Americans usually eat three meals a day. Breakfast usually comes before eight o'clock in the morning. They usually have eggs, some meat, bread, fruit juice and coffee. Lunch is between twelve and one o'clock. It is like a light meal and working people must take lunch with them or get it near workplace.

    Children in school take sandwiches, fruit and cookies with them or eat in school. Supper, the main meal, is between six and eight in the evening. People cook it carefully. They may have meat or chicken, turkey and duck. They may all have potatoes or rice, vegetables or salad. The drink is coffee, tea or milk. Then comes the dessert.

    Most people have heard of the Great Wall, but not many people outside China know about the Grand Canal. This man-made waterway is known to the Chinese as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand. Canal. It is the longest as well as one of the oldest canals in the world and a place of interest. It's 1,797 kilometres long and some parts of it are more than 2,000 years old. Starting from Beijing, it passes through Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the city of Hangzhou. The Grand Canal links the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.

    It was built as a way to transport grain from the rich agricultural land in China's south to cities in the north. In fact, it's not one canal, but a system of canals and rivers linked together. It's still an important part of the transport system in China. Thousands of ships use it every day to transport grain and many other types of goods.

    The Chinese government has done new work on the Grand Canal. It has made Darts of it deeper, so bigger ships can use it. The canal also helps to move water. There is a lot of rain in the south of China, but not as much in the north. The canal can carry millions of liters (公升) of water from the south to the north.

    The Grand Canal is much less famous than the Great Wall, and not very many tourists visit it. But it's possible to go on a cruise (乘船游览) along some of the oldest parts of the canal. Passengers on these cruises can see beautiful parts of China that other visitors don't see.

    One of the most famous buildings in the United States is Carnegie Hall, the home of classical and popular music concerts in New York. Carnegie Hall is known not just for its beauty and history, but also for its amazing sound. It has been said that the hall itself is an instrument. It takes the music and makes it larger than life.

    Carnegie Hall is named after Andrew Carnegie, who paid for its construction. He was a wealthy man who also gave a lot of money to schools and public libraries. Construction on Carnegie Hall began in 1890 and the official opening night was on May 5, 1891.

    The hall was owned by the Carnegie family until 1924 when it was sold to Robert E. Simon. The building became very old and in 1960, the new owner made plans to destroy it and build an office block. Isaac Stem led a group of people who fought to save Carnegie Hall and finally, the city of New York bought it for $5 million. It was then fixed up between 1983 and 1995.

    In 1986, people realized that Carnegie Hall had never kept proper records of its history. Advertisements and stories in newspapers about how Carnegie Hall needed help to recover its history led people to send in old concert programmes and information from all over the world. Over 12,000 concert programmes were received and with these it was possible to make a proper record of Carnegie Hall's concert history.

    Because the best and most famous musicians of all time have played at Carnegie Hall, it is the dream of most musicians who want to be great to play there. This has led to a very old joke which is now part of Carnegie Hall's history. Question: "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" Answer: "Practise, practise, practise."

    Renminbi is on the rise

    Ye Li plans to study abroad after she finishes high school in summer. It will cost her parents a large sum of money. But as the value of the Chinese yuan has been rising in the last few months, the girl is happy to find she will need much less money.

    One US dollar used to buy 8.28 yuan Renminbi(RMB) in 2004. But by last Tuesday the number had fallen to 6.77. That means Ye's tuition fee(学费) at $ 20, 000 will cost her 30200 yuan less.

    What are exchange rates?

    The amount of RMB that one dollar can buy is called the exchange rate(汇率) between the RMB and US dollar. There are exchange rates between most countries. They show the rate at which one currency(货币) can be exchanged for another.

    The rates are decided by the different prices of the same product in countries. These change every day. A currency will become more expensive when demand(需求) for it is greater. As more and more countries have begun to trade(做贸易) with China in recent years, the RMB is in great demand, which has made its value go up.

    The other side of the coin

    A more expensive RMB is good for people like Ye. Chinese people can get more foreign currencies while exchanging with their money. They can buy more imported food, clothes, and cars. It also makes it cheaper to travel abroad.

    But it is not good for Chinese exporters(出口商) , like clothing sellers. A S1 export will bring in less yuan.

    What's more, Chinese clothing sells well abroad because of its low prices. Now a made-in-China T-shirt will cost foreigners more. There may be fewer foreigners who will buy Chinese products.