One day an American called Simon went to London to visit his friend, Rick. Rick told him that his flat was on the first floor. When he arrived, Simon went straight to the first floor of the building. But he was told that there was no Rick on that floor. Do you know why?

    In fact, the British call the first floor of a building the ground floor. The floor above the ground floor is the first floor, while Americans would call it the second floor.

    The story shows that there are a few culture differences between Britain and America, though the British and Americans both speak English.

    The British usually hide their feelings. They seldom start a conversation with strangers. For example, on the train the British often spend their time reading newspapers or books. But Americans are quite different. They're more active and easier to talk with.

    The British and Americans may use different terms for many things. The British usually use “football”, “eraser” and “mail” while Americans prefer to use “soccer”, “rubber” and “post”.

    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.

"Have you checked the oil in the car?" My father used to say to me. "Hello, hope you are well." Sometimes our phone calls would begin with a question about the oil and end with a question about the oil, with not a lot in between.

Fathers have a lot of love to give, but it's often supplied through the medium (方法) of practical advice. In my experience: It's mostly about my car.

"How's the car running?" "Did you get it serviced?" "How did you get that scrape (刮痕) on the side?"

Why can't fathers just say "I love you" or "It's great to see you"? The point is: That's exactly what we are saying. You just have to translate from the language that is Fatherlish.

The words "You made my life better from the moment you were born" may be hardly heard, but the key is there in the more common "I'll hold the ladder while you get the leaves out of the gutter (排水沟)."

When I was 17, I went on my first road trip—a friend and I in that old car. My father stood on the corner early on a cold morning to say goodbye to us.

"Highways are dangerous," he said, "so don't try to catch up with anything faster than a horse. And take a break every two hours. And every time you stop for gas, you really should check the oil."

At the time we thought his speech was pretty funny and would chant "car and horse, car and horse" every time I drove faster and passed other speeding cars.

Dad's long gone now. But after all these years, I realize that had I owned a copy of the Fatherlish-to-English dictionary, I'd have understood that the speech my friend and I so casually mocked (嘲笑) was simply Dad's attempt at affection.

Everyone knows that exercise is important. We all need to exercise. Doctors say it is good for us. It makes our heart and body strong. Children who often exercise are more clever. This means they do better in tests and schoolwork than those who don't exercise. There are many ways to exercise. 

You can walk, run, swim, skate or play ball games. Make sure you exercise in the following ways. You have to like what you're doing. Exercise enough but not too much. It's best to exercise twice each week. Thirty minutes each time is enough. Try all kinds of things until you find one, two or even three sports that are right for you. 

You can exercise at fitness centers（健身中心）. They have a lot of equipment （设备） there. The equipment will help exercise your arms, legs and other parts of your body to make you fit. Some people buy equipment for their homes. But it is very expensive. 

Exercise can be fun. Friends can exercise together at a fitness center, or they can play sports together. How do you exercise?