When you wave to a friend, you are using body language. When you smile at someone, you mean to be friendly. When you put one finger in front of your mouth, you mean "be quiet.''

    Yet, people in different countries may use different body languages.

    Once an Englishman was in Italy. He could speak little Italian. One day while he was walking in the street, he felt hungry and went into a restaurant. When the waiter came, the Englishman opened his mouth, put his fingers into it and took them out again and moved his lips. In this way, he meant to say, "Bring me something to eat." But the waiter brought him a lot of things to drink, first tea, then coffee, then milk, but no food.

    The Englishman was sorry that he was not able to tell the waiter he was hungry. He was ready to leave the restaurant when another man came in. The man put his hands on his stomach, and this body language was good enough for the waiter. In a few minutes, the waiter brought him a large plate of bread and meat.

    Finally the Englishman had his meal in the same way.

    When you are learning a language, listening, speaking and writing are important, but reading can also be very helpful. When you read, you can not only learn some new words, but also learn how to use them. When you read a passage, it gives you a good example for writing. Here are some good reading tips.

    Firstly, try to read at the right level (水平). Read something that you can understand. If it is too hard for you, it is not interesting.

    Secondly, try to understand the new words. If there are four or five new words on a page, don't use a dictionary. Instead, try to guess their meanings as you read. Mark (作标记) them with a pencil. Then look them up in a dictionary when you finish reading, and write them in your own vocabulary book. Try to remember them.

    Thirdly, try to read for a short time once a day. Fifteen minutes or half an hour every day is better than two hours every Sunday. For example, you can read before you go to bed, or after you get up or at lunchtime.

    Lastly, read something that interests you. Choose a newspaper, a book or a magazine about a subject that you like. It will be easy enough for you to understand.

    New rules and behaviour standards(行为规范) for middle school students came out in March. Middle schools are going to use a new way to decide who the top students are. The best students won't only have high grades. The following are some of the new rules.

    Tell the truth. Have you ever cheated(作弊) in an exam? Don't do it again! That's not something honest students should do.

    Do more at school. Good students love animals and care for other people. April is Bird loving Month in China．Is your school doing anything to celebrate it? You should join! In that way，you can learn more about animals and how to protect them.

    Be open to new ideas. Have you ever thought people could live on the moon? Maybe you'll find another earth in space in the future. Everyone's new ideas are important.

    Protect yourself. Has a thief ever taken money from one of your classmates? Don't let it happen to you. If you have to go back home late, you should let your parents know.

    Use the Internet carefully. The Internet can be very useful for your study. But some things on the Internet aren't for kids, so try to look at the good web pages. You can use the web pages for fun or homework.

    Claude Monet's paintings were quite different from the art styles that were popular in the 1870s France. Traditional artists always did their artwork in a studio and their paintings were realistic-they looked exactly like the real world. Claude Monet was part of a group of painters who were called Impressionists(印象派画家). Their paintings were light and a bit fuzzy-they gave an impression of what the real world looked like. Sometimes Impressionists worked outside, which was a very unusual thought in their time. Impressionism received its name from an early painting by Claude Monet titled impression, Sunrise.

    Knowing that trains were interesting subjects and represented modern progress, Claude Monet crated a series of Impressionist paintings of trains from January to March of 1877. He worked on his paintings right on the train platform at the Gare Saint-Lazare, the train station on Saint Lazare Street. Although there were many train stations in Paris, this was the first train station built in Paris so it had historical significance(意义).

    Monet's friend, Impressionist painter Pierre Auguste Renoir, told the following story to his sons about Claude Monet and painting the trains. Monet needed permission(允许)to spend time on the train platform and paint what he saw in his impressionistic style. One day Monet dressed himself in his very best suit along with a fine top hat, a good linen shirt and a silk tie. He appeared to be a wealthy gentleman while he really was a poor painter.

    When he went towards the clerk at the train office, he presented his calling card which introduced him as Claude Monet, Painter. He asked to see the station master. The clerk quickly allowed this fine gentleman to enter the station master's office. The station master was also impressed and gave Monet permission to paint on the train platform. The station master even kept trains from leaving on time so Monet could complete a scene even though passengers complained.

    Was it all worthwhile(值得)? Monet's train scenes turned his career into a success and for the station master, made his train station famous until even now.

Claude Monet

    Welcome to the House of Noodles! In our restaurant, we have some great specials. We have different kinds of noodles like mutton noodles and beef noodles. There are some delicious vegetables in the noodles. What size bowl of noodles would you like? A large bowl of beef noodles is only eight yuan. For mutton noodles, a small bowl is five yuan, a medium one is seven yuan and for a large one, it is just ten yuan. You can also order our cabbage and egg noodles for just four yuan. And we have free green tea for you every day. All our noodles are good and at a good price!

    Young children don't have the skills or knowledge to stay safe in heavy traffic. The following tips (忠告) will be helpful for you to keep your children safe in heavy traffic. Children learn about road safety by watching others. As parents, make sure that you always set good examples. Your children will follow you and think it's OK to do like you. Teach your children to pay attention to traffic lights when you cross the road together with them. This helps them understand when it's safe to cross. Make sure that you walk between your children and traffic, and hold their hands all the time.

    When your children are a little older, you can start to tell them the importance of traffic knowledge. Let them start to understand the reasons why they need to be so careful. Talk with them about road signs and traffic rules.

    Ask your children to play in a safe place. Never let them ride bikes on the road without an adult present at rush hours.

    The most important thing you can do is to keep your children from getting hurt, so parents encourage them to follow traffic rules. After knowing about traffic rules, they'll volunteer to obey them. In this way, they'll be careful enough to keep themselves away from danger.