International Museum Day is coming! Here are some special museums that you must see.

    They say that "travel is the best teacher" and there is no better example of this idea than the Ming dynasty travel writer and geographer Xu Xiake (1587-1641). His book The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake, not only encouraged a love of travelling among Chinese people but provided important scientific information about the country's land and geography.

    Born into a wealthy Jiangyin family, Xu became interested in books about different places at anearly age and wanted to travel. When he was 18, however. Xu's father died and so, it seemed, did his travelling dreams. He now was responsible for the family farm and taking care of his 60-year-old mother as tradition required.

    But his mother had different ideas. Understanding her son, slove of travel and valuing the knowledge he could get from such experiences, this modern-thinking woman refused to keep her son at home. She agreed that Xu could travel for three months every year, when there was less farm work.

    So at the age of twenty and with his mother's support, Xu set off for the first time, leaving behind not only his mother but his new wife as well. He would repeat this goodbye each year for most of the next 30 years. During this time, he travelled throughout the Ming kingdom, carefully studying the lands he passed through and recording his experiences and many discoveries in a diary. This diary, which once had over 500,000 words, would eventually become The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake.

    Although rich, Xu avoided comfortable travel, preferring to go almost everywhere on foot. This way he could research the environment in detail and get a true picture of the natural world. Many of his trips were to hard-to-reach mountain areas, and through wild forests where few people lived. His willingness to face hardships came at a cost however. Progress was slow and tiring and he was frequently sick, robbed and beaten during his journeys

    Sadly Xu became seriously ill during his last and longest journey, a 4-year trip through the Southwest of China. He died in 1641, soon after returning to his hometown for the last time. When his diary was finally printed years after his death, much of it had been destroyed or lost. Although incomplete, it still made Xu a travelling legend around the world.

In the eyes of many foreigners, Chinese are the best hosts and the worst guests in the world. They're not really bad guests but because the guest-host relationship in China is much different than in some Western countries it appears they are not nice guests. And Western guests sometimes look rude in the eyes of Chinese guests.  

　　In China guests are almost like gods. Whenever I enter a Chinese person's home there is always fruit on the table for me and someone is quick to bring me a cup of tea or water. In the West generally the guest is not a god. Acting according to the host's way of doing things is usual behaviour for a guest. 

　　My wife's mother is a very kind elderly Chinese lady who doesn't smoke. When I see some of her guests smoking in her house, as a non-smoker I feel unhappy. Usually I want to stop them directly but I must realize that she must not do that. In most North America homes if you are a guest and the hosts are not smokers, you should not smoke in their house. At the very least you could ask "Is it OK if I smoke?" But don't be surprised if they say "No, you can't smoke." In our culture if you smoke in their home you are a bad guest, but if they don't allow you to smoke in their house they are not a rude guest.

　　Guests in China also have special habits. Some Western people may not adapt to these habits very soon. Thankfully my wife is Chinese so whenever we visit a Chinese family she tells me to buy them a gift. However giving a gift to a host is not always necessary in my country. So if you invite international guests to your home don't be too surprised if they don't bring you a gift. 

　　In China you probably won't need to change the guest-host relationship very much because you will probably only be the host and Chinese are naturally very good hosts. If Western hosts invite you to their house, try not to be too surprised if their style of treating you is not what you have expected.

Steve Jobs (24 Feb. 1955-5 Oct. 2011) was 1 co- founder of Apple Inc., one of 2 companies in the world, and he invented many of the digital products that are part of everyday life for so many people today.

Steve Jobs's life was not without difficulties, however. He 3 soon after his birth and only met his birth mother and sister when he grew up. As a child, Steve was very smart but formal schooling didn't suit him. He went to college for a short time, but dropped out soon because he had no idea 4 he wanted to do. Since Steve dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, he got a chance 5 a calligraphy class. There he learned about serif and sans- serif typefaces(字体) and how to make typography beautiful. It didn't show 6 practical value at that time, but Steve designed it all into his first Macintosh computer ten years later, making it the first computer 7 beautiful typography.

In 1976, Steve founded Apple Computer Inc. with two friends. They designed a series of user- friendly personal computers and the company became famous in 8 years. However, the sales of its following products were not good. In 1985, Steve was fired from Apple. It was a huge blow to Steve at first. Later, however, the heaviness of being successful was replaced by the 9 of being a beginner again. He 10 one of his most creative stages in his life. During the next five years, Steve started 11 company named Pixar and created the world's first computer- animated feature film," Toy Story". In 1997, Jobs returned to his post as Apple's CEO. Once again, he created Apple's success in the 1990s.

Steve Jobs was a leader who knew how to make teams 12 great results but he also had another side. He became 13 easily and was often impatient. He usually stated his opinions straight and 14 not agree with anything that he didn't think was perfect.

15 Steve wasn't a perfect man, he is recognized by many as the father of the digital revolution. His inventions and creativity have changed our way of life.

Alice comes from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. 1 parents work in a troupe of Yue opera(越剧团) there. As a kid, she 2 went to the troupe. There she could see many kinds of Chinese 3 , like the erhu, the pipa and the yueqin. Alice liked their sounds. Each of them sounds 4 and unique(独一无二的). 

At that time, Alice didn't like Yue opera, 5 she showed great interest in the yueqin. Her mum 6 the yueqi n in the troupe. She also has such an instrument 7 . One day, when Alice saw the yueqin in her mum's room, an idea 8 her:"I could learn to play it 9 my mum. " From then on, her mum became her teacher. After much 10 and hard work, Alice could play a piece of music. That also made her believe one thing: No pain, no 11 . 

Now Alice is a junior high student. She plans to 12 the music band. There is no yueqin in the 13 but she can play the guitar there. Well, Alice is also good at playing the 14 . Do you know 15 ? That's because there are some similarities(相似点) between the two instruments.