When you are learning English, you find it not clever to put an English sentence, word for word, into your own language. Take the sentence "How do you do?" for example. If you look up each word in the dictionary, one at a time, what is your translation? It must be a wrong sentence in your own language.

    Languages don't just have different sounds; they are different in many ways. It's important to master the rules for the word order in the study of English, too. If the speaker puts words in a wrong order, the listener can't understand the speaker's sentence easily. Sometimes when the order of words in an English sentence is changed, the meaning of the sentence changes. But sometimes when the order is changed, the meaning of the sentence doesn't change. Let's see the difference between the two pairs of sentences.

    "She only likes apples." "Only she likes apples." "I have seen the movie already." "I have already seen the movie."

    When you are learning English, you must do your best to get the spirit of the language and use it as the English speaker does.

    Can you speak English? Maybe you know a lot of English words. You can read, speak and understand English, but there is another kind of language—the language of the body. All over the world, people "talk" with their hands，their heads and their eyes. When Japanese people meet, they bow. When Indians meet, they put their hands together. When British and American people meet someone for the first time, they shake hands. They do not usually shake hands with their friends. Women sometimes kiss their women friends, and men kiss women friends on the cheek(脸颊). When a man meets a man friend, he just smiles, and says "hello". Men do not kiss each other, or hold hands. Even fathers and sons do not often kiss each other.

Where would you like to stay when you go on a vacation? What kind of hotel would you like to choose? Different people have different ideas. In fact, there are all kinds of special places to stay when you go on a vacation. There are hotels, motels, youth hostels, B&Bs (bed-and-breakfast), home stays, and more. Each is for a different kind of people. If you travel by car, a motel is good for you. You can park your car outside your room. A youth hostel is good for young backpackers (背包客). A B&Bs might be best for couples (夫妻) or anybody who doesn't like being noisy.

    For people who like reading, the library hotel in New York is a must-see. Each of the hotel's 60 rooms is full of books. In fact the hotel has over 6, 000 books in all. If history is your thing, the 9th floor is for you. If you are interested in math and science, you can stay on the 5th floor. Artists will feel at home on the 7th floor. The Poetry Garden is on the 14th floor, and there is a cozy sofa in it. You can sit on the sofa and enjoy reading a good book or relax outside in the Poetry Garden.

Throwing tomatoes — Spain

Spain takes "tomato fights" to a whole new level. But the tomatoes are thrown, not eaten. The festival takes place on the last Wednesday in August. Trucks carry tomatoes into the square. People rush to the tomatoes and throw them into the crowd. 

Rolling cheese — England

This festival is celebrated on the last Monday in May. It takes place on Cooper's Hill. A large wheel of cheese is rolled down Cooper's Hill. In fact, the festival is a race where people run down the hill after the rolling cheese. The first person to cross the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese. 

Burning man — The United States

The Burning Man Festival lasts a week. It falls on the first Monday in September in America. The festival takes place in the Black Rock Desert. The best part of the festival is the burning of a large sculpture (雕塑) of a man. 

Pouring water — Thailand

The Songkran Festival is the celebration of the New Year in Thailand. Thailand celebrates the New Year from April 13th to April 15th. Thai people run after each other and pour water. 

Songkran is one of the most important reasons why foreigners travel to the beautiful land. 

Enjoying snow & Ice — China

Snow & Ice Festival is held in Harbin in China from Jan. 5th to Feb 5th every year. It lasts a month. The Harbin festival is the largest snow and ice festival in the world. There are all kinds of full-size buildings made of ice and many ice and snow sports activities. All of the people in Harbin do ice and snow activities. 

Hello, my name is Sabrina. I was around lightning while taking a hike in the Grand Canyon, but I was safe because I knew the following tips.

The four seasons

Spring

In spring, the weather starts to get warm.The wind b{#blank#}1{#/blank#} gently. It often rains. Plants start to grow. Everything turns green. It is exciting to take a t{#blank#}2{#/blank#} in spring.

Summer

The weather is hot in summer. The Sun s{#blank#}3{#/blank#} brightly. Many people like to go to the beach and swim in the sea. It is nice to eat ice cream in the hot weather.

Autumn

In autumn,everything changes. Leaves turn brown, red or yellow and start falling from the trees. It is nice to go on a p{#blank#}4{#/blank#} at this time of year because the weather is cool and dry.

Winter

Winter is often cold and s{#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Children love winter because they love to play in the snow. It is i{#blank#}6{#/blank#} to make snowmen. People usually spend time with their relatives during the Spring Festival.