Traveling to every part of the world gets easier, but how well do we know and understand each other. Here's a simple test. Imagine you are planning to hold a meeting at four o'clock. What time should you expect your foreign business friends to arrive? If they are Germans, they'll arrive on time. If they are Americans, they'll probably be 15 minutes early. If they are Englishmen, they'll be 15 minutes late, and you should allow up to an hour for the Italians.

    The British seemed to think since the English language was widely used in the world, people would always understand what they do. However, they found they were completely wrong. For example, the British are happy to have a business lunch and discuss business matters and have a drink during the meal. The Japanese prefer not to work while eating. Lunch is a time for them to relax and get to know each other and they don't drink at lunchtime. The Germans like to talk business before dinner. The French like to eat first and talk afterwards. They have to be well fed and watered before they discuss anything.

    In England, people often talk about the weather because they can have four seasons in one day. In the morning the weather is warm just like in spring. An hour later black clouds come and then it rains hard. The weather gets a little cold. In the late afternoon the sky will be sunny, the sun will begin to shine, and it will be summer at this time of a day.

    In England, people can also have summer in winter, or have winter in summer. So in winter they can swim sometimes, and in summer sometimes they should take warm clothes.

    When you go to England, you will see that some English people usually take an umbrella or a raincoat with them in the sunny morning, but you should not laugh at them.

    If you don't take an umbrella or a raincoat, you will regret (后悔) later in the day.

    If someone says to you: “give me five”, do not search your pocket to get five yuan! It will make others laugh! The person's not asking for your money, but your fingers. In the US, "give me five" or "give me the high five" is a popular gesture (动作). You can see it often in films or on TV. It means the clapping (拍) of each other's raised (举起的) right hands together.

    People do it when they meet for the first time or something happy happens. For example, a student has good marks in exams or wins a lottery ticket (彩票).If a football team wins a game, the players will give high fives to everyone around to celebrate.

    This gesture may come from the old Roman（罗马） gesture of raising the right arm for the emperor(皇帝). This showed that the person raising his arm did not have a sword (刀) in his hand.

Why not try to give the high five to your friends?

    A city without cars would be very strange, right? But Venice is such a city.

    Venice is in the north-east of Italy. It wasn't built on land, like Beijing or Shanghai, but on more than 110 islands. Seawater is everywhere around the city.

    Even so, travel isn't difficult. The waterways have always been the best way to get around. There are 177 waterways and more than 400 bridges that can guide you where you want to go. People in Venice move from place to place by boat. They like to enjoy the scenery and the cool summer night while taking boat trips. They can talk to other people as they go along.

    Venice grew out of small islands in saltwater lakes when some Italians escaped from a war over 1, 500 years ago, and built homes there.

    Water makes the city special, but it is also a big problem. Sometimes tourists will have such strange experiences. One moment they walk across the Rialto Bridge, and there's nothing special but when they come back to the bridge an hour later, it's underwater and everyone is wearing rain shoes.

    Once, people used too much underground water. This made the city get lower little by little. Now the city has gone down by 23 centimetres. Another problem is the rising seawater. The temperature has risen over the years. This has made the ice of the Arctic Ocean (北冰洋) melt (融化).

    Every year, high waters hit the city in autumn and winter. When a lot of water comes, more than half of the city is underwater.

    Scientists are trying different ways to stop the city from getting even lower. The Italian government has asked some of Italy's biggest companies to build the MOST project, which was planned to be built under the seawater to stop the rising water. Anyway, this project is helping solve the problem.

    Hello, boys and girls. I'm Tom. Nice to meet you. Tom is my first name, What's my last name? My last name is Hanks. Tom Hanks is my full name(全名). I'm twelve years old. I'm from England and I'm English. Thanks.

I am a Grade 9 student. I have {#blank#}1{#/blank#} problem, and I do not know how to deal {#blank#}2{#/blank#} it. I have a lot of homework every day, and I have no choice {#blank#}3{#/blank#} to do it. I often stay up late to complete my {#blank#}4{#/blank#}, and then feel tired the next day. Sometimes I want to {#blank#}5{#/blank#} to do so much work, but usually I just accept it. I understand that {#blank#}6{#/blank#} is important to do my homework on time. However, I hardly have any {#blank#}7{#/blank#} time for my hobbies, such as playing volleyball and ping-pong. I really feel bad about that. I often doubt whether it is worth {#blank#}8{#/blank#} so hard.

I am {#blank#}9{#/blank#} forward to a holiday without homework so that I can relax and have some time for my hobbies. What should I do? Can you offer ni e some {#blank#}10{#/blank#}?