For most of people in the west，Valentine's Day(情人节) ends on February 15，but here in Japan it's not quite over until March 15.March 14—exactly one month after Valentine's Day—is White Day in Japan.

    To really understand what White Day is all about，you have to understand what Valentine's Day in Japan is like. Japanese Valentine's Day is all about men getting presents. Japanese women are usually too shy to show their love，though it might not be true today. Valentine's Day is a great chance to let women show their feelings. Men should return gifts to women on White Day.

    On both days，chocolate is the gift of choice. More often，the colour of the chocolate is white because of the name of the day. You can also buy flowers，candy，or cookies.

    Does it sound good to you? Don't get too excited when you get chocolate from Japanese girls! They give chocolate not only to their loved ones，but also to men such as bosses (老板) and male(男性的) friends.

    The Japanese first celebrated White Day in 1978.Now it is also celebrated in South Korea and Taiwan，China.

    Most people have heard of the Great Wall, but not many people outside China know about the Grand Canal. This man-made waterway is known to the Chinese as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand. Canal. It is the longest as well as one of the oldest canals in the world and a place of interest. It's 1,797 kilometres long and some parts of it are more than 2,000 years old. Starting from Beijing, it passes through Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the city of Hangzhou. The Grand Canal links the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.

    It was built as a way to transport grain from the rich agricultural land in China's south to cities in the north. In fact, it's not one canal, but a system of canals and rivers linked together. It's still an important part of the transport system in China. Thousands of ships use it every day to transport grain and many other types of goods.

    The Chinese government has done new work on the Grand Canal. It has made Darts of it deeper, so bigger ships can use it. The canal also helps to move water. There is a lot of rain in the south of China, but not as much in the north. The canal can carry millions of liters (公升) of water from the south to the north.

    The Grand Canal is much less famous than the Great Wall, and not very many tourists visit it. But it's possible to go on a cruise (乘船游览) along some of the oldest parts of the canal. Passengers on these cruises can see beautiful parts of China that other visitors don't see.

How can we practice our {#blank#}1{#/blank#}English?

The first and the most important thing is to believe {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.You should always be full of confidence，or you won't be able to improve your English.You should often encourage yourself，"Come on！Don't be afraid！"You should never lose heart and never give {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

Maybe you are afraid of losing face，but you should think since we are students and we're {#blank#}4{#/blank#}，there's no need to worry {#blank#}5{#/blank#}anything.You must always be active in practice.It's no problem that your pronunciation and intonation (语调) can't be as good {#blank#}6{#/blank#}the native people because we are Chinese，and we don't have chances to live in {#blank#}7{#/blank#}countries and talk with the people there.But you must know that the main way to study English is to make ourselves understood and {#blank#}8{#/blank#}other people.You should believe that native speakers will not laugh at you，but {#blank#}9{#/blank#}they will encourage you.So if you {#blank#}10{#/blank#}brave enough，you'll certainly make rapid progress in your spoken English.

Don't be shy or afraid！Just have a try.

Do animals have their culture? Recent years social scientists have begun to ask if some animals have their culture too. When we think of culture, we mean a way of life that a group of people have in common. Culture is the {#blank#}1{#/blank#} and beliefs(信仰) that a country or a group has. It is the way of behavior that helps people live together. It is also the way of behavior that makes a group of people {#blank#}2{#/blank#} other groups.

Our culture makes us lose strength, claw(爪子), long teeth, and other defenses(防卫). Instead, we use tools, cooperate with one another, and communicate with language. But this kind of "culture" can also be found in the lives of some animals. We {#blank#}3{#/blank#} think that the ability to use tools was the dividing line(分界线) between human beings and other animals. However, we have found that some animals can not only use tools but also make tools themselves. Animals can also{#blank#}4{#/blank#} knowledge with each other and use their own language to communicate. So it may be important for us to know that the line diving us from animals is not as clear as we used to think.