【明報專訊】The Smarties thought they could have a carefree Chinese New Year holiday, but their hopes are dashed when they see their familiar foe.

Mission 1

Bananas are one of monkeys' favourite foods, but it is reckless of Eason to eat them here. It is even worse to throw their skins everywhere! Find out all the banana skins on pages 4 and 5 and prevent other tourists from slipping on them!

Monkeys enjoying hot springs

There is a colony of macaques living in the forest of Jigokudani Monkey Park. In the freezing winter, they like to spend time in nearby hot springs to keep themselves warm. At night, they go back to the forest and rest there.

Monkey facts

˙Monkeys live on highlands or in trees, grasslands, mountains or forests. Though they share some features with humans, we did not evolve from monkeys.

˙Monkeys and apes may look alike, but they are not the same. Unlike monkeys, apes have no tails. Monkeys communicate with each other using vocalisations, facial expressions and body movements.

˙We can identify monkeys' different mood expressions. A monkey's actions like grinning, pulling its lips, yawning and wiggling its head are its signs of aggression. Monkeys make friends and express affection by grooming each other.

■Mission 2

The monkeys are certainly having a great time! Can you find where the following small squares are in the picture?

(answers on next text)

■Mission 3

Fill in the blanks with the correct forms of the words provided.

Lion dance (舞獅) is performed at traditional Chinese festivals like Lunar New Year. It is 1. _________ (believe) that the lion is an auspicious animal. In ancient times, lion dance was a part of royal entertainment. After the Qing Dynasty (清朝) had been overthrown, it was 2. ___________ (combine) with martial arts.

In a lion dance, a lion costume is operated by two people who imitate a lion's movements under it. Their movements are accompanied with 3. ___________ (resound) drums, clashing cymbals and 4.__________ (force) gongs. A lion dance performance typically ends with the lion catching a piece of "vegetable" and unrolling a scroll showing a propitious saying with its mouth.

■Key words

macaque 獼猴

ape 猿

■Glossary

carefree (adj) 無憂無慮的

dash somebody's hopes (idiom) 使某人希望幻滅

foe (n) 敵人

reckless (adj) 魯莽的

vocalisation (n) 發聲

grin (v) 露齒而笑

auspicious/propitious (adj) 吉祥的

cymbal (n) 鈸