Are you interested in country music? I like it very much! It will take me away for a while after I am tired. The guitars and songs will take me to mountains and fields.

    Country music usually talks of everyday life and feelings. It's the spirit of America, easy to understand, slow and simple.

Country music developed in the Southern United States. It was the folk music of American countryside. Many of songs told about the lives of farmers. They talked about love, crops or death.

    The life of the countryside can be hard, so the words in country music are often sad. At first, people played the music only at family parties. But it became more popular later. In the nineteen twenties, people played country songs on the radio, and they made them into records.

When people in the countryside moved to towns and cities to look for work, they took their music with them. Country music continued to change and became popular across America.

John Denver was one of America's most famous country singers in the 1970s. His song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" is well-known and people still play it today.

    As we know, there are differences between western culture and Chinese culture. We can see differences when we pay attention to the way words are used. Let's look at the words about animals and plants. Most expressions in Chinese about the dog, for example, "a homeless dog", "a mad dog", "a running dog" and "a dog catching a mouse" have negative(消极的) meanings. But in western countries, dogs are thought to be honest and good friends of humans. In English, people use the dog to describe positive(积极的) actions. For example, "you are a lucky dog" means you are a lucky person. And "every dog has its day" means each person has good luck sometimes. To describe a person's serious illness, they say "sick as a dog". The word "dog-tired" means very tired. However, Chinese love cats very much. But in western culture, "cat" is often used to describe a woman who is cruel(残酷的)。

    The rose is regarded as a symbol (象征) of love in both China and some western countries. People think the rose means love, peace, courage and friendship. And the rose is the national flower of England, America and many other countries.

    The words about plants and animals are used in positive or negative ways in different cultures. We can learn about many differences in cultures by comparing how some words are used.

    On New Year's Eve, people in Italy throw out all the old things. So there are chairs, beds, clothes and plates in the streets. In Spain, New Year comes more quietly. Everyone holds a bag of grapes. When twelve o'clock comes, people start eating the grapes.

    In Japan, people eat noodles on New Year's Eve. This food is said to bring long life. Early the next morning, some families climb Mount Fuji. There they watch the first sunrise of New Year.

注意：(1)文中不得出现学校、姓名等个人信息；(2)词数80~100(文章的开头已给出 ， 不计入词数)。

I Find Myself Really Good

Our school did a survey among 1, 250 students on the topic of "I Find Myself Really Good".