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    Although people everywhere seem to enjoy drinking coffee, they don't all have the same coffee culture. In Europe, for example, coffee shops are common places for people to meet friends and to talk while they drink coffee. On the other hand, places like this were not as common in North America in the past. Instead, people in North America liked to drink coffee in their homes with friends. The coffee culture in the USA changed when Starbucks (星巴克) coffee shops spread across the country.

    The first Starbucks coffee shop opened in 1971 in downtown Seattle, Washington, in the USA. It was a small coffee shop that cooked its own coffee beans. The coffee shop's business did well, and by 1981 there were three Starbucks stores in Seattle.

    Things really began to change for the company in 1981. That year, Howard Schultz met the three men who ran Starbucks. Schultz worked in New York for a company that made kitchen equipment. He noticed that Starbucks ordered a large number of special coffee makers, which caused his great interest. Schultz went to Seattle to see what Starbucks did. In 1982, the original Starbucks owners hired Schultz as the company's head of marketing (市场营销).

    In 1983, Schultz traveled to Italy. The special environment of the espresso (浓咖啡) bars there caught his eyes. Back in the USA, Schultz created an environment for Starbucks coffee shops that was comfortable and casual, and customers everywhere seemed to like it. Starbucks began opening more stores across the USA. Then the company opened coffee shops in other countries as well. Today, there are more than 16,000 Starbucks coffee shops all over the world.

    However, that does not mean Starbucks has not had problems. In fact, many Starbucks stores have closed over the past few years. On the one hand, this is because there were too many coffee shops competing for business in one small area. On the other hand, stores in some countries closed because the coffee culture there did not match with the "feel the same everywhere" environment offered by Starbucks.

    For many young people, Halloween is the best day of the year.

    Halloween comes on October 31^st. When it comes, all the family members always get together to make a pumpkin lantern. They usually cut scary(恐怖的) or funny faces into pumpkins. Then they put candles inside to make the pumpkins into lanterns.

    Children dress up in costumes. They walk around their neighborhoods to collect candies. They knock on their neighbors' doors. When a person opens the door, the children shout, "Trick or treat!" If the person gives them candies, they go away. If they can't get the candy, they always play tricks on the person.

    Many people have Halloween parties. They like to watch scary movies and tell ghost stories.

    You have probably heard the popular Australian greeting, "G'day mate!"

    G'day is a short form of "good day". And "mate" is the same as "friend". Some think that "mate" came from the word "shipmate", used by people working on ships.

    But Australian English is much more complex(复杂的) than just saying "G'day mate!". There are many special words and expressions in Australian English when you see someone you know. For example, if you're being lazy you're a "bludger". If you crash your car you've just had a "pulling a sickie".

    Australian English is a funny mixture(混合体), because English and Irish(爱尔兰的) criminals(罪犯) were sent by the British to Australia. They brought their slang(俚语) with them.

    Also, it's because there are so many special plants and animals in Australia. Many of their names come from Aboriginal(土著的) English, like "Kangaroo" and "Dingo".

    Nowadays, Australians watch a lot of American television and listen to American music. That has a large effect(影响) on the way they speak.

    There are actually three types of Australian accent(口音), but the most well-known is Broad Australian English. It is common in country areas. It's the most difficult to understand.

    So next time you meet an Australian, remember that there's a reason they sound so special!

    Each year on Feb 21, UNESCO (联合国教科文组织) holds an International Mother Language Day (IMLD). The event is to help people to pay attention to the disappearance of the world's languages; many of them are disappearing each year. UNESCO sees this as a terrible fact.

    What happens when a language dies out? Something great is lost-not just sounds and marks but the way that people understand the world and communicate with each other. We keep different cultures and traditions through languages. Kill a language and all these are killed too.

    Through IMLD, more and more people come to realize he terrible situation and try to stop it.

    Google's 2018 Endangered (濒临灭绝的) Languages Project is a good example. Many speakers and protectors of endangered languages upload (上传) texts, audios and videos to the project website. They want to introduce the way that people communicate and express themselves around the world.

    The Myaamia Project is the same kind of effort to revive the language spoken by the Miami tribes (部落) of the United States. Project members work to encourage people to study and communicate with this language, which died out in the 1960s.

    These activities give life to those endangered languages. People who work to keep Languages alive are not limited to the past. Many young people design apps and use social media to support their activities. They "spread the word" to save the world.

    So, while the problem of disappearing languages remains a very serious one, there is hope. We all have a special feeling of our mother language. This is why we should remember the wise words of late president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela: "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to a man in his own language，that goes to his heart."