Many people say that they are working too many hours. They don't have enough time to relax or to stay with their family.

    Work hours are different from one country to another. In France, people spend about 1, 646 hours a year at work. In Japan, however, people work about 2, 159 hours a year. That means a Japanese worker works 513 more hours a year than a French worker.

    Why do people work so many hours？Some people work extra hours because they want to make more money. However, many companies don't pay overtime. Their workers don't get more pay for more work. Some people think it's their duty to work more hours. Some are afraid of losing their jobs if they don't work more hours.

    Many people say that their vacations are too short. In France, people get five weeks of paid vacation a year. In Germany, they get four to six weeks, and in the United States, two weeks. One study shows fewer than half of workers used all their vacation days. In Great Britain, there is a saying, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull(迟钝的) boy. "If that is true, there must be a lot of dull people in the world.

We usually have three meals a day——breakfast, lunch and dinner. Different people have different food for breakfast. Some children tell us about their breakfast food. 

Simon is an American boy. He usually eats cakes and drinks milk with sugar (糖) for breakfast. He loves sugar. He is short. He doesn't like to drink juice for breakfast.

Jack is from the UK. He usually has bread and a glass of juice for breakfast. His favorite is apple juice, but his family like orange juice. They usually have eggs and hamburgers. 

Lucy is a Chinese girl. She usually has soup (汤) and baozi with meat for breakfast. She doesn't have bread and cakes for breakfast.

Children all around the world love Lego bricks(乐高积木). With those bricks, they can make anything they want. Lego bricks are a great toy(玩具) to play with. Now, for the first time, Lego makes Braille Bricks in English and French, making them a useful toy for blind(失明的) children. 

Lego Braille Bricks have dots (小圆点) on them. The dots are Braille. By feeling (感受) them, blind children can read words and numbers. They can also learn Braille when playing with the bricks. It makes learning easy and fun. 

Olivia is a blind girl, and she learns Braille when playing with the Lego bricks at her school. She loves to play with them and learn Braille at the same time. Her mother also plays with her at home and now she also knows Braille. 

Reece, a little boy, uses the Lego bricks to teach his family Braille. Now, his mother and sister know Braille as well. He says, "I feel so good. Because my loved ones learn something new and I am their teacher. So cool!"

Lego makes its colourful bricks useful. Let's thank it for bringing a new way of playing and learning!

Several times each year the Queen gives afternoon tea parties at which guests are served tiny cakes filled with cream from her own cows. Cakes and sandwiches are bought in by footmen, yet you never see the Queen touch a thing. She

simply sits beside a big silver plate, pouring cups of tea for everyone and carefully avoiding the cakes.

At cocktail parties the Queen moves from group to group, chatting informally, and manages to make one glass of diet drink to last a whole evening. Tours abroad are difficult because hosts seem to believe the warmth of their welcome must be shown with wonderful state banquets(宴). But the Queen has perfected the art of appearing to enjoy her meal without actually eating much. During one visit to the Pacific islands of Tonga, a specially-prepared dinner was set up in   a hut made of wood and bamboo leaves. Deep holes were dug in the ground, filled with hot stones and baby pigs, and the pigs were slowly cooked with dry heat over several days. The Queen looked uneasily at her plate when she discovered a   whole roast(烤) pig was her serving.

Then she became uneasy when a turkey, some meat, bananas and an apple were also carried in for each guest. So she depended on her old favourite trick of talking with her host, King Tupou IV, carrying on a warm conversation. At the same time she pushed her food around her plate and only ate a piece of turkey and some fruit.

Reporters traveling with her have noticed that the Queen will sometimes seem so interested in a foreign leader's political(政治的) chat that she simply never has time to finish a meal before it is time to get up and make her speech. She will lift her fork, then put it down again to make another point, leaving almost all of her meal untouched.

Have you ever been to Thailand(泰国)? It is a country in Southeast Asia. I've been in Thailand for a few days with my parents. We are here for a holiday. 

Now we are staying in Bangkok. It is the capital of Thailand and it is a very interesting place to visit. Yesterday we visited some places of interest in the city. They were great!①今天早上，我们去购物。Bangkok was a wonderful place to shop for jewelry（珠宝）and clothes. My mother bought some beautiful dresses. My father and I bought some fashionable T-shirts. 

Thailand is called "Land of Smiles" because people here are very friendly. And it's true! When we eat in the restaurants in Bangkok, the waiters are really nice and they are always smiling.②Thai food is delicious, but it is a little spicy（辛辣的）for me. You can also get Chinese food here because a lot of Chinese people came to live in Bangkok many years ago. Chinese food is very good, and it isn't as spicy as Thai food. American food can also be found in Bangkok.