It is interesting to visit another country, but there are some problems when we don't know the1very well. It may be difficult to talk with the people there. We may not know how to use the telephone in the country we are visiting. We may not know how to buy the things we need. In a2country we might not know where to eat or what to order in a3. It is not easy to decide how4to tip waiters or taxi drivers. When we need help, we might not know how to ask for help. It is not pleasant to have an experience5that. After a short time, however, we learn what to do and what to6, We learn to enjoy life in another country, and then we may be sorry to leave.

    John and Tina come from different countries. They are interested in Chinese food. They usually eat Chinese food in restaurants and often talk about it.

It's Saturday today and it's sunny. John asks Tina to have dinner at Ms. Brown's House. It's the first time that Tina goes there for dinner.

    "Hi, John. Are there different kinds of food at Ms. Brown's House?" Tina asks.

"Of course. There're all kinds of noodles  such as chicken and cabbage noodles, mutton and potato noodles, tomato and egg noodles and beef and carrot noodles," John says.

    "Sounds great! I like tomato and egg noodles very much," said Tina.

"Me, too. There are also delicious dumplings and specials. After dinner, we can have ice- cream and fruit. They are on sale."

    "Ice-cream? I know a new kind of ice-cream. It is delicious. And you can keep it for an hour."

    "Great! But there isn't any at Ms. Brown's House."

    "I know where to buy it. Let's go after dinner."

    "OK."

    Grace is my pen friend. She is a 13-year-old English girl. What's her school life like? Now let's get to know something about the school life in England.

    •Study

    Most students take the school bus to school. Some go to school by train. When they arrive at their classrooms, they put their homework in a box. Then one student will take it to the teachers' office.

    •Lunch

    Students often have lunch at school. The lunch time is usually from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. They can have free school lunch. They don't have to pay for it.

    •Uniforms

    Students often wear uniforms at school. On their uniforms, you can see the school logo(校徽). They think uniforms are important. When they go on a school trip, they all look the same. So students may not get lost. What's more, students don't need to worry about what to wear every day. Their parents don't have to buy expensive clothes for them, either.

Mary and Lisa are sisters. They like the same colour— blue. They like the same sports— swimming and basketball. They go to the same middle school. But they aren't in the same class. They like music and art. Art is their favourite subject. 

But Mary and Lisa have a big difference (不同之处) . Mary has many friends. They like to play with her. But Lisa doesn't have any friends. Their mum sees the difference. She says to Lisa, "My dear, your smile (微笑) is very beautiful. Why not smile often?" Lisa says OK and she tries smiling often. Children come to Lisa. They like her smile. They want to make friends with her. Now Lisa has many friends. She is very happy.

What did people do to communicate in ancient times? Here are some very interesting answers to this question.

Alphorns（阿尔卑斯长号角） were once used to communicate in the mountains in Switzerland. They are very long and they are very heavy, too. So, alphorns are hard work to blow. Then why use them? Well, they make a loud sound which travels much further than the human voice. Herdsmen（牧民） used them to call cows in the distance for milking. At sunset, alphorns were also used to send a message down to villagers that all was well. These days, they're mostly used as musical instruments.

The people of La Gomera, an island in Europe, have their own special way of sending messages from mountain to mountain. They use a whistled（口哨） language called el silbo, which comes from their language Spanish. Whistling can be heard within five kilorneters, which means it can be used across much greater distances than shouting. El silbo can be used for all kinds of messages, including greetings and announcements. El silbo is used a lot less than it used to be, but primary school students in La Gomera have to leave it.

Did you know it 's also possible to send messages without making a noise? This is called visual communication, and it includes the use of flags and even smoke. Long ago, soldiers along the Great Wall of China used smoke as a warning. If they noticed the enemy from their signal（信号） tower, they lit a smoky fire. When soldiers in other towers saw the smoke signal, they lit fires, too. In this way, messages about the enemy's arrival could travel as far as 800 km in just a few hours.