Many expressions that we use in American English come from novels. Today we will look at some of them from Lewis Carroll's famous novel "Alice in Wonderland" in detail.

    The story is about a young girl falling down a rabbit hole. When she finally lands, she finds herself in a strange world and meets some strange characters.

    The first character Alice meets is the White Rabbit, who runs past her and says some strange words. Alice chases（追赶）him, and that is where her adventures begin.

    In English, chasing a white rabbit means chasing an impossible clue and finding yourself in a misleading situation.

    Then, as she runs after the rabbit, she falls down the rabbit hole into Wonderland.

    To fall down the rabbit hole can mean to enter a confusing（令人困惑的）situation. However, usually we use this expression to mean we get interested in something to the point of distraction（分神）.It often happens by accident and is about something not that meaningful.

    Later in the story, Alice meets the March Hare and the Hatter at a crazy tea party. Hares（野兔）have long been thought to behave excitedly in March, which is their mating（交配）season. Scientifically, this may not be true. But to be mad as a March Hare means that someone is completely mad, or crazy. The expression mad as a Hatter also means to be completely crazy. Of the two, mad as a Hatter is more common. But don't tell the March Hare. Who knows how he will react（反应）！

    Near the end of the story, Alice meets the Queen of Hearts. A woman who is called a Queen of Hearts likes controlling others and always tries to control everything and everyone around her.

    In American schools there is something called Homecoming Day. Many high schools and colleges with a football team have a homecoming game. This can be the most important thing of the year except graduation of commencement day(毕业典礼日).Students plan Homecoming Day for many weeks in advance(预先).

    Several days before Homecoming，students start to decorate the school. There are signs to wish luck to the team，and many other signs to welcome all the graduates. Many people still come to Homecoming twenty or thirty years after their graduation.

    The members of school clubs build booths(摊位)and sell lemonade，apples and sandwiches. Some clubs help to welcome the visitors.

    During the day people like to look for teachers that they remember from long ago. Often they see old friends and they talk together about those happy years in school.

    Everyone soon comes to watch the football game. When the game is half over，the band comes onto the field and plays school songs. Another important moment is when the Homecoming Queen or King appears. All the students vote a most popular student as Homecoming Queen or King. It is a great honor(荣誉)to be chosen.

    Homecoming is a happy day，but it is not perfect unless the football team wins the game. Even if the team loses，the students still enjoy Homecoming Day. Some stay at the school to dance，and others go to a party. For everyone it is a day worth remembering.

    Every country has its favorite food. Italians like to eat pizza. Indians like to eat hot food. Japanese like to eat fish. Often they don't cook it.

    In England, one of the most popular kinds of food is fish and chips. People usually buy it in a fish and chip shop. They put it in paper bags, and take it home, or to their workplace. Sometimes they eat it in the park or on the road. The world's favorite food is American fast food. If you go to some important cities in the world, you can find people eating hamburgers and chips.

    Fish and chips, and Chinese take-away food are very popular in England. But they are less popular in the USA, they eat take-away food, too, like chicken. But the most popular kind of take-away food is the hamburger. It looks like bread with meat in it. Ham (火 腿) is a kind of pork, but the hamburger does not have any pork in  it. The beef is inside a kind of cake hamburgers are delicious. They are also popular in England and Australia.

    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).