Januany 1st is New Year's Day. People all over the world celebrate this festival. On New Year's Day there is a one-day holiday in most countries all the time. The real celebrations for New Year always happen on the night before called New Year's Eve. There are a lot of interesting customs in the west, and there are a lot of differences from country to country.

    In China the spring Festival is a family get-together. And so is Christmas in many western countries. But New Year for some families is a time to get together with their friends, too. Most people often have parties to welcome New Year. At these parties, there are all kinds of food and drink, and people often sing and dance until the time nears for the coming of New Year.

    On New Year Eve when midnight comes, people often say “Happy New Year” to each other. Champagne （香槟酒） is a favorite drink for New Year. In many western countries frieworks（烟火）are let off at midnight, and many people like to make a noise, maybe they want to drive away bad spirits（幽灵）.

    At New Year people often sing one important Scottish (苏格兰）song with the name Auld Lang syne (Good times long ago).

    Many children go to the zoo on October 4 to see elephants, monkeys and tigers because that day is World Animal Day.

    Now, more children like animals and want to make friends with them. In the zoo, they learn about animal life. They don't need to go out to show their love of animals. They have pets(宠物)at home.

    Mark is a middle school student. He has a black cat. He gives it milk to drink and meat to eat. The cat is his true friend. Jane is also a middle school student. She has two tortoises. They are as big as her hand. Every day, she changes(换)the water for them. She likes to watch them.

    In many English homes, people eat breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner a day. People have breakfast at any time between seven and nine in the morning. They eat porridge, eggs, or bread. Also they drink tea or coffee at breakfast.

    Lunch comes at one o'clock. The English people like take-away food. The most popular(最受欢迎的) food is fish and chips. They usually go to a fish and chip shop. They put the food in paper bags, and take it home, or to their work places. Some people eat take-away food in the park.

    Afternoon tea is about 4:30 in the afternoon. People usually drink tea with milk. And dinner is at about half past seven and it is usually a big meal. First they have soup, and then they have meat or fish with vegetables. After that they eat some other things, like bananas, apples or oranges. But not all English people eat like that. Some of them have their dinner in the middle of the day. People often eat dinner at a restaurant or at homes, and they think all these meals are very necessary (必要的).