Our village carpenter（木匠）, John Hill, came one day and made a dining table for my wife. He made it just the right size to fill the space between the two windows. When I got home that evening, John was drinking a cup of tea and writing out his bill（账单）for his job.

My wife said to me quietly, “That's his ninth cup of tea today.” But she said in a loud voice, “It's a beautiful table, dear, isn't it?” “I'll decide about that when I see the bill,” I said. John laughed and gave me his bill for the work. I read:

One dining table                        10^th November, 2011

      Cost of wood                  ＄17.00

      Paint                         ＄1.50

      Work, 8 hours(＄1 an hour)       ＄8.00

      Total                         ＄36.50  

When I was looking at the bill, John said, “It's been a fine day, hasn't it? Quite sunny.”

“Yes,” I said. “I'm glad it's only the 10^th of November.”

“Me, too,” said John, “you wait—it will be a lot colder by the end of the month.”

“Yes, colder—and more expensive! Dining tables will be ＄20 more expensive on November 30^th, won't they, John?”

John looked hard at me for half a minute. Was there a little smile in his two blue eyes? I gave his bill back to him.

“If it's not too much trouble, John,” I said, “please add it up again. You can forget the date…”

I paid him ＄26.50 and he was happy to get it.

    In 2001, a l4-year-old boy named William had a little wish. He loved reading. He wanted a light in his room so that he could read after dark. His big idea came while he was reading a book in the library. He saw a picture of a windmill (风车) and decided to make one.

    When he started building the first windmill in 2002, people thought he was crazy. But they all came to see his creation made from broken PVC pipes and old car and bicycle parts. He dreamt of using wind to produce electricity. Later he built two more windmills in his home town, the 60-person village in Malawi. Africa.

    William wants to build windmills across Malawi, and perhaps beyond. Money to help with this project has come from all over the world, including China.

    I was walking down the street the other day when I suddenly saw a small purse lying on the ground. I picked it up and opened it to see if I could find the owner's name. There was nothing inside it except some money and an old photo of a woman and a young girl about twelve years old. The girl looked like the woman's daughter. I put the photo back and took the wallet to the police station. There I gave it to a policeman. Before I left, the policeman took down my name and address so that the owner could write to me and thank me if the policeman found the owner.

    That evening I went for dinner with my aunt and uncle. They also invited a young woman, so there were four people at the table. Her face seemed familiar. I was quite sure that we had met before, but I could not remember where I had seen her. During the talk, the young woman said that she had lost her purse that afternoon. At once I knew where I had seen her. She was just the young girl in the photo though she was now much older. She was very surprised, of course, when I was able to tell her what her purse was like.

    My uncle said that we should go to the police station at once to get the purse. As that policeman handed it over, he said it was an interesting coincidence(巧合). I not only found the purse, but also made friends with the person who had lost it.

    My name is Xiaoyang. I'm a boy from Shandong. I have a cousin. His name is Wu Bin. He's twelve. He's from Hubei. He's very friendly. Wu Bin's father, Wu Hai is tall and strong. He's a basketball player. Wu Bin's mother, Wang Li has long black hair. She's a cook. Wu Bin has a little puppy. He's cute. I like it, too.

Last night，John went to a welcome party for foreign students. In the {#blank#}1{#/blank#}something funny happened. He met a Japanese boy {#blank#}2{#/blank#}was called Sato. He didn't know {#blank#}3{#/blank#}the Japanese are supposed to greet each other. As soon as he held out his hand, the boy {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. He just stood there, embarrassed, with his hand out. But finally he {#blank#}5{#/blank#} the bow.

Last weekend, Katie met her French friend Marie for the first time. She did the {#blank#}6{#/blank#}as John did, holding out her hand. To her great surprise, Marie kissed her on {#blank#}7{#/blank#} sides of her face. She also felt embarrassed. Later she came to know that {#blank#}8{#/blank#}people are supposed to kiss when they meet each other.

Li Hua went to the Capital International Airport to meet Tony Garcia from Colombia and Julia Smith {#blank#}9{#/blank#} Britain. After Li met them and introduced {#blank#}10{#/blank#}to each other，Tony went {#blank#}11{#/blank#}to Julia, touched her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek. She stepped{#blank#}12{#/blank#} appearing surprised and put up her hands, as if in defense(防卫)!

These actions are not good {#blank#}13{#/blank#}bad, but they are simply ways that cultures have developed. Studying international customs can certainly help avoid difficulties in today's world of cultural crossroads!