Living in the foreign culture can be exciting, but it can also be confusing. A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their experiences. They discussed that miscommunications were always possible, even over something as simple as “yes”and“no”.
     On her first day in Micronesia, an island in the Pacific, Lisa thought the waitress wasn't paying any attention to her. The day was hot she went into a store and asked, "Do you have any cold drinks?" The woman there didn't say anything. Lisa repeated the question again. Still the woman said nothing. She later learned that the woman had answered her: She has raised her eyebrows, which in Micronesia, it means, "yes".
     Jan remembered an experience she had in Bulgaria, a country in Europe. She went to a restaurant that was known for its cabbage. She asked the writer,“Do you have cabbage today?”He nodded his head. Jan waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means "no".
     Tom had a similar problem when he arrived in India. After explaining something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They answered with different nods and shakes of heads. He thought some people hadn't understood, so he explained again. When he asked again, they did the same thing. He soon found out that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake heads in different ways. It depends on where they come from.

    Beethoven (贝多芬) was born in a small city near the Rhine in Germany. His father always drank and his mother was a maid (女仆). They lived a poor life.

    Beethoven was a talented (有天赋的) child in music. People at that time thought he was as clever as Mozart. His father wanted to make money from his talent, so he told him to practice and play all the time. If he didn't do that, his father would be angry with him and beat him.

    Beethoven was very short and ugly. He couldn't hear well from the age of 22 and later he heard nothing, but all these unhappy things didn't make him dislike music. He began to write sonatas (奏鸣曲) at 12, and later he became a great musician.

    His life was so short that he didn't leave many works. But people think he was one of the best musicians in the world.

    We were on a visit to Monkey Island. Jim thought we should try water skiing(滑水).

    We can get a boat and ski at Monkey Island.

   Don't go water skiing near Monkey Island today,” said the woman standing near the boats. “There might be sharks（鲨鱼） in the water.”

    “I don't think so.” said Jim who thought he knew everything.

    “I wouldn't go water skiing in the sea near Monkey Island today,” said the man with the woman. “They saw sharks in the water yesterday.”

    “The sharks won't hurt me,” said Jim with a big smile on his face.

      Another man getting out of a boat said, “I'm sure we just saw a shark in the water a few minutes ago.”

    “Don't worry about me,” said Jim. “I don't worry about sharks.”

    Jim and his two friends, Bill and Bruce pushed the boat into the water. Jim was driving the boat. He drove very fast and sprayed water on everyone standing near the boat.

    Jim drove the boat to the middle of the sea near Monkey Island. Everyone could see him and the boat. He wanted to show everyone how well he could water ski.

    “You drive the boat, Bill,” Jim said. “Bruce, you watch me and the rope while I water ski.”

    “What about the sharks?” asked Bill.

    “Forget about the sharks,” said Jim. “I'm not afraid of sharks.”

    Jim got into the water. He was putting his feet in the water skis. Then Jim felt something large and hard touch his leg as it swam past him. Suddenly, a brown fin(鳍) moved through the water towards Jim.

    Later, when Bill and Bruce stopped laughing, they said, “We never saw anyone move so fast! You were running on top of the water to get back in the boat! You even left the water skis in the water.

    “There it is again! Shark! Shark!” cried Jim.

Everyone laughed—even the people standing on shore.

    The dolphin（海豚） came to surface again, took a deep breath, smiled at Jim and went back down into the deep water.

C

    Johnson is a 10-year-old girl from New York City. She likes staying up late to watch movies on her iPad. Sometimes because she does not have enough sleep, she feels tired at school next morning.

    Just like Johnson, many students feel tired at school in the morning. The kids aged between 6 and 13 need nine to eleven hours of sleep each night, but most of them get less than that.

    What takes the kids' sleep time away? Smart phones and tables (智能手机和平板电脑)! A scientist said, "The kids who have these things in their bedroom often get about half an hour less sleep than those who don't."

    Scientists think a good night's rest is important to students. "The students who sleep enough can learn much better at school than those who don't," another scientist said.

    Johnson's mother said her family decided to make some new rules for her daughter. "we are going to limit(限制) Johnson' screen time and ask her to go to bed earlier than before. We hope these rules can help Johnson to sleep well for school," she said.

    Kaitlin Riffle's dream of ending poverty (贫困) started when she was visiting her father, who worked for the homeless.

    "I never realized there were people in the world who didn't have a house or food before," said Kaitlin, who is now seventeen. "I knew there was something I had to do about that.

    At age eight, she started raising money to build a playground. "It took me two years," Kaitlin said. "We started small. We wanted to do something to make a difference. "

    In 2014, when Kaitlin was thirteen, she visited Central America, and saw people going hungry and families living in houses made of cardboard. That year, she set up Kids on a Mission, which has helped hundreds of people there.

    "The rooms were smaller than my bedroom, but there would be eight people living in each one," Kaitlin said. "We also got to see the dirty rivers that those people were drinking out of."

    Providing clean drinking water, food and clothes for people living in poverty is now an important task for Kids on a Mission. "This young lady is changing the hearts of people, and also changing the world,"" said the headmaster of Kaitlin's school.