“Thank you” is one of the first few phrases(短语） that our English teacher taught us when we began to learn English. Each time we receive help from others, we say “Thank you”. We may say it many times a day. It seems that “Thank you” is very popular among us Chinese students. But is it as popular in the UK?

    The answer is “no”. According to a recent survey （最近的报告）in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, “Thank you” is only the 20^th most popular way of expressing gratitude（感激） in the UK.

    The survey shows that British people like “Cheers” most to express their thanks. For example, when friends invite each other for a drink after a game, a smile and a “Cheers” may be the best way to say “thanks”.

    You may often hear the word spoken between two good friends. “Great”, “nice one” and “all right” are also popular informal（不正式的） ways of showing gratitude among friends in the UK.

    Of course, there are some formal ways to say “thanks” among British people. For example, when a stranger is especially helpful, they may say “brilliant” or “much appreciated” to express their gratitude.

    By the way, how do British people usually answer “thank you”? They like to say： “ You're welcome.”, “No problem” or “Sure”.

    Since you have many more ways to show your thanks, next time you want to say “thank you”, why not try one of these new British phrases?

    Ancient China produced many types of beautiful works of art. Among them, calligraphy (书法), poetry (诗歌) and painting were the most famous. Often they would be put together in art. These became important starting with the Song dynasty.

    Calligraphy is the art of handwriting. In the old time the Chinese considered writing as an important form of art. Calligraphers (书法家) would practice for years to learn to write perfectly, but with style. Each of the over 40,000 characters needed to be written correctly. And each stroke (笔画) in a character had to be written in a certain order.

    Poetry was also an important form of art. Great poets were famous all over the country, but all educated people were expected to write poetry. During the Tang dynasty poetry was so important that writing poetry was part of the examinations to become a civil servant (文官) and work for the government.

    Chinese painting was often connected with calligraphy. It is one of the oldest artistic traditions in the world. The most traditional way of Chinese painting is known as "national" or "native painting (国画)", which is quite different from Western painting. People can draw mountains, homes, birds, trees and water on it.

    Are you tired after studying hard？American country music will take you away for a while. The guitars and songs will take you to mountains and fields there.

    Country music talks about everyday life and feelings. It's the spirit of America, easy to understand, slow and basic.

    Country music developed in the Southern United States. It was the folk music of the American countryside. Many of the songs tell about the lives of farmers. They talk about love, crops(庄稼) or death.

    Rural life can be hard, so the words are often sad. At first, people played the music only at family parties. But it became more popular. In the 1920s, people played country songs on the radio, and they made them into records.

    When people moved to towns and cities to look for work, they took their music with them. Country music continued to change and became popular across America.

    John Denver was one of America's most famous country singers in the 1970s. His song Take Me Home, Country Roads is well­known and people still play it today.