One day, I heard an American boy said to a Chinese girl student, "You speak very good English. " But the girl answered, " No, no. My English is very poor. " The foreigner was quite surprised at the answer. Thinking he had not made himself understood or the girl had not heard him clearly, he said, " Yes, indeed, you speak very well. " But the girl still kept saying, "No. " In the end, the American boy could not understand and didn't know what to say.

    What's wrong with the girl's answer? She didn't accept a compliment(夸奖) in the same way as the American people do. She should answer, "Thank you" instead of “No". She really understood what the American boy had said, but she thought she should be modest. In the west, people will feel proud and confident when they are praised. So if someone says the dishes you have cooked are very delicious, you should say, "Thank you.”

    Inour country, we think being modest is a virtue（美德）and being proud is a bad thing, but in my opinion, being confident does not mean being proud, so sometimes you should be confident instead of being modest.

    If you are modest and say, "No, I'm afraid I can't do it well", while working in a western country, the others may think that you really cannot do it. If you often say, “No”, you will certainly be looked down upon by others. When asking for a job, if one says something like‘'Yes,I can certainly do it”instead of “let me have a try”，he or she will expect to get it. So in the west, you should be brave to show your self-confidence。

    Are you interested in country music? I like it very much! It will take me away for a while after I am tired. The guitars and songs will take me to mountains and fields.

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

Country music developed in the Southern United States. It was the folk music of American countryside. Many of songs told about the lives of farmers. They talked about love, crops or death.

    The life of the countryside can be hard, so the words in country music are often sad. At first, people played the music only at family parties. But it became more popular later. In the nineteen twenties, people played country songs on the radio, and they made them into records.

When people in the countryside 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 well-known and people still play it today.

    Most English people have three names: a first name, a middle name and the family name. The family name comes last. For example, my full name is Jim Allan Green. Green is my family name. My parents gave me both of my other names.

    People don't use their middle names very much. So "John Henry Brown" is usually called “John Brown”. People never use Mr., Mrs. or Miss before their first names. So you can say John Brown, or Mr. Brown; but you shouldn't say Mr. John. They use Mr., Mrs. or Miss with the family name but never with the first name.

    It is different from Chinese names. In China, the first name is the family name, and the last name is the given name. For example, a man called Zhou Jian puts his family name Zhou first.

    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.

    Meiyu, born in 1991, is from Turkey(土耳其). She is the youngest child of her family. After high school, many people learned English or Japanese, but Meiyu decided to learn Chinese in university. She learned Chinese for four years in Ankara University in Turkey, and got her name Meiyu there.

    Meiyu fell in love with Chinese after going to university. She became more interested after she knew more about Chinese history. In the beginning many people did not understand her decision. But they all said Meiyu had made a right choice when she graduated from university in 2013. Since then, more Chinese have been visiting Turkey. The trade between the two countries also requires Chinese-speaking people. "Speaking Chinese means more job opportunities." said Meiyu.

    Now Meiyu has been in Wuhan, China for about two years. Besides going on studying Chinese, she shows great interest in Chinese kung fu as well, so she spends her free time on kung fu training with her coaches. Not only can kung fu help improve her health, but she is also fascinated by the history and culture behind it. Meiyu said, "The more I know about China, the luckier I feel to have been here. But the truth is that fun and pain go together in the process of learning."

    Meiyu will graduate in June this year. Her friends want her to stay in China, but her parents hope she can come back home. Meiyu thinks it is difficult to decide. "Even if I go back to Turkey, I will choose Chinese language education as my job," said Meiyu.