We all have ideas about what kinds of foods are good or bad to eat. As a result, people from one culture often think the foods that people from another culture eat are not accepted. Many people would find it terrible to eat mice, but there are forty-two different cultures whose people regard mice as proper food.

     Food likes and dislikes do not always seem related to nutrition. For example, broccoli is first on a list of the most nutritious common vegetables, but it is twenty-first on a list of vegetables that Americans like most to eat. Tomatoes are sixteenth on the list of most nutritious vegetables, but they are first on the list of vegetables that Americans like most to eat.

    But dislikes is not the only reason why some cultures will not eat a certain food. In some cultures, certain foods are taboo Taboo is a word from the language of the Fiji Islands that is used to describe something that is not allowed. We do not usually think about why certain things are taboo in our culture.

    One example is that Americans do not eat dogs, although people from some other cultures regard them as good food. In the United States, dogs are very important to people as pets. They are usually regarded as part of the family, almost like a child in some cases. What's more, dogs have value as protection against criminals. In fact, the dog's place in society as a company makes the dog taboo as food.Scientists believe that most food likes and dislikes are a result of the ways of life of different people. People will not eat pets such as dogs. Americans drink milk or eat a lot of beef because there is thousands of land for raising cows and their milk or meat can be shipped cheaply far away by train.

Lots of students know what a marathon (马拉松赛跑) is, but perhaps they don't know what a triathlon is. The triathlon is a sport that has three parts-swimming, bicycling and running. It is not an easy sport, but a man named Joe Salter is very good at it. A few months ago, he finished a special triathlon—he juggled (抛起接住) three balls all the time during the triathlon. That is to say, he kept on throwing and catching three balls while he was swimming, riding a bicycle and running.

    31-year-old Joe is from Florida, the USA. He loves juggling and he started at the age of 8. Joe did well in juggling.  Later, he got the idea to do a triathlon and juggle at the same time to make it more fun. Many juggling fans laughed at his idea and thought it was just a joke. But Joe didn't give up and he kept practising it. Because of his hard work, he made it at last.

    Talking about his triathlon, Joe said swimming was the hardest part. "It was difficult and complex(复杂的)," he said. "I basically only used my legs, so it took quite a lot of work. Also, swimming in open water made it a little harder. It was not like in a pool."

    Halloween is a festival on October 31st.The name of the holiday means —"hallowed" because it comes the day before All Saints Day.

    Before the festival, people paint homes, shops and classrooms in the traditional Halloween colours, orange and black. Some people make costumes at home. Some people buy them in shops. People also make decorations for the festival. These decorations look like witches, black cats, ghosts, skeletons and jack-o-lanterns. Jack-o- lanterns are pumpkins that are cut to look like faces.

    People think that Halloween is the children's New Year's Eve. On that day children dress up in special costumes and masks. They eat too much, and go to bed very late after celebrating. They go from one door to another saying "trick or treat". People give them candies, cookies, fruit or money.

    Adults and older children also celebrate Halloween with parades (游行）, festivals and costumes parties. One kind of the parties welcomed by children is dunking for apples. Apples are put in tubs (木桶）full of water. People try to get the apples using only their mouths; they cannot use their hands.