Living in the foreign culture can be exciting, but it can also be confusing. A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their experiences. They discussed that miscommunications were always possible, even over something as simple as “yes”and“no”.
     On her first day in Micronesia, an island in the Pacific, Lisa thought the waitress wasn't paying any attention to her. The day was hot she went into a store and asked, "Do you have any cold drinks?" The woman there didn't say anything. Lisa repeated the question again. Still the woman said nothing. She later learned that the woman had answered her: She has raised her eyebrows, which in Micronesia, it means, "yes".
     Jan remembered an experience she had in Bulgaria, a country in Europe. She went to a restaurant that was known for its cabbage. She asked the writer,“Do you have cabbage today?”He nodded his head. Jan waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means "no".
     Tom had a similar problem when he arrived in India. After explaining something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They answered with different nods and shakes of heads. He thought some people hadn't understood, so he explained again. When he asked again, they did the same thing. He soon found out that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake heads in different ways. It depends on where they come from.

    These days picture news is very popular with young people. Here are some chosen from the Internet by Jack. Read on to find out which one you like best.

    SPRING is coming, together with butterflies(蝴蝶)!On March 31, the Natural History Museum in London, UK, had a butterfly show. Children came over and played with these beautiful creatures. They also got to know how butterflies grow up. Colorful butterflies flew freely at the show. They sometimes landed on visitors. Look! A large blue butterfly sits on the nose of the girl.

    Earlier in April 2014, Sanlian Taofen Bookstore became the first 24﹣hour bookstore in Beijing. It hopes to encourage more people to read books.

    "We welcome everyone who loves to read books at any time." The general manager of the store told China Youth Daily.

    Although many people can now buy books online, many readers still like the feeling in bookstores. They can touch the books and smell the print.

    This year, many children in the UK will have a new language to study: Chinese.

    Starting in 2014, students aged 7﹣11in the UK need to study one of seven foreign languages. They can choose from French, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek(希腊语) and Chinese.

    The British government is offering to train a group of Chinese﹣language teachers. They will teach Chinese to more than 3, 000 primary school students.

    China and the UK work together in many fields. So it's important that the future generation(一代人) can speak Chinese.

    Last year, I went to a summer camp in the United States with my classmates. It was my first time to go abroad.

    I lived with a host family in Los Angeles for five days. My host family was friendly and gave me lots of advice. For example, they said I should say "excuse me" if I have to interrupt (打断) someone or ask for directions.

    I also took some classes. They were different from the classes I had had back home. In the US, each class is like a seminar. Students join groups, speaking freely and creating a cheerful atmosphere (氛围). I had to work hard to learn more vocabularies, so I could better communicate with my international classmates. I used to pay little attention to my word usage (使用), but now I pay more attention.

    During my visit, I also went to some famous universities in Boston, New York and Washington, D. C. We learned about the history behind the universities. At MIT (麻省理工学院), we saw lots of names on a wall in the hall. The tour guide told us they were the names of students who had lost their lives during wars. I was inspired (鼓舞) by the fact that they fought for their country.

What are in their schoolbags？

It's true that most children don't enjoy doing housework.  {#blank#}1{#/blank#}But in Australia, Jim and Robert's mother, Mrs Black, has good ways to get her children to do housework. Here is an example.

"Mum, have you worked out next week's housework? Let Jim and me choose the cards. I can't wait. It's fun!"

  {#blank#}2{#/blank#}On the cards, there are some words like these, "sweep the floor, clean your bedroom, help Mum cook, wash vegetables, make the bed, feed the fish, cut up the wood, clean the bathroom" and many others. Jim and Robert chose two cards each day from Monday to Friday. Then they would hang them on weekday task board(工作板). Jim likes to clean the bathroom, so he picked up the card"clean the bathroom".   {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Jim again picked up "wash vegetables" and Robert chose"feed the fish". Soon the two boys were happy to take away all the cards.

 {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Of course, the parents did the housework at the weekend and gave Jim and Robert two days to have a rest.

Who did the housework at the weekend at the Blacks'? (回答不多于5个单词){#blank#}5{#/blank#}