would take their kids there to enjoy a delicious meal. But Jack, who liked to live a(简单的) life, would go to his restaurant and enjoy a freshly cooked pancake.

By the end of the 19th century, Alexander Ⅲ, the Russian Tsar（沙皇） decided to build a railway line from the west, where Moscow is, to the eastern area of Russia known as Siberia. Work began in 1891 and after Alexander's （死亡），his son, Nicholas II, took over.

There are a number of routes to （选择） from. The most popular route is the Trans-Siberian Line which runs from the （首都）, Moscow, to Vladivostock, a seaport on the Pacific Ocean. The second route is the Trans-Manchurian Line （from Moscow to Beijing）. The third route, the Trans-Mongolian, goes from Moscow to Beijing through Mongolia. And the （第四） route, the Baikal Amur Mainline, runs （更远的） to the north and reaches the Pacific.

It takes about a week to （完成） the Trans-Siberian journey. There are many stops, which last from a few minutes to half an hour. Travelers can stay in many of the Russian cities and towns （沿着） the way. One of the most interesting sights is Lake Baikal--the （最深的） and oldest freshwater lake on Earth.

Some Trans-Siberian trains are actually hotels on （轮子）. For those who have money to （花钱），there's the Trans-Siberian Express with its comfortable, air-conditioned, first-class sleeping cars, a restaurant car which serves three meals a day and a shower car. In each sleeping car, there are two waiters who serve tea and coffee free of charge throughout the journey and make the beds.