In the front of many American homes you can see a mat(脚垫). This mat is sometimes called "welcome mat", because many of the mats have the word "welcome" on them.

    Because Americans don't take off their shoes before going into the house, they need a welcome mat to clean their shoes. If the children don't clean their shoes on the mat, they may be scolded(被责骂) by their parents. If you go to an American home, please remember to clean your shoes on the mat, or you may be told to do so. "Different countries, different customs(习俗)."

    As an English, I can speak three languages—English, German and French, so do you think the British people are very good language learners? The fact is that they aren't.

    Some statistics (数据) from the survey done by the European Commission (欧盟委员会) showed that 62% of the British people only speak English. 38% speak at least one foreign language and 18% speak two or more. Compared with the British people, 56% of the people in other European countries speak at least one foreign language and 28% speak two or more.

    From this you can see that the British people are famous for not speaking foreign languages and that they are not good language learners in Europe.

    And the survey also showed that English is the most widely-spoken foreign language. Many European people can have a conversation in English. That's why my people don't think it is necessary to learn a foreign language.

In Britain, students are not required to learn a foreign language. That means learning a foreign language is only an option at school. In UK schools it is common for children to start learning a foreign language at 11 and many of them give it up at 14. So why don't students continue learning foreign languages at school? Because they think it is more difficult to get good marks in languages than in other subjects such as science or history.

    To solve this situation, the British government is looking for different ways to improve language learning at school. One way is to start learning it at a much younger age. Another one is to give school children more choices.

Changing the British attitude (态度) to learning foreign languages may be a hard task but the government decides to try!

    Australia is the greatest island in the world .It is to the south of the equator (赤道). So when it is summer in our country, it is cold winter in Australia.

    Australia is big, but the population (人口) there is thin. The population is the same as that of Shanghai, a city of China. Australia is a young, diverse nation and the Australian people come from many different countries.

    Australia has many, many sheep. After a short drive from town, you will see sheep around you. You can also find a kangaroo which has a "bag" below its chest. The mother kangaroo keeps its babies in the "bag".

    Australia is considered to be a relaxed, informal society. When greeting others, students and young people usually say "Hello" or "Hi". Sometimes they say "How's it going？" or "Good day". In more formal (正式的) situations they usually shake hands the first time they meet. "Good morning", "Good afternoon" or "Pleased to meet you" are formal greetings. English is Australia's national language.