China's Winter Olympians have been welcomed home as national heroes from Vancouver, Canada. The country enjoyed its best Winter Games results, collecting 11 medals in Vancouver—including(包括) 5 gold medals.
     With flowers and national flags in hands, many people waited at Beijing Airport for hours. Every member was received by a crowd of family members and friends. Hundreds of workers and fans welcomed the athletes and coaches back with color balloons and ribbons.
     Wang Meng who won three gold medals in Vancouver Winter Olympics said, “We have shown the Olympic spirit and our Chinese sports spirit at the Vancouver Olympics. We Chinese athletes didn't fear to meet the strong opponents (对手) and had good team work.”

Bicycling helps to control your weight.
A 15-minute bike ride to and from work three times a week burns off five kilos of fat in a year.
 Bicycling can improve your mood (心情).
Exercise like bicycling has been shown to make people feel better, more relaxed and self-confident.
Bicycling is healthier than driving.

    As an English, I can speak three languages—English, German and French, so do you think the British people are very good language learners? The fact is that they aren't.

    Some statistics (数据) from the survey done by the European Commission (欧盟委员会) showed that 62% of the British people only speak English. 38% speak at least one foreign language and 18% speak two or more. Compared with the British people, 56% of the people in other European countries speak at least one foreign language and 28% speak two or more.

    From this you can see that the British people are famous for not speaking foreign languages and that they are not good language learners in Europe.

    And the survey also showed that English is the most widely-spoken foreign language. Many European people can have a conversation in English. That's why my people don't think it is necessary to learn a foreign language.

In Britain, students are not required to learn a foreign language. That means learning a foreign language is only an option at school. In UK schools it is common for children to start learning a foreign language at 11 and many of them give it up at 14. So why don't students continue learning foreign languages at school? Because they think it is more difficult to get good marks in languages than in other subjects such as science or history.

    To solve this situation, the British government is looking for different ways to improve language learning at school. One way is to start learning it at a much younger age. Another one is to give school children more choices.

Changing the British attitude (态度) to learning foreign languages may be a hard task but the government decides to try!

    Do you think that it's possible to raise money by playing tricks on others? It is possible on Red Nose Day in the UK.

    The day was on March 15 this year. People do some funny things to make people laugh and raise money. They tell jokes. They dance in a funny way. Most importantly, they wear red noses. All the money goes to help the poor in the UK and Africa.

    Red Nose Day is not the only way to raise money for charity. Here are some other interesting ways to help people in need. Let's have a look!

Charity shops

    In the UK, some people like buying things in charity shops. This kind of shops sell used(用过的) things like clothes, shoes and books. People donate them to the shops. So things in the shops are very cheap. The money they raise goes to help sick children and homeless people.

Charity concerts

    This is a common(普通的) way for pop stars to raise money. Concerts help raise money and awareness（意识). The Live 8 concert in 2005 was one of the largest concerts of this kind. It helped make people care more

    In many English homes people eat four meals a day: breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner.

    People have breakfast at any time from seven to nine in the morning. They eat porridge, eggs or bread. English people drink tea or coffee at breakfast. Lunch comes at one o'clock. Afternoon tea is from four to five in the afternoon and dinner is about half past seven. First they have soups, and then they have meat or fish with vegetables. After that they eat some other things, like bananas, apples or oranges. But not all English people eat like that. Some of them have their dinner in the middle of the day. Their meals are breakfast, dinner, tea and supper and all these meals are very necessary.

    The homestay(寄宿家庭) provides English language students with the good chance to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of an American home.

    What to Expect

    The host will provide places to live in and meals. Rooms will be cleaned every day. And the host is there to offer help and advice on your physical and mental(精神的) health.

    Living Area

    Host families are mainly in Zones 2, 3 and 4. Most hosts don't live in Zone 1 because much of central New York is the trading centre. Zones 3 and 4 often offer larger houses in uncrowded areas. But it's very convenient to travel to the centre of New York by subway.

    Meal Plans

    It's important to know that few American families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast. Your breakfast mainly includes fruit juice, bread and coffee. Cheese, fruit and cold neat are not part of the breakfast. Dinners are usually made up of meat or fish with vegetables followed by desserts, fruit and coffee.

    Friends

    If you wish to invite a friend to visit you, you must ask your host for permission(许可)fir because some families feel uncomfortable when there are strangers at their home.