A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said, "I am blind, please {#blank#}1{#/blank#}"

    There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and {#blank#}2{#/blank#} them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned {#blank#}3{#/blank#} around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} words.

    Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot {#blank#}5{#/blank#} people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things {#blank#}6{#/blank#}. The boy recognized (识别) his footsteps and asked," Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"

    The man said, "I only wrote the {#blank#}7{#/blank#}. I said what you said but in {#blank#}8{#/blank#} different way. "

    What he had written was, "Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it."

    Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

    Of course {#blank#}9{#/blank#} signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it {#blank#}10{#/blank#} he was blind.

    To a Chinese, English is not so easy to learn. I have met many difficulties in the past seven years in learning English. But I managed {#blank#}1{#/blank#} them and made much progress.

    I can well remember the spelling and meaning of the words is the first difficulty I met as a beginner. But I {#blank#}2{#/blank#} out my own way to deal with them. As for spelling, I never copied {#blank#}3{#/blank#} new word again and again to remember it. As for meaning, I rarely recite its Chinese {#blank#}4{#/blank#} but often put the word into the sentence to learn {#blank#}5{#/blank#} meaning. Moreover, if you use a word quite often, its spelling and meaning will be no problem. About grammar and idioms, I have not read lots of grammar books. I only know some ordinary grammatical rules. By doing so, I come to taste out "a sense of English language". I can feel {#blank#}6{#/blank#} a sentence is good English or not. {#blank#}7{#/blank#}, I want to say that overcoming all these difficulties needs perseverance. Every day, I spend {#blank#}8{#/blank#} least an hour on English. I believe, this is an {#blank#}9{#/blank#} reason why I'm able to make progress in {#blank#}10{#/blank#} English.

    Is it true that we British people have a different sense of humor from people in other countries? Let's have a look at what we laugh at in {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    To us British people, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} and important people often cause laughter. It's not just politicians (政客) who make us laugh, but anyone whose job is to tell other people what to do and who takes {#blank#}3{#/blank#} too seriously.

    We laugh at the power, but also, pitifully, at anyone who is treated {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. We know they cannot win, but if they do win sometimes, it's even {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Our clowns (小丑) are often silly people doing silly things, while in America, they are often clever people doing clever things-and {#blank#}6{#/blank#} at last.

    The fact that we laugh when other people might feel {#blank#}7{#/blank#} is one of the strangest things to learn about British humor. We do have a strong sense of irony (反讽). After some terrible experience, we might say, "Not very {#blank#}8{#/blank#}." And we might say in the middle of a typhoon, "It's a bit windy today." Or "There is a tiny problem," when something has gone {#blank#}9{#/blank#} wrong. We don't like to express strong feelings, but just "keep calm and carry on".

    Another things that can make it difficult {#blank#}10{#/blank#} British humor is that we don't always laugh or even smile when we say something funny. We often keep a straight face or use an unsmiling expression when we're making a joke.

    Do you think the British sense of humor is special?

Dear Xia Yu,

    Do you know that there are two special days for parents in America? One is Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May, and the other is Father's Day on the {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Sunday of June. On these two days, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} children often give gifts to their parents or take {#blank#}3{#/blank#} for lunch or dinner. Common gifts are flowers and cards for mothers and shirts or ties for fathers. I heard that it is {#blank#}4{#/blank#} more and more popular to celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day in China. I wonder if children over there also give similar gifts to their parents. I believe that there are many ways to show our love. Actually, we don't have to spend a lot of money. It is also a good idea to help parents {#blank#}5{#/blank#} something instead.

June