Want to say "hello" from Disneyland? Send a post card!
   Beautiful scenes of paradise (乐园), wild animals, silly pictures — you can find them all in one place. Where? On a post card! Have people always sent post cards? No. Before post cards, people liked sealed letters.
   The idea for the first decorated (装饰) post card came to John P. Charlton in 1861. He thought a simple card with decorations would be a great way to send a note. Then in the late 1800s, post cards with pictures appeared. By law, people had to write their note on the front ——on the picture! The back was only for the address. Several years later, England allowed a divided-back post card. Then people could write their note on the back left side and put the address on the right. During the early 1900s, the golden age of post cards, picture post cards became a craze of the world. In 1908, Americans alone mailed over 677 million post cards. Today, post cards are the third most popular collection in the world after stamps and coins.

    Close contacts between Japan and the rest of the world were created in the twentieth century. In the last forty years, business contacts between Japan and the West have become very important. Many foreign companies now have offices in Japan and Japanese businessmen do business around the world. Differences between Japanese and Western ways of doing business, however, often bewilder foreign businessmen and make doing business in Japan difficult for foreigners.

    The American businessman, for example, wants to start talking business immediately. He does not want to wait. The Japanese businessman, on the other hand, likes to arrive at decisions after giving them serious thought. Another thing foreign businessmen have difficulty in understanding is when a Japanese means "Yes" or "No". This is because of cultural differences between Japanese and Western society, which make it difficult for a Japanese to say "No" directly.

    In the USA, it is easy to say "No" to something one does not want to do. But in Japan, it is very difficult to say "No". To refuse an invitation or a request with "No" is felt to be impolite. It is thought to be selfish and unfriendly. So instead of saying "No" directly, the Japanese have developed many ways to avoid saying "No". These can help them avoid hurting other people's feelings. However, this often makes their ways of doing business rather difficult for foreigners to understand and follow.

    Control your house from your hand. Download(下载)a film in just one second. Print a mobile phone at home. These are just a few technologies that we may see this year. Let's take a look at a few of them.

    Smart Screens

    This year, smart screens will be big news. They use AI technology and look like an iPad. Google Home Hub is a good example. It is a smart screen that people can use for everything from looking up video recipes(菜谱)to looking at family photos. You can also connect your other smart devices(设备)to Home Hub through the Internet. You can turn on lights or the TV simply by speaking to Home Hub or touching a button(按钮)on the screen.

    5G Internet

    How fast is your mobile phone network? After 3G and 4G, 5G is on the way. According to Science Daily, it is hoped that the US will test 5G this year, while the UK will do so in 2020. China has already tested 5G in some parts of Beijing and Hebei.

    5G is very fast. Its speed is about 10 to 20 times faster than networks now, the BBC noted. You can download a whole film in just one second with 5G. This used to take a few minutes with 4G networks.

    3DMetal Printing

    3D printing isn't new. It first came out in the 1990s. But it isn't commonly used in everyday l life. 3D printers are expensive, each costing thousands of dollars. In addition, they can only print plastics and other basic materials.

    But now, some 3D printers can print metal. HP can print some small metal parts for cars, such as key rings and gear sticks(操作杆). People can use 3D printing to make things like toys. But what if people could print these at home? This would help save time and money. More people might think about buying their own 3D printers.

    Besides chopsticks vs. knives and forks, there are more differences between Chinese and western dinning.

    Cooking methods

    While westerners boil, fry roast and bake, Chinese use more methods of cooking, like frying, stewing, boiling and steaming. Besides, Chinese cooks cut everything into small pieces, so people don't need knives to cut it but just pick up their food with chopsticks. Westerners cook food in big pieces and serve it with knives and forks for cutting it up.

    Ingredients and spices

    Chinese dishes use many ingredients seldom seen in western cooking, like animal feet, ears, tongues and so on. Chinese usually use animal or peanut oil to fry food; westerners use more butter and olive oil. Chinese cooks like to add spices when cooking, like ginger, pepper, garlic, etc. Western cooks usually use pepper powder, mustard(芥末), and tomato ketchup(番茄酱), etc.

    Serving the dishes

    On the western table, vegetable soup or salad is usually served as the starter, then the main course includes beef, chicken or fish. After the main course, normally some sweet food is served, which can be ice cream, cakes, fruits, etc.

    On the Chinese table, the cold dishes and drinking are first. After that, kinds of meat and vegetable dishes are served, to be followed by soup. Then Chinese usually have rice, noodles or dumplings as main course. At last, Chinese like having fresh fruit such as watermelons and pears after meal. That can make one feel fresh and cool in his mouth and stomach.

    Placing the dishes

    In western dinner, dishes are served in each person's own plate. So each person uses a big plate. In China, dishes are served at the middle of the table for all to share, and each person uses a small plate in front of him or her to hold the food.

    Different gestures (手势)mean different things in different countries. Sometimes a gesture that is polite in one country is not polite in another and should not be used. Different meanings of gestures can also cause problems in understanding what another person is trying to say. A gesture that many people do not understand is one that uses the thumb. Most westerners will sometimes show that they like something by holding out a closed hand with the thumb lifting in the air. This is called give someone or something "the thumbs up". Often, only one thumb is used, so it should be "the thumb up".

    The usual explanation (解释)for the origin of this gesture is not really correct. It says that in ancient Roman times, when people were pleased with the way a gladiator (角斗士) had fought, they showed their thumbs up. When they were not pleased, they gave the thumbs down. When a gladiator was given the thumbs up, the emperor allowed him to live. When a gladiator was given the thumbs down, the emperor ordered him to be killed.

    The truth is, however, it was translated into a wrong meaning by mistake. If people wanted to save the gladiator, they put out their hands and hid their thumbs in their hands. If they wanted the gladiator to die, they pointed their thumbs straight at him.