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 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 are only two main meals each day —breakfast and a heavy dinner that would last 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, forks and spoons were used. Soon, afternoon tea parties became popular social occasions. Today, afternoon tea parties continue to play an important part in the social life in the 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 home for a chat?" Normally, 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 normally be offered wine at a “coffee" party.

  Coffeehouses and the London Stock Exchange(股票交易所)

  In the 17th century London, coffeehouses were busy and noisy places. Businessmen and bankers went to coffeehouses to do their business, as well as to drink coffee. In fact, the London Stock Exchange is believed to have started from these coffeehouses.

    In November 1979, pupils in England were able to watch a new TV program called Monkey. Most of them were hearing this story for the first time. However, this story is not new to Chinese children. The Monkey King or Sun Wu Kong is the main character in the traditional Chinese book Journey to the West.

    The Monkey King is not just any normal monkey. In fact, he sometimes does not even look like a monkey! This is because he can make 72 changes to his shape and size, turning himself into different animals and objects. But unless he can hide his tail, he cannot turn himself into a man （汉译英）.To fight bad people, the Monkey King uses a magic sticks. Sometimes he can make the stick so small that he can keep it in his ear. at other times, he is able to make it big and long.

    The Monkey King has excited the children of China for many years. And as soon as the TV program came out more than 30 years ago, western children became interested in reading this story because the clever Monkey King keeps fighting to help the weak and never gives up.

    People use their mouths for many things. In the English language, there are many expressions using the word "mouth". But some of them are not so nice.

    Sometimes, people say something to a friend or a family member. Later they regret because it hurts that person's feelings. Or they tell the person something they didn't mean to tell. The speaker might say: "I really put my foot in my mouth this time."

    Sometimes when one person is speaking, he says the same thing that his friend is going to say. When this happens, the friend might say: "You took the words right out of my mouth!" Sometimes a person has a bad or sad experience with another person. He might say that experience "left a bad taste in my mouth." Or the person possibly has a very frightening(可怕的）experience, like having an angry dog running after him. He might say: "I had my heart in my mouth."

    Some people have lots of money because they were born into a very rich family. You might say the person "was born with a silver spoon (银勺) in his mouth". He is the opposite of a person living from "hand to mouth". This person is very poor and only has enough money for the most important things in life, like food. 

    Before you go to another country it is a great help if you know the language and some of the customs(风俗)of the country. When people meet each other for the first time in Britain, they say" How do you do?" and shake hands (握手). Usually they do not shake hands when they just meet or say goodbye. But they shake hands after they haven't met for a long time or when they will be away from each other for a long time. Last year a group of German students went to England for a holiday. Their teacher told them that the English people hardly shake hands. So when they met their English friends at the station, they kept their hands behind their backs. The English students had learned that the Germans shake hands as often as possible, so they put their hands in front and got ready to shake hands with them. It made both of them laugh.