Many cultures have different ideas about why people catch colds. For example in the United States, some people think that you can catch a cold if your feet get cold. So, mothers tell small children to wear warm boots in the winter. In other places, including parts of the Middle East, some people believe that strong winds cause colds. So, on trains and buses, people usually don't like to sit next to open windows. In parts of Europe, some people think that wearing wet clothes will give you a cold. They say that after you go swimming, you should quickly put on dry clothes. Today, scientists know that colds are caused by a virus（病毒）. But the old ideas are still very strong, and many people still follow them to avoid（避免）getting ill.

    In Chinese culture, people believe some numbers are lucky or unlucky. This is to see what Chinese character the number sounds like. For example, the Chinese word for the number 8 sounds like the word for “making a fortune”. So, people think it is a very lucky number. Some people spend a lot of money to have 8s in their phone numbers. The opening time of the Beijing Olympics began at 8:08 p.m. on August 8, 2008.

    The number 9 is also a lucky number. It is something to do with the emperors of China. There were nine dragons on emperors' robes(龙袍). Today, 9 often stands for “long lasting”. That's why close friends always use 99 or 999 to describe their friendship.

    So what's a “bad luck” number in China? It might be 4. Many Chinese people see 4 as a “bad luck” number. Because it sounds like the Chinese character for “death”.

    Because of this, many buildings don't have the fourth floor, and just call it the fifth floor. In Hong Kong, some buildings even don't have all floors numbered with 4, such as, 4、14、24、34 and all 40-49 floors. Some buildings also don't have the 13^th floor as 13 is an unlucky number in the West. Now a question for you: How many floors are actually there if a building's highest floor is numbered 50?

    Paper is one of the most important products ever invented by man.

    The invention of paper meant that more people could be educated because more books could be printed. Paper provides an important way to communicate with knowledge.

    Paper was first made in China about 2,000 years ago. In Egypt and the West, paper was not very commonly used before the year 1400. Paper was not made in southern Europe until about the year 1100. After that, the forestry countries like Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the United States became the most important in paper-making. Today Finland makes the best paper in the world. And it has the biggest paper industry in the world.

    When we think of paper, we think of newspapers, books, letters, envelopes, and writing paper. So paper plays an important role in our lives.

    Paper is very good for keeping you warm. Houses are often insulated(隔热) with paper. You have perhaps seen homeless men sleep on a large number of newspapers. They are insulating themselves from the cold. In Finland, in winter itis sometimes 4:0 degrees below zero. The farmer swear paper boots in the snow: Nothing could be warmer.

    Some western (西方的) festivals like Christmas, April Fool's Day and Valentine's Day are becoming more and more popular in China. Some people say that we should keep away from them and just leave them there. Other people believe that we need to be open-minded (无偏见的) to the foreign (外国的) festivals and learn some western culture from them.

    As I see, foreign festivals, such as Christmas, on the one hand, can bring happiness and joy to all of us; on the other hand, can offer (提供) a chance to the business. It is quite a good way for Chinese to know more about other countries. Some Chinese people also celebrate (庆祝) foreign festivals to enjoy something new and interesting to relax them in the modern city life.

    While we have a lot of festivals such as Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and so on, we should celebrate and protect them so that we can enjoy and learn traditional (传统的) culture from them. As we all know, the government (政府) also cares more about the traditional festivals. People in China will have a day off when a traditional festival comes.

    The world is getting smaller and smaller. We should pay more attention to (更关注) the traditional festivals to protect our culture. At the same time we can also celebrate the western festivals in order for cross-cultural (跨文化的) communication (交流).