Halloween is a festival on October 31st.The name of the holiday means —"hallowed" because it comes the day before All Saints Day.

    Before the festival, people paint homes, shops and classrooms in the traditional Halloween colours, orange and black. Some people make costumes at home. Some people buy them in shops. People also make decorations for the festival. These decorations look like witches, black cats, ghosts, skeletons and jack-o-lanterns. Jack-o- lanterns are pumpkins that are cut to look like faces.

    People think that Halloween is the children's New Year's Eve. On that day children dress up in special costumes and masks. They eat too much, and go to bed very late after celebrating. They go from one door to another saying "trick or treat". People give them candies, cookies, fruit or money.

    Adults and older children also celebrate Halloween with parades (游行）, festivals and costumes parties. One kind of the parties welcomed by children is dunking for apples. Apples are put in tubs (木桶）full of water. People try to get the apples using only their mouths; they cannot use their hands.

    American people like to say "Thank you when others help them or say something kind to them. People of many countries do so too. It is a very good habit.

    You should say "thank you "when someone passes you the salt on the table, when someone walking ahead of you keeps the door open for you, when someone says you have done your work well, or you have bought a nice thing, or your city is very beautiful. "Thank you" is used not only between friends, but also between parents and children, brothers and sisters.

    "Excuse me" is another short sentence they use. When you hear someone say so behind you, you know that somebody wants to walk past you without touching you. It's not polite to break others when they are talking. If you want to speak to one of them say.

    "Excuse me" first, and then begin talking. You should also do so when you begin to cough or make any noise before others.

    Let's learn to say "Thank you" and" Excuse me.

    American schools begin(开始) in September after a long summer holiday. There are two terms(学期) in a school year. The first term is from September to January, and the second term is from February to June. Most American children begin to go to school when they are five years old. Most children are seventeen or eighteen years old when they finish school.

    High school students take only five or six subjects each term. They usually go to the same class every day, and they have homework for every class. After class, they do interesting things.

    After high school, many students go to colleges (学院). They usually have to pay a lot of money. So many college students work after class to   ▲   .