In many parts of the world, farmers and their families live in villages or towns. In the United States, each farm family lives in its own fields. Usually their neighbors live far away. It's  hard for them to see each other on weekdays. Their children take school buses to the nearest school. These school are only for the farm families in this area. In some areas, there are small school for a few farm families, and the children can walk to school and often go home for meals.

    In Australia it is very different. Farmers live close to each other and their children can walk to school and often go home for meals.

    Life keeps changing for everyone.  Farmers keeps changing,too. Today there are cars, good roads, radios, television sets and there are modern machines for farming. All of them are changing farm life.

    The government in China plans to end its one-child policy and let families have two children instead.

    The plan was announced on Thursday after high –level political meetings in Beijing. A Chinese Communist Party statement gave a number of reasons for the change in policy. The statement said the change is meant to balance population development, stop a falling birth rate(出生率) and strengthen the country's labor force(劳动力).

    China, with the largest population in the world, started the one –child policy in 1980. But the government allowed only a small number of couples to have two children. For example, some families in the countryside could have two children, if the first-born child is a girl.

    In 2013, the Chinese government gave other couples a chance to have two children if one of them was an only child.

    Jiang Quanbao, a teacher and population expert, explained how Chinese families react to the newest policy. “Too many young people in the cities are no longer interested in having a second child,” he said. “People in the countryside are more interested. But some of them are already allowed to have two children. ”

    At the end of 2014, China had a population of 1.37 billion people. A total of 800 million of them have jobs. But the labor market population will drop in 35 years. That is to say, the country will be in great need of labor by the year 2050. With the two-child policy, an increase in births can solve this problem.

    Boys and girls, what do you think of the two-child policy? Do you want to have a new-born brother or a sister?

    Every year there is a Spring Festival in China. Usually it is in January or February. It is the most important festival in China. So before it comes, everyone has to prepare things. They buy pork, beef, chicken, fruits and many other things. And they often make a special kind of food—“dumplings”. It means “come together”. On the day before the festival, parents buy new clothes for their children. Children also buy presents for their parents. On the Spring Festival Eve（除夕）, all the family members come back to their hometown. This is a happy moment. Some sing and dance，some play cards and others get the dinner ready. When they are having dinner, they give each other the best wishes for the coming year. They all have a good time.

    Do you have any foreign friends? Do you know their characteristics（特征）?

    The Germans are very quiet and they always keep calm. They don't like to speak more words. They look very serious. They like different kinds of amusements（娱乐）. The Germans are very hard－working. They like tidiness, especially the women, who always keep their home clean.

    In some ways, the Englishmen look the same as the Germans. They are very quiet and never talk too much with the strangers. They are really polite, so we often hear they say “Thank you.” Or “Sorry.” The gentlemen are also the Englishmen.

    The French's holidays are very long. They like traveling and usually spend their long time staying in other countries. The Frenchmen are more outgoing than the Germans. It is very easy to make friends with them.

    Compared to the Frenchmen, the Americans are more outgoing. And they are even opener than all of the Europeans（欧洲人）. They don't like to depend on others. So it is very common that the students do part-time jobs in their free time. And in Americans' eyes, success is an important part in their life.