Different countries have different customs in giving presents.

    IN CHINA you must never give a clock to a Chinese person, because the sound of the word for "clock" is similar to the sound for "death" in Chinese. Also, don't wrap（包裹） a present in white, black, or blue paper, because these are the colors for funerals（葬礼）. Don't give a knife, because something sharp（锋利的） can cut a friendship.

    IN RUSSIA if we give flowers as a present, we have to give all odd numbers of them(one, three, five, etc.) because even numbers of flowers(two, four, six, etc.) are for funerals.

    IN GERMANY flowers are a good present to take to your dinner hostess, but don't take her red roses because it means you are in love with her. Don't take thirteen of anything because it's an unlucky number. Don't take an even number of anything, either. Don't wrap your present in white, brown, or black paper.

    On Saturdays, most people are busy ______ for their homes. Some of them go to the stores, some go to the supermarkets. But in America, most shoppers enjoy shopping in the shopping malls.

    A mall is a group of many shops. There you can buy clothes, furniture, and everything you need. Shopping malls provide parking for your cars. Usually, the mall is under one roof so the shoppers do not get cold or wet from rain, wind, or snow.

    After shopping, you may get tired. You can walk into the sitting-rooms for a short rest. If you can go into the dining rooms in the malls, then you can have a good meal. Now more and more Americans like to go shopping there.

    Everybody knows that soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world.

    Soccer is not a new sport. People all over the world played the game in different ways long ago. For example, in China nearly 2,000 years ago, soldiers kicked a ball as part of their exercise. Five hundred years ago in Europe, games in the street were common.

    Soccer became popular in England in the 1800s. Different schools, clubs and groups played with different rules. In 1863, these English groups had meetings. They organized (组织) the different games into one game with similar rules. Soon, they formed the Football Association.

    Not everyone agreed with the new rules. In England, some groups wanted to hold the ball with their hands so these groups formed rugby clubs. Groups in the United States also wanted to use their hands in the sport so they formed "football" clubs. Americans who didn't want to use their hands called the game "soccer". Soccer is a short form of the word association.

    From England, soccer began to grow. The first official international game of soccer was played between Scotland and England in 1872. By the 1880s, there were professional soccer teams in several parts of Europe. English players also introduced soccer to Africa, South America and New Zealand.

    Soccer soon became very popular all around the world. FIFA, the international football federation(联盟), met for the first time in 1904. Seven countries came to the meeting. The first World Cup was in Uruguay in 1930. Only 13 countries played in the Uruguayan World Cup.

    The World Cup is now the most popular sporting event in the world. Over 720 million people around the world watch the final game of the World Cup.

    Next time you're playing soccer with your friends, remember that you're part of a long history of a fun and exciting sport.

    A city without cars would be very strange, right? But Venice is such a city.

    Venice is in the northeast of Italy. It wasn't built on land, like Beijing or Shanghai, but on more than 110 islands. Seawater is everywhere around the city.

    Even so, travel isn't difficult. The waterways have always been the best ways to get around. There are 117 waterways and more than 400 bridges that can guide you where you want to go. People in Venice move from place to place by boat. They like to enjoy the scenery and cool summer nights while taking boat trips. They can talk to other people as they go along.

    Venice grew out of small islands in saltwater lakes when some Italians escaped from a war more than 1,500 years ago, and built homes there.

    Water makes the city special, but it is also a big problem.

    Once, people used too much underground water. This made the city get lower little by little. Now the city has gone down by 23 centimeters. Another problem is the rising seawater. The temperature has risen over the years. This has made the ice of the Arctic Ocean (北冰洋) melt (融化).

    Every year, high waters hit the city in autumn and winter. When a lot of water comes, more than half of the city is underwater.

    Scientists are trying different ways to stop the city from getting even lower.

    Benjamin Banneker was born a few months before another great American—George Washington. Benjamin was black, but he was not a slave (奴隶). He and his mother and his grandmother were free. Benjamin's grandmother came from England. In America she got a job and worked for many years to pay for her boat trip across the ocean. After working many years, she saved enough money to buy a farm. Benjamin lived with her for a while. She taught him to read, write and do arithmetic (算术).

    Benjamin's neighbours knew that he was clever. They were not surprised when he built a large wooden clock. He made each piece after studying a small pocket watch. The clock made him famous, for it was one of the first clocks built in America. People from other places began to send hard problems of all kinds to Benjamin to settle.

    Thomas Jefferson heard of Benjamin Banneker's ability to settle hard problems. He asked Banneker to help build the city that was to be the capital of the United States—Washington, D.C. Banneker worked hard on the plans for the city. He marked where the streets and buildings—the Capitol (美国国会大厦), the White House, and many other places should be built.

    Later, L' Enfant, the Frenchman who had designed the new city, had a quarrel, and went back to France in anger. He took all of the plans away. The workmen couldn't build without any plans to follow.

    For a while it seemed that the plans for the capital might have to be changed, but Benjamin Banneker remembered the plans he had helped draw. He drew each again as he had built each piece of his clock.

    If it weren't for Benjamin Banneker, Washington,

    D.C might look very different from the way it does today.