American Food Habits

Most Americans eat quickly during the day—that is, breakfast and lunch—unless it is a social, business, or family ①occasion. The evening meal, however, is usually ②leisurely and a family time. ③Racing through daytime meals is part of the“American pace”of life, for working time ④is considered ⑤precious. There is also another reason, that others in public eating places are waiting for you to finish, so that they can be served and get back to work within the ⑥allotted time .Each one hurries to make room for the next person.

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    Clothing is a language. It tells us about individual people: their personality, age, place in society and so on. If we want to know more about society, we can look at traditional clothing.

    The continent of Africa has a long history and a rich culture, and this is shown in traditional dress. You often find three colors— red, gold and green in the clothing. The first color stands for the blood of millions of people who suffered as slaves(奴隶), the second is for the rich resources of the African earth, and the third represents the grasslands of home.

    The patterns on the clothing also have a meaning. A common pattern is in the form of a cross “×”, which stands for “unity”. Another pattern is a rectangular（矩形） box, which represents “strength”.

    Because clothing has a strong social meaning, people are very careful in choosing what to wear. It would be a serious mistake to wear the wrong clothing, or to wear clothes in the wrong way. For instance, in Ghana, a woman should wear her waistband differently according to the importance of the social event. 

    Traditional dress also tells us about everyday life. African designs are famous for loose(宽松的) clothing. The climate, with the hot sun and wide temperature ranges(变化), requires that the clothes are comfortable for daily life. 

    Although many people wear western clothes, particularly in the big cities in Africa, traditional dress is very highly valued(评价). This is because it has deep cultural meanings.

    I come from Cambridge, a beautiful city in the cast of England. It is on the River Cam and has a population of about 120, 000. My home town is especially famous for its university. Many famous people studied here, such as Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. There are lots of old buildings and churches to visit. Students and tourists enjoy trips along the river by boat.

    Cambridge is 80 kilometers from London. London is in the south of England and it is on the River Thames. It has a population of about; seven and a half million, so it is bigger and busier than Cambridge. It is about 2, 000 years old, and it is famous for Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Tower Bridge.

    England itself is part of an island, and you are always near the sea. The small villages and beaches on the coast are popular for holidays. Tourists like the areas of low mountains and beautiful lakes in the north, and the hills and pretty villages in the south. Everywhere in England, you will notice how green the countryside is.

    It is never very hot in summer or very cold in winter. So come and see England any time of the year, but bring an umbrella with you. It rains a lot all year round. You will need it most days.

    As we know, there are differences between Western culture and Chinese culture. We can see differences when we pay attention to the way words are used. Let's look at the words about animals and plants. Most expressions in Chinese are about the dog, for example, "a homeless dog" "a mad dog" "a running dog" and "a dog catching a mouse", having negative meanings. But in Western countries, dogs are thought to be honest and good friends of humans. In English, people use the dog to describe positive things. For example, "you are a lucky dog" means "you are a lucky person". And "every dog has its day" means "each person has good luck some time". To describe a person's serious illness, they say "sick as a dog". The word "dog-tired" means very tired. However, Chinese love cats very much. But in Western culture, "cat" is often used to describe a woman who is cruel(无情的) .

    The rose is a symbol of love in both China and some Western countries. People think the rose means love, peace, courage and friendship. And the rose is a kind of important flowers in England, America and many other countries.

    The words about plants and animals are used in positive or negative ways in different cultures. We can learn about many differences in culture by comparing how some words are used.