Last Thursday, Michael and Linda stood behind large food trucks distributing meals to 4,000 homeless people for their wedding reception on the border town of Kilis. The couple had decided that instead of hosting their friends and family for a traditional feast reception,they would feed the victims from an earthquake-stricken area.

    The idea came from the bridegroom's father, Ted, who volunteers for a Turkish relief organization. For the past few years, the organization has distributed daily meals to thousands of people who've suffered from natural disasters. He approached a representative of the organization and suggested that the family cover part of the costs of feeding them for the day.

    Then he told his son, who was surprised by the suggestion, but soon won over. When he told that to the bride, she was really shocked but finally accepted because in southeastern Turkey there is areal culture of sharing with people in need. They love to share their food, their table and everything they have. And afterwards she was quite amazed about it. So, they arrived at the distribution center on Thursday to spend the day serving food and taking photographs with their grateful recipients（接受者）.

    On Tuesday evening, the newly married couple were still pleased with their decision to quit a personal celebrationfor one with a greater good. "It's like sharing a dinner with your friends and family who have this kind of thing on a daily basis or sharing something with people who don't even have the most basic things," Michael said."Hopefully, this will also give the start for other wedding dinners to be held here with our brothers and sisters in need."

    Does Fame Drive You Crazy?

    Frank Woolworth was born in Rodman, New York, in 1852. His family were very poor farmers, and there was never enough to eat. Frank decided he did not want to be a farmer. So he took a short business course, and went to work as a salesman in a large city.

    Woolworth realized he had a natural skill for showing goods to attract people's interest, but he soon learned something more important. One day his boss told him to sell some odds and ends (小商品) for as much as he could get. Frank put all these things on one table with a sign which said FIVE CENTS EACH. People fought and pushed to buy the things and the table was soon cleared.

    Soon afterwards, Woolworth opened his own store, selling goods at five and ten cents. But he had another lesson to learn before he became successful. That is, if you want to make money by selling low-price goods, you have to buy them in large quantities(大量) directly from the factories. Once, for example, Woolworth went to Germany and placed an order for knives. The order was so large that the factory had to keep running 24 hours a day for a whole year. In this way, the price of the knives was cut down by half.

    By 1919, Woolworth had over 1000 stores in the US and Canada, and opened his first store in London. He made a lot of money and his name became famous throughout the world. He always ran his business according to strict rules, of which the most important was: “ THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.”

    American and British people use different greetings. In the USA the commonest greeting is “Hi”. In Britain it is “Hello!” or “How are you?”. “Hi!” is creeping(不知不觉地进入) into British, too. When they are introduced to someone, the Americans say, “Glad to know you.” The British say, “How do you do?” or “Pleased to meet you.” When Americans say “Good-bye”, they nearly always add, “Have a good day.” or “Have a good trip.” etc. to friends and strangers alike. Britains are already beginning to use “Have a good day.”

    The British usually use “got” in the sense of “have”. The Americans hardly ever do.

AmE: Do you have a car, room, etc.? Yes, I do.

BrE: Have you got a car, room, etc.? Yes, I have.

    There are a number of differences between American and British English in the spelling of words, e.g. check(US)/cheque (UK). Many American words ending in “or”, e.g. honor, labor are spelt in British English with an “our,” e.g. honour, labour. Many verbs in American English with “ize” or “izing” forms, e.g. organize, realizing are spelt in BrE with “ise” or “ising”, e.g. organise, realising. In American English, “practice” is used both for the verb and noun. In BrE, the verb is spelt “practise”, and the noun “practice.” In American English, one writes “traveler,” while in British English, one writes  “traveller”.

    It was once predicted that British and American English would become separate languages finally. But the opposite has happened. The links(联系) between the two countries are so strong that linguistically(语言上地),and probably culturally(文化上地) too, they are closer together than ever.

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    Newborns begin to develop language skills long before they begin speaking. And, compared to adults, they develop these skills more quickly. People have a hard time learning new languages as they grow older, but babies have the ability to learn any language easily.

    For a long time, scientists have tried to explain how such young children can learn the complicated (复杂的) grammatical rules and sounds of a language. Now, researchers are getting a better idea of what's happening in the brains of the tiniest language learners. This new information might help kids with learning problems as well as adults who want to learn new languages. It might even help scientists who are trying to design computers that can communicate like people do.

    Most babies go "ma ma" by 6 months of age, and most children speak in full sentences by age 3. For many years, scientists have wondered how the brains of young children figure out how to communicate using language. With help from new technologies, scientists are now finding that babies begin life with the ability to learn any language. They get into contact (接触) with other people, listen to what they say and watch their movements very closely. That is why they quickly master the languages they hear most often.

    Studies show that, up to about 6 months of age, babies can recognize all the sounds that make up all the languages in the world. Starting at around 6 months old a baby's brain focuses on the most common sounds it hears. Then, children begin responding only to the sounds of the language they hear the most.

    In a similar way older babies start recognizing the patterns that make up the rules of their native language. For example, English children who are about 18 months old start to figure out that words ending in "-ing" or "-ed" are usually verbs, and that verbs are action words.