When you visit a Chinese family, the host usually makes tea for you. Then he will serve you snacks(小吃) like biscuits or candy. Someone in the family will also chat with you, never letting you feel lonely.

At the same time, other family members will prepare a meal for you. Chinese people treat (款待) their guests with a big meal. They always present more food than the guest can eat. On the table, the guests must be the first to eat. Perhaps one of the things that surprises a western guest most is that the Chinese host likes to pick food for visitors, which won't happen at western tables. The Chinese family go out of their way to make you feel at home. As you are done eating, the host usually says, "It seems that you didn't eat much. Please have more.”Although you tell them you are full, they still put more food in your bowl.

Being warm and hospitable has long been an important part of Chinese culture and tradition. As Confucius (孔子) said thousands of years ago:

 To meet friends from after

 How happy we are!

    It may be hard to believe, but the American Revolution(革命)—the war that freed the American states from British control—began over a cup of tea. Tea was not the only thing that caused the war, of course, but it played a very big part.

    The British people's love of tea is well-known. When the British won control over mush of North America in the early 1700s, they brought their tea- drinking habits with them. Tea quickly became the continents most popular drink. As tea could not be grown locally, just as in Britain, it was shipped into the country—mostly from India.

In the early 1700s, the Britain government made a special deal with the East India Company, as an English trading company. They agreed that no other company was allowed to bring tea to Britain or any country controlled by Britain, including America. It was a great deal for the East India Company, since it meant that the company could decide whatever price it wanted for its products. And it always decided on a high price!

In North America, the local people did not like having to pay such high prices. Instead of overpaying for tea from the British, they turned to Dutch traders, who secretly brought tea to the country that was just as good—and much less expensive. Although this broke the law, the American people didn't care. They got the same cup of tea at a much lower price.

The East India Company, however, didn't like this at all. By the 1760s, they were losing millions of pounds each year to Dutch traders—a huge amount of money in a time when ￡60 a year was considered a good income. Instead of reducing their prices to compete with the Dutch, the company asked the British government for help and the government agreed.

    In 1767, the British introduced new law that increased the prices of all goods which were brought into America. These laws helped make the East India Company even richer and forced local people to pay much more for everything. The American leaders asked the British government not to do so, but the British refused to listen. These unfair laws increased Americans' anger about British rule and the rest, as they say, is history.

    Many people have tried to simplify (简化) the spelling of English words. Unlike other languages, English sometimes spells the same sounds in very different ways. For example, there is “light” but “white”, “loan” but “phone”, and there are at least seven different ways of pronouncing “ough”, “though”, “through”, “bough”, “cough”, “enough”, “ought” and “thorough”.

    The American President Theodore Roosevelt almost succeeded in simplifying English spelling. In 1906, one of the richest men in the United States of America, Andrew Carnegie, started the Simplified Spelling Board whose plan was to make the spelling of words nearer to the way they sound. For example, the word “though” would be spelt “though” and “through” would become “thru”. Other people on the board were Melvil Dewey, the head of the New York libraries, and Professor Brander Matthews of Columbia University. They explained their idea to President Roosevelt who thought that it was indeed logical (合理的).He immediately instructed the government printer to use simplified spelling in all government letters.

    But people did not like the change — even if it made life easier— and the new, simpler spelling was not popular. More importantly, when the American politicians discussed the plan, they did not like it either. Because Roosevelt did not want to have any problems with the politicians, he changed his mind and told the printer to go back to the old way of spelling.

    Since then no one in any government has dared to simplify English spelling. However, people do simplify some words, mainly in advertisements. For example, we often see “tonite” instead of “tonight” and “thru” instead of “through”.

    Job interviews can be very different from country. An interviewer's “body language” and questions, and the form of an interview are not the same around the world.

    If you're at a job interview in Japan, don't look directly into the eyes of the interviewer. It is considered impolite. But if you're at an interview in the US, you should make eye contact(交流) with the interviewer. If you don't, the interviewer may think you are not sure about your ability.

    In the US and some other countries, interviewers aren't supposed to ask questions about family and personal information. In most countries, however, personal questions are very common during job interviews.

    In Germany, your interview might begin with a very short conversation followed by a formal(正式的) interview. In Mexico and many other countries, the whole interview might not be formal.

    As a well﹣known Chinese TV hostess, Dong Qing is now hosting two cultural shows, Chinese Poetry Conference and Readers. The two shows are encouraging people to love traditional culture and find the beauty of life.

    Dong was born in a highly educated family in 1973. She had a great love for traditional literature（文学） from an early age. In 2015 when she was about to study in the U.S, Dong received an invitation from the director of Chinese Poetry Conference asking her to be the hostess. Because of her passion for traditional literature, Dong accepted the job.

    "The contest interests me very much. Hosting it is a process of learning about poetry and performing," said Dong. To her great joy, the show has become more and more popular.

    Under the slogan (口号) "Reading touches people's hearts", the new TV show Readers has become a success. It invites famous guests from all walks of life to read something. Dong works as both hostess and producer.

    Readers became a turning point in Dong's 21 years of hosting. She said it brought her "quite a huge challenge".

    "There is no shortcut（捷径） in this world. If you want to be a good host, you need to make thorough preparations," said the beautiful hostess. "The charm of life lies in its unknown, so we just have to try and keep going."

   Zhang Hai is my friend. He is from Shanghai. He likes1.Heis in their school rock band. He often2theguitar on Sundays. He plays it very well. You can see lots of3inhis bedroom. In them you can see all kinds of guitars. Now their school rock band4two good musicians. Can you play the piano, the drums or the violin?Then you can join their band. You can also write to him. His5iszhangHai2008@126.com.