A rabbit is running into its hole. You may ask, “What happened?”

    Well, when a rabbit sees something dangerous, it runs away. Its tail moves up and down as it runs. When other rabbits see this tail moving up and down, they run too. They know that there is danger. The rabbit has told them something without making a sound. It has given them a signal（信号）.

    Many other animals use this kind of language. When a bee found some food, it goes back to his home. It cannot tell the other bees where the food is by speaking to them, but it does a little dance in the air. This tells the bees where the food is.

    Some animals say things by making sounds. A dog barks, for example, when a stranger comes near. A cat purrs (发出呼噜呼噜的声音) when pleased. Some birds make several different sounds, each with its own meaning.

    But human beings have something that no animals have -- a large number of words about things, actions, feelings or ideas. We are able to give each other information, to tell or inform other people what is in our mind or how we feel. By writing words down we can remind ourselves of the things what have happened, or send messages to people far away. No animals can do this. No animals has the wonderful power of language.

    No one knows how man learned to make words. Somehow he learned to make them. As centuries went by, he made more and more new words. This is what we mean by language.

    People living in different countries made different kinds of words. Today there are about fifteen hundred different languages in the world. A very large English dictionary, for example, contains four or five hundred thousand words. But we do not know all these. The words we know are called vocabulary. We should try to make our vocabulary larger. Read as many books as possible. When we meet a new word, look it up in the dictionary. A dictionary is the most useful book.

    In a map of the world you can easily find two big cities, London and New York. London is the biggest city in Europe. New York is the biggest city in America. The streets in London are crowded and there is one of the world's biggest underground railway systems(地铁系统) .The streets in New York are just as crowded as those in London. And the New York subway carries more people each day than the London underground. There are a lot of big stores in these two cities. But New York has more supermarkets than London.

    In London there are many palaces(宫殿) and churches, for example, St. Paul's. New York isn't as old as London, and it hasn't got many old buildings. But its skyscrapers(摩天大楼) are much bigger than the buildings in London.

    London has more parks than New York, But New York's Central Park is much bigger than the biggest park in London.

    One thing that British and Chinese cultures share is a love for fine tea.

    Today, when we think of Western tea culture, we often think of the English and beautiful china tea cups.

    Afternoon tea

    People believe that an English lady, Anna, first introduced the idea of afternoon tea. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the English ate two main meals each day-breakfast and a heavy supper that would last for several hours in the evening. As a result, people often got very hungry during the long wait between these two meals. To solve this problem, Anna came up with the clever idea of inviting some friends to join her for an afternoon meal between four and five o'clock. This meal included cakes and sandwiches, and tea was served to wash down the food. In order to make this afternoon meal important, fine china cups and plates, and silver teapots, knives, forks and spoons were used.

    Soon afternoon tea parties became popular. Today, afternoon tea parties continueto play an important part in the social life in modern Britain.

    Will you come for coffee?

    Coffee also has an important role in British culture. People often use the words "Will you come for coffee?" to mean" Would you like to come to my homefor a chat?" Usually several different drinks such as tea, hot chocolate or a soft drink like orange juice will be served as well as coffee, and you will be asked what you would like. However, you will not be offered wine at a "coffee" party.

    Coffeehouse and the London Stock Exchange

    In the 17th century London, coffeehouses were busy and noisy places.

    Businessmen and bankers went to coffeehouses to do their business, as well as todrink coffee. In fact the London Stock(股票)Exchange is believed to have started from these coffeehouses.