Do you know what punk rock music is? I love punk rock music so much. Now let me introduce punk rock music to you. Punk rock music started in the late 1960s in U.K. Punk rock music is a way to express the singer's thought and anger with society.

      The earliest punk rock bands that formed in the early 1970s were Ramon's, Black Flag. Then in the late 1970s, more new punk rock bands were formed such as The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, Iggy Pop. Their songs were formed by some simple notes and their methods of singing were loud and they sang with anger.

      Why did punk rock music develop that fast? Because the people in that time needed some ways to express themselves. There are lots of punk rock bands nowadays, such as Distillers, The Cure, Green Day. The biggest difference between the old and newer bands is their clothing. The old punk rock bands did not really focus on their clothing, but the newer punk rock bands do focus on their clothing when they are out for functions.

    Now many people like the game Angry Birds. Here is a piece of good news for them－soon there will be a lot of Angry Birds-themed activity parks around the world.

    The first two parks opened in Finland last year, and a few other parks are going to open in the UK. However, people still don't know when and where Angry Birds-themed activity parks will open in the UK.

    “As a kind of online game, it is popular with people of all ages. It's really an interesting game. And the parks will be interesting places for everyone around the world,” said Peter Vesterbacka, an officer of Angry Birds Company. He also said, “We want to make Angry Birds a part of pop culture. We're just getting started.”

    Angry Birds-themed activity parks have many interesting places for children to play. They like them very much. People can see the characters and colors from the game in the park. People can also play the Angry Birds game on large screens in the park. The company wants to invite people to not only play it on the sofa, but to go out, move around and have fun. So everyone will be happy in Angry Birds-themed activity parks.

    If you meet a British person in the street, it is very likely that he or she will apologize whether it is his or her fault（过错） or not.

    It seems that Britain is becoming a nation where everyone is saying sorry. Almost each person says sorry about eight times each day-and one in eight people apologize as many as 20 times a day.

    As you may have seen, the British apologize more often than members of other cultures. A research shows that in many cases, people's love of saying sorry in Britain goes a little further than it does for Americans. For example, about 15 British people would say"sorry" while only 10 from the[US would do this if they sneezed, if they corrected someone's mistake or if someone knocked into them.

    In the old days, "sorry" was used to express regret and sadness for having done something wrong. But now British people use the expression as a way of showing good manners. For example, they might say "sorry" instead of "excuse me", "pardon", "what" or "whatever".

    People in Britain also use sorry when they share the same feeling with others-so they might say "sorry about the rain".

    However, British people's use of "sorry" may make things very confusing（迷惑不清）and difficult for foreigners who are not familiar with their ways. But actually, people in Britain pay much attention to the feelings of others. This is the very reason why they apologize every t day.

    The British government has started a ￡ 10 million Mandarin Excellence (普通话优秀) Program. The program will have helped over 5,000 British students to be fluent (流利的) in Mandarin Chinese by 2020.

    The program is led by local schools and supported (支持) by University College London. So far, 14 schools have taken part in the program. Hundreds of secondary school students in England have taken lessons in Mandarin Chinese. Over the next three years, they will spend eight hours studying Mandarin Chinese every week.

    Ned Miller is an officer of the British government. He said a high level of fluency in Mandarin Chinese would become more and more important. "Language skills are important for jobs and life. Mandarin Chinese is spoken by the largest number of people in the world. It is also one of the languages that matters the most to our country's future. If the United Kingdom wants to remain competitive in the world, we do need far more of our young people leaving school with a good command of Mandarin Chinese," Miller added. "We hope that our young people could be given the chance to study the language. We want them to be fluent in both spoken and written Mandarin. The Mandarin Excellence Program will help us do this. It will not only open the students' eyes, but also give them a great advantage when they enter the world of work."

    British kids, in fact, are not alone. In America, about 200,000 students are studying Mandarin Chinese. It is believed that 800,000 more will join them over the next couple of years.

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

    Venice is in the northeast 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 ways to get around. There are 117 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 cool summer nights 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 more than 1,500 years ago, and built homes there.

    Water makes the city special, but it is also a big problem.

    Once, people used too much underground water. This made the city get lower little by little. Now the city has gone down by 23 centimeters. 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.