Jane Austen ever popular

    This summer, the UK will honor its favorite writers, Jane Austen (1775-1817), by making her the face of the new £10 note. In the 200 years since her death, Austen has been getting more and more popular all over the world.

    And yet Austen's works are so English that it's rather strange she should be so popular all over the world. Her novels are so of their time that it's strange that she's still enjoyed in this very different age. Her most famous works including Pride and Prejudice, the one which she is most known for are about the world of the English gentry(贵族阶层)in the late 18^th century.

    Most of her works is about young women of that time. Women of the gentry could not work so their chances of happiness or even basic living depended upon finding a husband. This is a very serious subject matter, of course, but the joy of Austen's stories is her ability to make wonderful, but also touching, comedy out of something so serious.

    Take Pride and Prejudice as an example. Elizabeth Bennet is one of six daughters in a family that struggles with money problems. Her mother wants to marry off as many of them as possible.  Mrs Bennet is one of the great comic characters of English literature.

    The novel is developed by the love-hate relationship between Elizabeth and Mr Darcy. The pleasure of the novel is reading how these obstacles(障碍) are overcome and how the comical and unexpected ending is achieved.

    If we think about this story, it's clear why Jane Austen is still popular 200 years after her death, and why readers can still identify with characters from the long dead world of the 18^th century English gentry. Although there have been many changes since that time, it's still the greatest challenge in life for men and women to find the partner of their dreams.

    Travelling around the world is many people's dream. It is a great way for people to see new places, meet new people and learn new cultures. However, you may have some trouble during the trip if you don't know the local customs(习俗)or the language. Some people would like to try using gestures to "talk with" the local people. That is to say, they tell others their thoughts by moving their hands or body parts.

    Gestures are useful but every country is different in the way their people communicate with each other. So a gesture may be OK in one country but not OK in another.

    Recently, a company has created a series of useful pictures of gestures around the world, hoping to help people understand different meanings of the gestures in different cultures and avoid making silly mistakes. Just take the "OK" sign for example. In China, we use it when we want to say everything is all right. However, in other countries such as Greece, Spain or Brazil, people see me "OK" sign as very rude. What's more, in some Middle East countries such as Kuwait, me sign stands for the evil(邪恶的) eye.

    In England, people don't usually talk too much. You can go on a bus, or in a train, and everyone sits looking out of the windows. Often they read. They read books and newspapers. But they don't talk much. When you meet English people, they often talk about one thing the weather. So when you meet someone in England, you say, "Nice weather for the time of year!"

    "But it was very cold yesterday, "someone may say.

    "But there will be heavy rain!" You can say. Talk like this and the English people will think, "How friendly you are!" But it's not good to ask their age, or they will not be happy.