I left my hometown in London last year and now I have enjoyed working in this small city in China. Learning a foreign language opens you up to the culture and history of a country. So in order to know more about China. I started to learn Chinese.

    But at times, I found myself in funny situations. When I greeted strangers in China, they began to talk a lot and very fast. They asked me questions about everything. But all I could do was to look at them with a blank face. I had no idea what they were talking about. Were they just being kind, funny or impolite? Many people want to make friends with me. But I am a bit upset when I find out the reason why they need a foreign friend. They say they want to practice their English. I don't need friends like this. I like friends to share nay feelings and ideas with.

    However, the more Chinese I learn, the more similarities I find it has with English. In English, thick—skinned is to describe a person who doesn't care for criticism(批评). I was surprised to find that houlianpi in Chinese means the same. And both languages share some common idioms(习语). For example, "look on with folded arms" means xiushoupangguan, and ''burn the boats" is similar to pofuchenzhou.

    I'm still on my journey to learn Chinese. I believe that sometimes you have the most fun on a journey.

    There are two girls in Mr. Whites family. They're Tina and Anna. They are twin (双胞胎) sisters. Each of them has a long face and a small mouth. But Tina is a little heavy and she has short curly hair. Anna is thin and she has long straight hair.

    They are in the same school and the same class. Their math teacher Grace likes them very much. Are there any differences between them? Yes. Tina likes to talk with her classmates, but Anna is kind of shy. Tina's favorite subject is science, but Anna likes history best. Tina is good at drawing and Anna is good at dancing. Their dreams are different, too. Tina wants to be an artist, but Anna wants to be a teacher.

    Both (两个) of them study hard to make their dreams come true.

    One day I got in a taxi, and we left for the airport. We were driving in the right lane(车道)when, suddenly, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver stopped his car at once. The tire(轮胎)made a very loud noise, and at the very last moment our car stopped just one inch from the back of the other car.

    I was frightened. But then I couldn't believe what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, turned his head and started yelling at us. I couldn't believe it！But my taxi driver just smiled at the guy. So I asked, "Why did you just do that？This guy almost sent us to hospital."

    This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call“The Law of the Rubbish Truck(垃圾车法则)".He explained that many people are like rubbish trucks. They run around full of rubbish, full of anger and full of bad feelings. As their rubbish piles up, they look for a place to throw it away and sometimes they'll throw it at you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their rubbish and spread it to other people at work, at home or in the streets.

    Successful people never let rubbish trucks change their moods. Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so love those who love you and pray(祈祷)for those who don't.

    Alice is an American school girl. She is now in Beijing with her parents. She doesn't know Chinese, but she is trying to study and speak it. She often tries to speak Chinese to her Chinese friends. Sometimes they don't understand her, because she can't speak Chinese well.

    It's Saturday morning. Alice goes out. She is going to see the flowers show. But she doesn't know how to get there. She asks an old Chinese man. The old man doesn't understand her. Then she takes out a pen and some paper. She draws flowers on it and then gives the picture to the old man, companying with a body gesture (肢体动作). The old man smiles and shows her the right way to the flowers show. Finally, she walks for about 15 minutes and gets to the flowers show. The flowers are so beautiful that Alice likes them very much. And she also buys one bunch of flowers for her mother and two cards for her father.