Every artist knows in his heart that he is saying something to the public. Not only does he want to say it well, but he wants it to be something that has not been said before. He hopes the public will listen and understand what he wants to teach them, and what he wants them to learn from him.

    What visual(视觉的)artists like painters want to teach is easy to make out but difficult to explain,because painters translate their experience into shapes and colours, not words. They seem to feel that a certain selection of shapes and colours, out of countless billions of, is exceptionally interesting for them and worth showing to us. Without their work we should never have noticed these particular Shapes and colours. or have felt the delight which they brought to the artist.

      Most artists take their shapes and colours from the world of nature and from human bodies in motion and at rest; their choices indicate(指示)that these aspects of the world are worth looking at, that they contain beautiful sights. Contemporary(当代的)artists might say that they merely choose subjects that provide an interesting pattern, that there is nothing more in it. Yet even they do not choose entirely without reference to the character of their subjects.

    If one painter chooses to paint a decaying(腐烂)leg and another a lake in moonlight, each of them is directing our attention to a certain aspect of the world. Each painter is telling us something, showing us something, emphasizing something-all of which means that, consciously(有意识地)or unconsciously, he is trying to teach us.

    Now people in England, the US and many other countries celebrate Mother's Day. Mother's Day is on the second* Sunday of May*. On this day, children give flowers, cards, chocolate and other things to their mothers, but they don't give money to them. And they also make presents for their mothers. And some of them get up early to cook breakfast for their mothers. They also help their mothers do housework. They want to show their love to their mothers. They know if* they have no mothers; they can't live a happy life.

    Many people in China celebrate this festival for their mothers because they want to show* their love to their mothers too. In every Chinese family, the mother looks after* the children, does the housework and cooks meals for the family, so she is quite hard-working and she is always busy in the family. Now more and more people celebrate Mother' Day in China.

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    These days, we see a lot of shopping festivals(节日). Singles' Day is a big one for Chinese shoppers. It's on November 11^th(11月11日). In the US, Black Friday is the most well-known one.

    Black Friday is always on the day after the Thanksgiving holiday(感恩节). On this day, stores(商店) give special deals(特价). Shoppers get up very early. They wait in line in front of the stores at 2 or 3 am before the stores open. Sometimes there are too many people. They can't get inside the store. Black Friday is not the only shopping festival in the US. Another one is CyberMonday(网络星期一). This day is always on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

    Personally, I don't like these holidays, because they put too much importance（重要性）on buying things. And that's a trend of over-consumption(过度消费). What do you think of these holidays?

    A 12-year-old girl from Virginia, US, never thought that a simple message she put online could bring her big problems. She posted the words, "Killing. Meet me in the library Tuesday", with three emojis(表情符号)of a gun, a knife and a bomb(炸弹) on Instagram, a social media (社交媒体). She was told that she broke the law because of threatening (威胁) her school.

    This problem is not far away from us. Ni Hanxiang, a Chinese student at a university in the US, was sent back to China after expressing on social media that he would kill his teachers if he failed to pass his exams.

    In China, posting threatening words online is also against the law. In 2013, Wu Hongfei, a singer, got into trouble for saying on weibo that she wanted to blow up a building.

    "Threatening happens not only face to face but also through the Internet, social media and the telephone," said Mr Cao, a lawyer from Chongqing. "Although the law of China protects people's right of free speech, it doesn't include words that threaten others' lives and national safety."

    "Some people may not mean to threaten. They may just be trying to say 'I' m strong'", said Fred Pratt, a lawyer from the US.

    The girl's mother said her daughter was a good kid who had never been in trouble before. Ni Hangxiang also said he didn't realize that what he put online was so serious.

    "But not knowing the law doesn't mean the law will treat you any differently if you break it," says David Allen Green, a lawyer from the UK. So, do you think we'd better spend a minute or two thinking about the words or emojis we use on social media before we press "send"?

    In many English homes, people eat breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner a day. People have breakfast at any time between seven and nine in the morning. They eat porridge, eggs, or bread. Also they drink tea or coffee at breakfast.

    Lunch comes at one o'clock. The English people like take-away food. The most popular(最受欢迎的) food is fish and chips. They usually go to a fish and chip shop. They put the food in paper bags, and take it home, or to their work places. Some people eat take-away food in the park.

    Afternoon tea is about 4:30 in the afternoon. People usually drink tea with milk. And dinner is at about half past seven and it is usually a big meal. First they have soup, and then they have meat or fish with vegetables. After that they eat some other things, like bananas, apples or oranges. But not all English people eat like that. Some of them have their dinner in the middle of the day. People often eat dinner at a restaurant or at homes, and they think all these meals are very necessary (必要的).