English is the first language of several countries. However, it has many differences. British, American, and South African English are all spoken differently. In many English language courses, the British and American differences are taught. One is not more correct than the other, but there are important differences between the two.

    Probably the biggest difference between American and British English is the vocabulary. Different words and expressions are used to talk about the same thing. For example, in the United States, people throw their garbage into the trash can. In England, people throw their rubbish into the dustbin. In Britain, people take a lift to the fifth floor. In America, people take an elevator.

    American and British grammar can be also different. For example, speakers of British English will ask "What did you do at the weekend?", but Americans usually say "on the weekend." In the United States people usually say "I've gotten a new car.", but in the UK they will say "I've just got a new car."

    The pronunciation in American and British English is also different, even when the spelling is the same. The word "tomato"—pronounced "to-mah-to" in British English—is a classic example of this.

    Vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation are three ways English is different in different parts of the world. Learning all these is not easy, so English learners should just know that they are always there.

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    We often see top students around us and everyone knows about them. Let us take Jenny as an example. She is the monitor of our class. She spends a lot of time working for our class. But she always gets good grades in all subjects. How do students like Jenny do that? When I asked her, she said, "Hard work is not the whole story. It's not how long you sit at the desk with your books open. It's what you do as you are sitting." In fact, we can see many top students spend fewer hours on their studies than their classmates. Jenny gave me some valuable suggestions.

    If your math teacher gives you five exercises, you should do six. If your Chinese teacher gives eight pages of reading, you should read nine. The more you practice, the more you learn.

    Studying is a matter of your personal interest, so choose the way you are most comfortable with. Some people like working at night when the house is quiet, while others like doing their work early in the morning. However, others like studying as soon asthey arrive home from school while the work is fresh in their minds. No matter(无论) which way suits you, try to do your best.

    Studying is your business and the business comes before entertainment(娱乐). When you are studying, phone calls should go unanswered, TV shows unwatched, snacks given up. Studying is the only thing in your mind. Nothing can pull your attention away from what you are studying.

    Studying is like eating. You should eat a little at a time. You can plan what to do today, but don't do too much. When you can't finish the work you planned to do, you will feel stressed and may lose confidence. On the other hand, you will not study well without a good plan. It all depends on how you manage your time.

    The students who hand in a clearly written paper are already half way to get an A. Tidy papers are likely to get higher marks than messy(乱糟糟的) ones. When you write clearly and do your work carefully, the thoughts in your mind are clear. You are able to make fewer mistakes.

阅读短文，根据短文内容回答问题。

Chinese Culture

    While China is almost the same size as the US in area, it is home to about 1.3 billion people. It has a special culture with a very long history.

    Chinese Food

    Food plays an important role for Chinese families. Different foods have special meanings. The most obvious(明显的) difference is that Chinese people eat their meals with chopsticks. One of the main foods in Chinese culture is rice. Tea is a favorite drink and it is popular in the market.

    Chinese New Year

    The Chinese calendar(日历) is called a lunar(阴历的) calendar. It is not the same as the one used in the US. New Year's Day is in late winter. It is also called the Spring Festival. It has a big celebration of letting go of the old and bringing in the new. It has special foods and traditions. For example, sweeping the floor before New Year's Day sweeps away all the old year's bad luck.

Chinese Zodiac(生肖)

    The Chinese zodiac, known as Sheng Xiao, follows a twelve-year cycle(循环). Each year is named for an animal. These animal signs are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. For example, the year that begins in 2016 is the Year of the Monkey.

    Chinese Language

    Chinese is a complex(复杂的) language. Chinese writing developed almost 4,000 years ago and may even be older. Chinese writing has thousands of characters. A character represents(代表) a word and also a meaning. Unlike English, there are no spaces in Chinese writing. Besides Standard Chinese, or Putonghua, Chinese people speak six other forms of the language, and there are many kinds of dialects(方言).

①Jack let me play with his favorite toy car. I made it go too fast and it  crashed(摔坏).  {#blank#}1{#/blank#}  

②All my friends have many new clothes. But my parents can't afford them. I think it is a shame(遗憾的事). {#blank#}2{#/blank#}  

③My close friend always want me to give him the answers in exams. But I really don't want to do that. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}  

④My friend Jenny always takes a MP3 with her and listens to loud music. I think it may hurt her ears. But she doesn't seem to care. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}  

⑤Sam saw some bird eggs under a tree when we had a trip in the forest. He wanted to take them home. I stopped him. He was angry with me. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}  

A. Try to tell him it is wrong for you two to do that. Then try to help them with his lessons in you spare time.

B. Tell him that he is doing something bad to animals. If he takes the eggs home, how will their mother feel when she can't find them?

C. You can get some examples from papers, magazines or TV shows, and let her know it's really bad.

D. Say sorry to him first. And try to repair it. Or you may give him your favorite toy car instead. Or to buy a new one for him.

E. A person's look or appearance(外表)doesn't mean everything. The most important thing is to study hard and have a good future.

    John is eight years old, and he is a very funny boy. He works hard, so he is good at his subjects. And his teachers and parents like him very much. But he has a very big head.

    Last year, he spent ten days in his uncle's home on summer vacation. His uncle lives in a mountain village and it's about four hundred miles away from his city. He took a train to a small town. There his uncle waited for him and took him to his house by bike.

    John made some friends soon. They played games and swam in the river happily. But one afternoon he cried to his aunt, "All the children make fun of me. They say I have a big head."

    "Don't listen to them," his aunt said. "You have a beautiful head. Now stop crying and go to the store to buy fifty potatoes."

    "Where is the shopping bag?"

    "Oh, dear. I haven't got one. Use your hat."

Information Card

    Amazing news! There are robot cooks in Hunan Province. They started cooking local(当地的) dishes at a restaurant in Changsha on May 1.

    The cooking robots get cooking skills and recipes(食谱) for 40 kinds of Hunan dishes. They are (A)a      to cook fried meat in two minutes. (B)We want our customers to enjoy the dishes and the amazing robot cooking." said Li Zhiming, the inventor of the robots and owner of the restaurant.

    Li hopes that Hunan robot cooking restaurants can open worldwide in the future, like KFC and Mc Donald's." In Changsha, the restaurants, which are similar to ours in size, need 8 to 10 cooks and kitchen helpers. (C)      we only need two kitchen helpers to help three robot cooks in our restaurant," said Li.

    Kitchen helpers at Li's restaurant put materials(材料) into special boxes, and press the button "ON", The robot cooks then begin to cook. It is not an easy job to invent these robot cooks. Li and his group spent round four years and nearly ten million yuan inventing such a robot cook. At present, Li's restaurant can sell more than 800 bowls of rice with Hunan local dishes on top per day. Li plans to open up brunches

(分店) in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and even abroad.