So, let's imagine you are walking down the street drinking a box of tea. You finish drinking the tea. Now, what do you do with the box? Do you drop it on the ground? Or, do you do the right thing and drop it in a trash can? Hopefully, you drop it in the trash can because, besides harming the environment, littering is also very impolite.

    Recently, a magazine published a list of the most polite cities in the world. They looked three things: did people litter, did shop clerks say thank you and did people hold the door open for the person behind them? The top three politest cities were New York, USA, Zurich, Switzerland, and Toronto, Canada. Hong Kong, China was number 35. Shanghai wasn't even on the list.

    Does that mean that Shanghai is not apolite city? Well, maybe. There are different ways to judge(判断) politeness but the survey was looking at how a visitor to a city would feel when walking around its public places. Visitors don't like to step over empty tea boxes as they walk down the street. They don't like it when they buy something and the shop clerk doesn't say thank you or even give them a smile. They also don't like it when someone lets a door slam(砰然关上) into them instead of holding it open.

    Shanghai is a nice city but it is not always the most polite city. I don't think this is intentional(有意的). I think it's just a lack of awareness(缺乏意识). China is becoming a popular place for tourists to visit. When they come to Shanghai they will find a friendly city: it would be nice if they also found apolite one. And, remember, being polite makes you feel good, too. It's nice to be nice.

    We all know about this famous Kitty. She has no mouth, and she wasn't born out of a TV show or a video game. So how did this cute character become popular? How did she change the world?

    Hello Kitty was created (创造) in Japan in 1974.Sanrio, a company in Japan, was working for a new character to put on their new purse. The first picture of Hello Kitty was introduced on November 1. She was so cute that it became popular soon in Japan and all over the world.

    Hello Kitty is only a character, but she has a story of her own. Her full name is Kitty White, and she's even not a Japanese. She lives in the countryside outside London with her family—George White, Mary White and her twin sister Mimmy. Hello Kitty wears a red bow  (蝴蝶结) on her left ear while Mimmy wears a yellow bow on her right ear.

    Kitty loves goldfish and baking cookies, but her favourite thing is to eat her mum's apple pie! She also loves stars and candies, too. She is in the 3rd grade and she weighs as much as three apples but is five apples tall. She even had a blood (血.) type, which is A.

    Hello Kitty's appearance hasn't changed much, though she turned 40 on November 1, 2014.

    Japanese kids always like flying kites in holidays. And every year, they can enjoy a Kite Festival.

    When the festival is coming ,you can see fish-shaped(鱼形的) flags all over Japan. Paper or cloth kites, or banners(横幅), are hung outside boys' homes. Seeing the fish makes people feel happy .It looks like they are swimming in the sky. The black fish represents the father, the red for the mother, the smaller blue ones for the sons. Japanese people believe the fish is an important symbol. They think it is strong and brave .In front of some homes there will be a fish for each son. The largest fish will be for the oldest son. On this day, many kids like to fly kites, especially fish-kites.

Spring Festival

    In China Spring Festival is the most important festival. It comes on the first day of the first lunar month（阴历月）．

    Before Spring Festival comes，people go out to buy things，such as meat，chicken，fish，fruit，sweets and new clothes. They clean their houses and decorate them. The Chinese character fu is a must. It is usually stuck（贴）upside down，which means "fu comes".

    The celebrations（庆祝）begin on the eve of the lunar New Year. The family get together for a big dinner. If a person is far from home，he will always try to get home for this big dinner. After the dinner，the whole family will sit together, chatting（聊天）and watching TV.

    During the holidays，they go to visit relatives（亲戚）and friends and exchange New Year greetings. They sit around talking and eating candies，cakes and all kinds of delicious foods. Every family prepares something special. Each child will get money as a New Year gift. People in the north of China often eat dumplings fir breakfast. People in the south often eat niangao because niangao means "higher and higher one year after another".

    The celebrations last（持续）15 days. It will come to an end when the Lantern Festival finishes.

    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.

    Zheng He was an amazing man. He was born in 1371. Ten years later, he was caught by the army of a rich young man called Zhu Di and made to work for him. Over time the rich man saw that Zheng He was very clever and strong and they became close friends. In 1403 Zhu Di became the king of China and he asked Zheng He to join his government.

    The king wanted to learn more about the world and show other countries his power. He ordered many new ships to be built and made Zheng He their leader. Between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He led some sea trips to different parts of the world. He certainly travelled to India, Africa and the Middle East. A few people think his ships have even reached South America and Australia.

    Each trip lasted more than one year and it is believed he sailed more than 50,000 kilometres during the years of his travels. Zheng He led a fleet with about 28, 000 men and over 250 ships, such as boats for food, water and even soldiers horses.

    On these trips he took many Chinese goods like silk and medicine with him to give to foreign kings or to sell for local goods. He returned from each trip with boats which were filled with expensive things such as gold and treasures, foreign guests and strange animals like a giraffe.

    It is a pity that we may never learn everything about Zheng He's travels. The Columbus of the East, Zheng He, died in 1433. After that. The new king had these trips stopped and he burned almost all the books about Zheng He's travels, because he believed the trips were unlucky and too expensive. It is only in the last 50 years that historians have begun to carefully study the adventures of great Zheng He.