In Britain, when people meet each other for the first time, they talk about things like family, work, school,or sports. They ask question like “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”“Where do you work?”“What school do you go to?"and "Do you like sports?”They also ask questions like “Where do you come from?”and “Where do you live?”These are polite questions. They are not personal or private. But some things are personal or private, and questions about them are not polite. People don't ask questions about a person's salary(薪水). They don't ask how much or someone is paid for something. It is not OK to ask people questions about politics, party(政党) or religion(宗教) unless you know them very well. People don 't ask unmarried people “Why are you single?”and they don't ask a married couple with no children “Why don't you have any children?”

    The Chinese New Year is called the Spring Festival, which is the biggest festival in China.

It usually comes in January or February. Where there are Chinese, there is the Spring Festival. Each Chinese year has a name. We may call it the Year of the Tiger, the Year of the Pig or the Year of the Snake. And the year of 2015 is called the Year of the Goat. The year after it is the Monkey Year.

    People always spend a month before the festival in preparing for it. They are busy shopping and cleaning their houses. On the eve there is a big family dinner. All the family stay up late to welcome the New Year, watching the CCTV programs or playing cards. On the first day of the Chinese New Year, people put on their new clothes and go to visit their relatives(亲戚) and friends, saying "Happy New Year", "Good luck" and some other greetings to each other. It often lasts to the Lantern Festival, which is also an important Chinese festival and people usually have sweet dumplings (yuanxiao).People always have a very good time, especially children. Children can usually get some money for the new year from their parents and the elder relatives.

    First Frenchman： I once heard someone shout, "Look out." I put my head out of a window and a bucket (桶) of water fell on me. It seems that "Look out" may mean "Don't look out".

    Second Frenchman： I was once on a ship and heard the captain shout, "All hands on deck(甲板)." I put my hands on the deck and someone walked on them.

    Third Frenchman： I once went early in the morning to the doctor's and his nurse came to the door and said, "He's not up yet. Come back in half an hour." When I went a second time for him, She said, "He's not down yet." I had to go away again. Later I thought the doctor should be in the house in the evening, so I went there once more. "Oh, how sorry I am! He's not in! I'd better tell him to wait for you if you could come tomorrow," said the nurse. "Well! He's not up, he is not down, and he is not in. Please tell me where he stays!" I said angrily.

    I come from Cambridge, a beautiful city in the cast of England. It is on the River Cam and has a population of about 120, 000. My home town is especially famous for its university. Many famous people studied here, such as Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. There are lots of old buildings and churches to visit. Students and tourists enjoy trips along the river by boat.

    Cambridge is 80 kilometers from London. London is in the south of England and it is on the River Thames. It has a population of about; seven and a half million, so it is bigger and busier than Cambridge. It is about 2, 000 years old, and it is famous for Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Tower Bridge.

    England itself is part of an island, and you are always near the sea. The small villages and beaches on the coast are popular for holidays. Tourists like the areas of low mountains and beautiful lakes in the north, and the hills and pretty villages in the south. Everywhere in England, you will notice how green the countryside is.

    It is never very hot in summer or very cold in winter. So come and see England any time of the year, but bring an umbrella with you. It rains a lot all year round. You will need it most days.

    American schools are quite different from those in China. In America at the beginning of the term, students must select their subjects and teachers.

    Selecting is very important for your marks in America. So in the first term, don t select too many subjects, or you'll feel very nervous and tired. Then you have to ask for some teaching plans. There is some information about subjects, time arranging, marks and textbooks. At the same time you must choose the teachers. Different teachers have different teaching methods. If the teacher is called "killer", many students will give up choosing him, because this kind of teacher will leave too much homework have too many exams and give too low grades. There is another thing after you select the subjects and the teachers. How to buy textbooks makes each student feel hard. The textbooks in America are very expensive. Each one is about 30-$50. In order to save money, many students buy some used textbooks, and some students usually borrow textbooks from the school library.

    In class, discussing is very important. The teacher encourages you to ask questions or show your own opinion. They don't usually ask you to sit well. Instead they allow you to sit or stand everywhere you like.