The Aborigines (澳洲土著) have lived in Australia for about 60,000 years. They painted pictures inside caves, and these are the rock paintings that have given us so much information about Aboriginal life. For example, some of the paintings that are about 10,000 years old show men with boomerangs. From this we know that the Aborigines started using boomerangs for hunting at that time. Other pictures show kangaroos, so we know that there were kangaroos at that time.
The Aborigines believed that spirits made people, animals and plants, and that these spirits still live in the earth. For Aborigines, no one can own the earth—the earth belongs to the spirits.
In 1700, there were many Aboriginal groups with a population of 750,000 all over Australia, and there were probably more than 240 different Aboriginal languages. The groups did not have a leader. Instead, things were decided by the older men in a group. People from different groups often travelled hundreds of miles to meet each other.
Aboriginal life changed when an English boat arrived in Australia in 1770. Many Aborigines were killed in the wars that they had with the English. More Europeans came, and they started taking land from the Aborigines. The Europeans also brought new illnesses that killed the Aborigines. The result is that today there are only about 300,000 Aborigines in Australia.

    In America, just as in Europe, men usually open doors for women, and women always walk ahead of men into a room or a restaurant, unless the men have to be ahead of the ladies to choose the table, to open the door of a car or do some other things like the above. On the street, men almost always walk or cross the street on the closer side of the ladies to the traffic. But if a man walks with two ladies he should walk between them. If a host or hostess or both of them drive to get their guest for dinner, the guest should sit at the front seat and leave the back seat though there are no people sitting on it

    "How are you?" is a nice question. It's a friendly way that people in the United States greet each other, but "How are you?" is also a very unusual question. It's a question that often doesn't have an answer. The person who asks "How are you?" hopes to hear the answer "Fine", even if the Derson's friend isn't fine. The reason is that "How are you?" isn't really a question and "Fine", isn't really an answer. They are simply other ways of saying "Hello!" or "Hi!".

    Sometimes, people also don't say exactly what they mean. For example, when someone asks "Do you agree?". the other person might be thinking, "No, I disagree. I think you're wrong. "But it isn't very polite to disagree so strongly, so the other person might say "I'm not  so sure. "It's a nicer way to say that you don't agree with someone.

    People also don't say exactly what they are thinking when they finish talking with other people. For example, many talks over the phone finish when one person says "I have to go now. "Often, the person who wants to hang up gives an excuse: "Someone's at the door." "Something is burning on the stove. "The excuse might be real, or it might not. Perhaps the person who wants to hang up simply doesn't want to talk any more, but it isn't polite to say that. The excuse is more polite, and it doesn't hurt the other person.

    Whether they are greeting each other, talking about an idea, or finishing a talk, people often don't say exactly what they are thinking. It's an important way that people try to be nice to each other, and it's part of the game of language.

    When my family moved to America from a small village in Guangdong, China, we brought not only our luggage, but also our village rules, customs and culture. One of the rules is that young people should always respect elders. Unluckily, this rule led to my very first embarrassment in the United States.

    I had a part-time job as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. One time, when I was serving food to a middle-aged couple, the wife asked me how the food could be served so quickly. I told her that I had made sure they got their food quickly because I always respect the elderly. As soon as I said that, her face showed great displeasure. My manager, who happened to hear what I said, took me aside and gave me a long lecture about how sensitive Americans are and how they dislike the description “old”. I then walked back to the table and apologized to the wife. After the couple heard my reason, they understood that the problem was caused by cultural differences, so they laughed and were no longer angry.

    In my village in China, people are proud of being old. Not so many people live to be seventy or eighty, and people who reach such an age have the most knowledge and experience. Young people always respect older people because they know they can learn from their rich experience.

    However, in the United States, people think “growing old” is a problem since “old” shows that a person is going to retire or that the body is not working well. Here many people try to keep themselves away from growing old by doing exercises or jogging, and women put on makeup, hoping to look young. When I told the couple in the restaurant that I respect the elderly, they got angry because this caused them to feel they had failed to stay young. I had told them something they didn't want to hear.

    After that, I changed the way I had been with older people. It is not that I don't respect them any more; I still respect them, but now I don't show my feelings through words.

By Jack

    When you are in England, you must be very careful in the streets because the traffic drives on the left（左边）.

    In China, before you cross a street, you must look to the left first and then the right. If the traffic lights are green, the traffic can go. People on foot mustn't cross.

In the morning and in the evening when people go to or come from work, the streets are very busy. Traffic is the most dangerous then.

    When you go by bus in England, you have to be careful, too. Always remember the traffic moves on the left. So you must be careful. Have a look first or you will go the wrong way.

    In many English cities, there are big buses with two floors. You can sit on the second floor. From there you can see the city very well. It's very interesting!

    The Oxford English Dictionary（OED）is thinking of adding the Chinese word tuhao to its 2014 edition（版本）. The word has become popular in China since 2013. It is used to describe rich people who spend money in extravagant（奢侈的）ways. The word has also become popular in Western countries, too.

    The word being used by people in foreign countries is an example of China's spreading influence in the world in not just economy（经济）, but also society and culture. People are paying attention to what is happening in China and are gradually picking up some Chinese words. These words express special Chinese ideas, but they cannot be easily translated into English.

    The OED is also thinking of adding hukou and dama to the 120 Chinese words that have been collected in its dictionary. Hukou means China's system（制度）that makes sure Chinese people can live in a certain place, and dama means middle-aged Chinese women who influence the global gold markets because of their gold-buying habits.

    The news that the OED will include these Chinese words has been criticized. Some people say the words can be embarrassing to some people in China, but others think that it's natural for words to spread and be used in other places. In fact, the word tuhao expresses the humor of China. It is easy to pronounce and it makes fun of rich people who have more money than taste.

    So, welcome to the English language, tuhao-let's be friends！