"How are you?" It's a question that seems simple, but {#blank#}1{#/blank#}can really make people feel very strange.

    Last month, Alina Simone wrote in the New York Times about the {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(difficult) that Russians have with this question. The same question, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Russian language and culture, is always answered in a negative(负面的) way. In Russia, when asked "How are you?", people usually complain(抱怨) about health, weather or things that {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(happen) recently. So when they're asked, they don't know what to do.

    In English speaking countries, "How are you?" has one standard answer: "Fine, and you?" That's because it is {#blank#}5{#/blank#}about getting information but a greeting. {#blank#}6{#/blank#}an English speaking friend really wants to know what's going on in your life, he/she is more likely to ask："what have you been up to?" or "what's new?"

    But I understand why people are so {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(surprise) about it. When we learn second languages, we have to learn rules for using words as much as words themselves. {#blank#}8{#/blank#}can you learn those rules? {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(watch) English-language TV shows is a good place to start. If you can, try to make an English-speaking friend or pen pal and talk to him/her {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(direct).

    So how are you?

    There are about fifteen hundred languages in the world. But only a few. of them are very important. English is one of them. Many, many people use it, not {#blank#}1{#/blank#}in England and the USA, but also in other parts of the world. About 400, 000, 000 people speak it {#blank#}2{#/blank#}their own language. It is difficult {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(say) how many people are learning it as a foreign language.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(million) of people are trying to do so. Is it easy or difficult to learn English？Different people may have different{#blank#}5{#/blank#}（answer）.

    The only language that seems easy to learn is the mother tongue. We should remember that we all learned our own language {#blank#}6{#/blank#}when we were children. If we could learn English {#blank#}7{#/blank#}the same way, it would not seem so difficult. Think of {#blank#}8{#/blank#}a small child does. He listens to what people say. He tries what he hears.

    So it is hard to say that {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(learn) English is easy. We must do a lot of practice. And practice needs great efforts(努力) and takes much time. Good teachers, records, tapes, books, and dictionaries will be{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(help) , but they cannot do the student's work for him.