Last spring, I was fortunate to be chosen to join in an exchange study program. The moment I arrived in Paris, I was greeted by a nice French couple who would become my host parents. The bit of French I had taken in high school began coming out of my mouth; speaking the language would only become more natural over the course of the term. At the airport, we all got into the couple's car and began the journey to their townhouse. We talked the whole way, getting to know one another.

    Every day afterwards, I would eat breakfast with the two of them, and then we'd all go our separate ways for the day. In the evening, my host mother would make delicious dinners for the three of us. My experience was exciting until I received some shocking news from my program coordinator（协调人）: There had been a death in my host parents' family and they would have to go away for several weeks to deal with all the business that arises from the death. That afternoon, I had to move out of one family's house and into another.

    The coordinator told me I'd have a roommate and asked whether I would mind sharing a bedroom with an English speaker. To avoid speaking my native language, I asked not to be placed with an English-speaking roommate. When I got to my new room, I introduced myself to my new roommate Paolo, a Brazilian（巴西人）, the same age as I, whom I was surprised to find playing one of my favorite CDs on his computer! In just a few hours, we knew we'd be good friends for the rest of the term.

    I left France with many stories, so when people ask me what my favorite part of the trip was, they always hear about my Brazilian friend Paolo and the weekdays in class, weeknights on the town, and weekends exploring France we enjoyed together. I would recommend an exchange program to anyone who wants to experience foreign cultures and gain meaningful friendships.

    It was once common to regard Britain as a society with class distinction. Each class had unique characteristics.

    In recent years, many writers have begun to speak of the 'decline of class ' and 'classless society ' in Britain. And in modern day consumer society everyone is considered to be middle class.

    But pronouncing the death of class is too early. A recent wide-ranging study of pubic opinion found 90 percent of people still placing themselves in a particular class; 73 percent agreeed that class was still a vital part of British society.; and 52 percent thought there were still sharp class differences. Thus, class may not be culturally and politically obvious, yet it remains an imprtant part of British society. Britain seems to have a love of stratification.

    One unchanging aspect of a British person's class position is accent. The words a person speaks tell her or his class. A study of British accents during the 1970s found that a voice sounding like a BBC newsreader was viewed as the most attractive voice. Most people said this accent sounds 'educated ' and 'soft '. The accents placed at the bottom in this study, on the other hand, were regional(地区的) city accents. These accents were seen as 'common ' and 'ugly '. However, a similar study of British accents in the US turned these results upside down and placed some regional accents as the most attractive and BBC English as the least. This suggests that British attitudes towards accent have deep roots and are based on class prejudice.

    In recent years, however, young upper midder-class people in London, have begun to adopt some regional accents, in order to hide their class origins. This is an indication of class becoming unnoticed. However, the 1995 pop song ' Common People ' puts forward the view that though a middle-class person may ' want to live like common people ' they can never appreciate the reality of a working class life.

    When I told my father that I was moving to Des Moines, Iowa, he told me about the only time he had been there. It was in the 1930s, when he was an editor of the literary magazine of Southern Methodist University（SMU）in Dallas, Texas. He also worked as a professor at SMU, and there was a girl student in his class who suffered from a serious back disease. She couldn't afford the operation because her family was poor.

    Her mother ran a boardinghouse in Galveston, a seaside town near Houston, Texas. She was cleaning out the attic（阁楼）one day when she came across an old dusty manuscript（手稿）. On its top page were the words, “By O. Henry”. It was a nice story, and she sent it to her daughter at SMU, who showed it to my father. My father had never read the story before, but it sounded like O. Henry, and he knew that O. Henry had once lived in Houston. So it was possible that the famous author had gone to the beach and stayed in the Galveston boardinghouse, and had written the story there and left the manuscript behind by accident. My father visited an O. Henry expert at Columbia University in New York, whoauthenticatedthe story as O. Henry's.

My father then set out to sell it. Eventfully, he found himself in Des Moines, meeting with Gardner Cowles, a top editor at the Des Moines Register. Cowles loves the story and bought it on the spot. My father took the money to the girl. It was just enough for her to have the operation she so desperately needed.

My father never told me what the O. Henry story was about. But I doubt that it could have been better than his own story.

    Miles was born in Alton, a city on the Mississippi River in Illinois on May 26, 1926. Miles's father was a dentist, while his mother was a music teacher. Miles had a good childhood, catching fish and riding horses with his older sister and younger brother. He was known as a naughty boy in school.

    He recalls his story, “By the age of 12, music had become the most important thing in my life.” His mother, a violinist herself, dearly wanted her son to play the violin. But brass (铜管) was Miles's calling, and he remembers arguments between their parents as his dad overruled her to fight his son's corner. He received his first trumpet (喇叭) in 1935 and began weekly music lessons with his father's friend Mr. Elwood, his life-long teacher.

    Talking about his school days, Miles said that Mr. Buchanan was the biggest influence on his life. He was the person who took Miles all the way into music at that time. He wanted to be a musician that he had dreamed.

    When he was 16, Miles met his girlfriend, Irene Birth. Although she was a beautiful young woman in many ways, it was her easy-going character that attracted Miles. At the weekends, Miles and Irene would take the bus over the Mississippi River to St Louis to watch movies and go dancing. Although Miles was too shy to really enjoy dancing, he always felt confident when he danced with Irene.

    When he turned 17, she persuaded him to ask for a job in his band—Eddie Handle's Blue Devils. It worked. Joining the band was a breakthrough for Miles, and marked the time when he first began to write and arrange music.

    The world itself is becoming much smaller by using modern traffic and modern communication means. Life today is much easier than it was hundreds of years ago, but it has brought new problems. One of the biggest problems is pollution. To pollute means to make things dirty. Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, drink it and even hear it.

    Man has been polluting the earth. The more people, the more pollution. Many years ago, the problem was not so serious because there were not so many people. When the land was used up or the river was dirty in one place, man moved to another place. But this is no longer true.

    Man is now slowly polluting the whole world.

    Air pollution is still the most serious. It's bad for all living things in the world, but it is not the only one kind of pollution. Water pollution kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us angry more easily.

    Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. They stop people from burning coal in houses and factories in the city, and from putting dirty smoke into the air. Pollution by SO2 is now the most dangerous kind of air pollution. It is caused by heavy traffic. We are sure that if there are fewer people driving, there will be less air pollution.

    The earth is our home. We must take care of it. That means keeping the land, water and air clean. And we must take care of the rise in pollution at the same time.

    If you are invited to a wedding, baby shower or other celebrations, you will be expected to bring a gift. Unless you know the host very well, the gift should be modest in value, about $25 or so.

    For a wedding, the bride will have "registered (登记)" at one or two local department stores，indicating the items she prefers. You can buy the couple a gift that isn't listed , but most people buy something listed on the registry (记录簿). If you buy an item listed on the registry, be sure to tell the store that you are doing this, so that the couple doesn't receive duplicate (重复的) gifts. For a baby shower, bring a gift appropriate for a new born baby.

    If you wish to give a gift when you leave to return to your country, the best gift   is something unique to your country. It does not need to be especially valuable or rare. Possibilities include a book about your country, an inexpensive piece of handicraft( 手工艺品)or art, or something else that reflects your culture. If the children collect coins and stamps, they would be very pleased with a set of your country's coins or a selection of stamps from your country.

    If you owe a debt of deep gratitude to an American host family, a common way of repaying it is to take the family to a form of entertainment, such as a baseball, basketball, or a good restaurant.

    Gift giving is not as important in America as it is in other countries, so there is nothing wrong with not giving a gift. If you need help, talk to a salesperson at a department store. Tell them about the person who will be receiving the gift and the reason for the gift, and they will help you find something appropriate.