Gift giving is different from culture to culture and person to person.

    When giving gifts, sometimes color is important. For example, for many Chinese people around the world, red is a lucky color, and people often like to pack gifts in this color. However, did you know that in Korea, red is a color of death? That is why you should not pack gifts in this color if you are giving a gift to a Korean person.

    What about western countries? In western countries, the color of packing paper is not really important. But color does matter when giving flowers, especially roses. You should not give red roses to a western person you don't know very well because they are a symbol of love. You could give yellow roses instead as these are a symbol of friendship. You could also send pink roses as gifts to say thank you.

    What other things should you remember when giving gifts to someone from a different culture? Well, one thing you should keep in mind is the person's religion. When choosing a gift for a Muslim or Jewish friend, you should never get good food including pork or things made from pigskin. Another thing that you shouldn't get for a Muslim person is alcohol.

    The Spring Festival is celebrated not only in China but also in other parts of the world. The traditional holiday is the most important to Chinese both home and abroad.

    United Kingdom

    Celebrations for Spring Festival in the UK started in 1980, with the first evening party held in 2002. Every New Year, people get together and have a lot of activities. They sing songs, dance to music, share photos with friends or enjoy films in a cinema.

    United States

    Spring Festival has become a key time for Chinese living or working in the US. They join in a large evening party to welcome the traditional New Year. It is a good chance for people to build a circle of friends and feel that they are not alone because they share the same culture and values.

    Australia

    The Chinese New Year will be welcomed with three weeks of celebrations across Australia. Many people come to Sydney's Chinatown or Little Bourke in Melbourne. They enjoy fireworks, lion dances, dragon boat races and many other traditional activities. The celebrations are also a bridge towards better understanding between Chinese and non-Chinese.

    Singapore

    The family dinner on New Year's Eve is an important tradition for Chinese whether they were born in Singapore or moved there from China. They place traditional food on a table as an act of remembering their past. Then the whole family enjoy their dinner together. They usually hold it at home because having it in a restaurant takes away the meaning of the tradition.

    The Italians are famous for many things, including art, history, fashion and their style of cooking. Some of the best food in the world was created by Italians. The Italians make pizza and spaghetti, and they also make excellent desserts.

    One of my favorites is ice cream. The ice cream here is soft, delicious and very cheap. I am studying in Puglia, Italy and I have to stop myself from eating it every day. I like sitting on a park bench with a new flavor（味道）of ice cream.

    Nowadays, most of the ice cream produced in Italy is still handmade and there are lots of Italian ice cream shops around the world.

    The ice cream shops here in Puglia are open for most of the day. People can go and have an ice cream at any time, even late at night. There are so many interesting flavors that you could never possibly get bored of it. I always spend a long time looking through the glass, trying to decide what to have. I usually choose my favorite flavors. One evening though, I chose a new flavor. It translates as" English soup", which sounded funny and made me curious to taste it. The taste of the ice cream was quite strong but I enjoyed it anyway.

    I love the cold sweetness of the ice cream. Ice cream is one of my favorite things about Italian style of cooking. This year, I'm going to try as many flavors as possible.

    Mark Twain tells a boy's story in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck is a poor child without a mother and a home. His father drinks too much alcohol and always beats him.

    Huck's situation frees him from the restriction of society. He explores in the woods and goes fishing. He stays out all night and does not go to school. He also smokes. Huck runs away from home. He meets Jim, a black man who has escaped(逃脱)slavery(奴隶制).They travel together on a raft(木筏)made of wood down the Mississippi River. Mark Twain started writing" Huckleberry Finn" as a children's story. But it soon became serious. The story tells about the social evil of slavery, which is seen through the eyes of an innocent child. Huck's ideas about people are formed by the white society in which he lives. So, at first, he does not question slavery. Huck knows that important people believe slavery is natural and this is the law of God. So he thinks it is his duty to tell Jim's owner where to find him.

    Later, Huck comes to understand that Jim is a good man. He finds he cannot carry out his plan to inform Jim's owner of his whereabouts(下落). Instead, he decides to help Jim escape. He decides to do this, even if God punishes him.

    One thing that British and Chinese cultures share is a love for fine tea.

    Today, when we think of Western tea culture, we often think of the English and beautiful china tea cups.

    Afternoon tea

    People believe that an English lady, Anna, first introduced the idea of afternoon tea. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the English ate two main meals each day-breakfast and a heavy supper that would last for several hours in the evening. As a result, people often got very hungry during the long wait between these two meals. To solve this problem, Anna came up with the clever idea of inviting some friends to join her for an afternoon meal between four and five o'clock. This meal included cakes and sandwiches, and tea was served to wash down the food. In order to make this afternoon meal important, fine china cups and plates, and silver teapots, knives, forks and spoons were used.

    Soon afternoon tea parties became popular. Today, afternoon tea parties continueto play an important part in the social life in modern Britain.

    Will you come for coffee?

    Coffee also has an important role in British culture. People often use the words "Will you come for coffee?" to mean" Would you like to come to my homefor a chat?" Usually several different drinks such as tea, hot chocolate or a soft drink like orange juice will be served as well as coffee, and you will be asked what you would like. However, you will not be offered wine at a "coffee" party.

    Coffeehouse and the London Stock Exchange

    In the 17th century London, coffeehouses were busy and noisy places.

    Businessmen and bankers went to coffeehouses to do their business, as well as todrink coffee. In fact the London Stock(股票)Exchange is believed to have started from these coffeehouses.