E. He claims the piano is more versatile than any other instrument. He loves to go to see a performance. He says opera has everything, color and spectacle and theatre and great music.
F. He played drums when he was at primary school, and now he plays drums with his friends at weekends. They have a band. His favorite style of music is classical music.

    Gift giving is different from culture to culture and person to person.

    When giving gifts, sometimes color is important. For example, for many Chinese people around the world, red is a lucky color, and people often like to wrap gifts in this color. However, did you know that in Korea, red is a color of death? That is why you should not wrap（包装） your gifts in this color if you are giving a gift to a Korean person. What about western countries? In western countries, the color of wrapping paper is not really important. But color does matter when giving flowers, especially roses. You should not give red roses to a western person you don't know very well because they are a symbol of love. You could give yellow roses instead as these are a symbol of friendship. You could also send pink roses as gifts to say thank you.

    What other things should you remember when giving gifts to someone from a different culture? Well, one thing you should keep in mind is the person's religion(宗教). When choosing a gift for a Muslim (穆斯林) or Jewish friend, you should never get food including pork, or things made from pigskin. Another thing that you should not get for a Muslim person is alcohol (酒).

    I like Africa very much. So my parents and I went to Africa last week. It was an interesting place. On Monday, I rode big elephants. They were big and friendly. I took many photos of them. On Tuesday, we went to visit Lake Victoria. At noon, my father and I collected wood(木柴)to make a fire. Then we had a picnic. We had a good time there. After that we went to the hotel. On Wednesday, we went to Tugella Fall by train. We had a long walk around it. All of us liked Tugella Tall very much. We took the plane back to Canada on Saturday. It was an exciting.

    I'II show you my photos there!

    English dictionaries which were written before 18^th century had only words which were not common, or words which were difficult to spell. Then, in 1755, Dr. Samuel Johnson, a great English writer, wrote a famous dictionary. This dictionary contained common words as well as unusual ones. It also showed how words should be used in sentences.

    In 1858, a group of people who study language started to write The Oxford English Dictionary (OED). They wanted to list all the words of the English language. They even included words which were not used any more. They also wrote sentences that show the meanings of words. They also described the history of words, saying when words were first used in English, and which languages they came from. The OED tells us, for example, that "algebra" comes from Arabic and was first used in English in the 16^th century. The dictionary took hundreds of people over seventy years to complete. It has been improved many times, as the number of words used in English has increased. The more recent dictionary gives the meanings of over one million words. It is put into twenty-one books: each one is over one thousand pages long.

    Although Americans speak English, they use some words that are not used in British English. For example, the season an English person calls "autumn", is called "fall" by an American. The first dictionary of American English was published by Noah Webster in 1828. He also decided to spell some words in a simpler way. For example, he wrote "colour" as "color", "centre" as "center", and "plough" as "plow". These spellings are still used in America today. Since 1828, Webster's Dictionary of American English has been improved and made bigger many times.

    A good dictionary is a very important tool for every reader. Many modern English dictionaries are now available. They give different kinds of information. It is very important to choose the best dictionary for your needs and to use it often.

Dear Li Hua,

    Thanks for your last letter. In your letter you talked about your problems on English study. Here are some tips on learning English for you.

    Read a book, newspaper or magazine in English with a dictionary. This will help you learn new words in a fun way. Even by spending just 15 minutes a day, your skills can be improved greatly.

    Listen to speeches and watch movies or documentaries in areas you aren't familiar with. They are fun tips on improving English. This activity will help improve listening and vocabulary at the same time.

    Know English grammar inside and out. It is one of the top tips on learning English. Grammar is a basic tool for English learners. It can help you understand better.

    Keep a diary. It allows you to use all of your English skills. This is one of the greatest tips on improving English at any stage of learning the language.

    All in all, learning English is hard, but with these tips on learning English, I believe you will get better at English.

Yours,

Lisa

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