Long long ago，the youngest daughter of Emperor Yan went boating on the Eastern Sea. At first she had a good time，but later on she was too tired to swim when a strong wind rose on the sea and turned her boat upside down. She was thus drowned, but her spirit turned into a beautiful bird crying sadly in the sound “Jingwei, Jingwei”.

    Because she wanted to see her beloved father again and hated the sea so much，she put some stones into the sea day after day, without a rest, in order to change the sea into the land. From this story comes the saying “The bird Jingwei trying to fill the sea”. The story was a little sad. But it tells us something important. When we do anything, we have to work hard. Learning English is difficult but if you study hard, you can learn it well.

    When you speak to foreigners, what will you do if you can't understand their languages? Will you use your body language to help you, or just say sorry to them and then go away? Learning spoken language is very important, but learning local gestures（手势） is also very necessary.

    I often use gestures to communicate with someone whose language I don't know. We use our hands to talk with each other. Although we don't understand the others' words, our hand movements make our conversation more necessary.

However, gestures aren't always clear. Different gestures may have different meanings in different countries and cultures.

    In many countries, people move their hands at someone to call him to come near. In the United States, people usually move hands at somebody with their palms（手掌） up and sometimes move just one finger. But in many countries in Asia, hand movements like that would be impolite. In Asia, many people move hands at someone with their palms down using all fingers.

    Do you use your thumb, your thick short finger to make gestures? In western countries, "thumbs-up" means agreement. But it is very rude in parts of Africa.

    If you want to say "OK" in America, you can make a circle with the thumb and the second finger. But in France, it means "zero", and it is very rude in many other countries.

    You can use your second finger to point at something but not at somebody in the United States. However, in some parts of Europe, Asia and Africa, pointing at anything with one's second finger is not polite.

    "V" form is often used when people take photos. But using two fingers to make up the "V" shape means "peace" in the West.

    The last example is that people in parts of Asia point to their noses to mean themselves, but people in western countries usually point to their chests.

    Gestures are important, but also have different meanings.