You may be in the United States only a short time before you are invited to dinner in an American home. Your hosts may telephone you or ask you {#blank#}1{#/blank#} person, or they may send you a written {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (invite) in the mail. If you get one, you should telephone your hosts to accept.

    A dinner in an American home is most likely to be a meal {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (serve) to guests sitting at a table. If the guests {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(seat) at the table, the hosts may serve the food, or it may be passed so {#blank#}5{#/blank#} each person may help himself.

    There are some other customs you should know. You should arrive on time. When you get there, your hosts may offer you something to drink, and some light food before dinner. The meal is {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(usual ) served about half {#blank#}7{#/blank#} hour after all the guests arrive.

    Most Americans do not have maids {#blank#}8{#/blank#} other help in the house. Often the husband and wife and their children share the responsibilities of {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(prepare) the meal and cleaning up afterward. After dinner, the guests often stay with the host for another two or three hours. Then all of them enjoy {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(them).

    The Agricultural Feast {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(take) place after the Independence Day. It is not a worldwide celebration. Only Christians in Mexico look forward to its arrival for its {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(religion) origin.

    Long ago, man's ancestors were bad. They fooled and played tricks on each other and never kept {#blank#}3{#/blank#}word. So God turned up and drowned all their crops. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(human) starved day and night, weeping. In order to gain God's forgiveness, a woman poet set off to see God. She admired God and madeapologies, God {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(move). With God's permission, human beings finally had good harvests again. Thus to wipe sadness and remind themselves of the belief {#blank#}6{#/blank#} God, people began the festival. On the festival, people gather in {#blank#}7{#/blank#}open air, such as playgrounds and parking lots, and have fun with each other {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(energetic) all night long, as though they were never tired. When a beauty {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(dress) up in lovely clothing reads poems in memory of the poet, everyone holds their breath. Then, it is the custom{#blank#}10{#/blank#}the bone of a rooster head is given to her as an award. Obviously, the story may not be true, but the festival is interesting.

How Steven Spielberg Stays Inspired

    Ask a young person who the greatest American film director is, and you may get the answer Steven Spielberg, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} has certainly made more successful films than any other director in the West.

    Spielberg was born in America in 1946. What he impressed others most was {#blank#}2{#/blank#} he had unusual abilities when he was very young: completing his first 15-minute home movie at 13. He earned $100 at the age of 16, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} he made a 135-minute home movie called Firelight and it was shown at a local cinema.

    A Hollywood film studio employed Spielberg to make a full-length film Sugarland Express on discovering his talent for movie-making. His next film was Jaws, a film about a shark that ate people. This was one of {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (successful) films of all times. He received the Award for lifetime achievement at the Golden Globes (金球奖) in 2009.

    Despite all his outstanding achievements in his field, some of his films have been less successful in the last fifteen years. But people can never deny the fact {#blank#}5{#/blank#} he, more than anyone else in the history of films, understands the meaning of the word "entertainment".

    Now, Spielberg's role as a father of seven has taught him a great deal about {#blank#}6{#/blank#} makes a good story—at bedtime and otherwise. When his kids were growing up, he'd tell them stories every night {#blank#}7{#/blank#} he could stay active in film-making.

    "In the past few years, I {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (inspire) by everybody who makes a good movie," Spielberg said." "I can't risk {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (lose) my followers' passion for film." Also, he owes (归因) his success to his attempt {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (keep) working and so he looks to his contemporaries (同时代的人) for that kind of ... current inspiration.

    He's an old cobbler (修鞋匠) with a shop in a historic area in Paris. When I took him my shoes, he told me, "I haven't time. Take them to {#blank#}1{#/blank#} other fellow on the main street.

    Just looking at his bench {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(load) with tools and pieces of leather, I knew the craftsman (手艺人) was rather {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(skill). "No," I replied, "the other fellow can't do it well."

    "The fellow he mentioned" is one of those shopkeepers who fix shoes and make keys without knowing much about mending shoes or making keys. They work {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(careless), and when they have finished sewing back a sandal strap (鞋带), you might as well just throw away the pair. The reason {#blank#}5{#/blank#} I wanted to have my shoes repaired in the shop is that the man works very carefully.

    The man {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(have) me write my name on one shoe with a piece of chalk and said, "Come back tomorrow."

    I was about to leave {#blank#}7{#/blank#} he took a pair of soft leather {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(boot) off a shelf.

    "See what I can do?" he said with pride. "Only three {#blank#}9{#/blank#} us in Paris can do this kind of work."

    The cobbler was something out of an ancient legend, this old craftsman with his way of speaking familiarly, his very strange, dusty hat, his funny accent and, above all, his pride in his craft.

    In such a period it is a rare comfort to find a cobbler who gets his greatest {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(satisfy) from pride in a job well done.