Living in the foreign culture can be exciting, but it can also be confusing. A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their experiences. They discussed that miscommunications were always possible, even over something as simple as “yes”and“no”.
     On her first day in Micronesia, an island in the Pacific, Lisa thought the waitress wasn't paying any attention to her. The day was hot she went into a store and asked, "Do you have any cold drinks?" The woman there didn't say anything. Lisa repeated the question again. Still the woman said nothing. She later learned that the woman had answered her: She has raised her eyebrows, which in Micronesia, it means, "yes".
     Jan remembered an experience she had in Bulgaria, a country in Europe. She went to a restaurant that was known for its cabbage. She asked the writer,“Do you have cabbage today?”He nodded his head. Jan waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means "no".
     Tom had a similar problem when he arrived in India. After explaining something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They answered with different nods and shakes of heads. He thought some people hadn't understood, so he explained again. When he asked again, they did the same thing. He soon found out that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake heads in different ways. It depends on where they come from.

    My name is David. I'm 23and I'm a middle school teacher. I go to the school at 7:30 in the morning. I like sports. I play basketball every day.

    My name is Jake Smith. I'm in China with my kids(孩子). I have a daughter and a son. My daughter Lisa is in Huangzhou Middle School. She likes yellow and white. My son Eric is only 6, but he can play ping—pong.

I'm Mary. I'm 10. My brother Nick is 11. He likes to play tennis after school. I have a nice room. It is tidy. But my brother's room is not the same. His books are always everywhere.

    By the time Rihanna was seventeen, she had released(发行)her first album and had an international hit with her first single(单曲)Pon de Replay.

    Rihanna was born in Saint Michael, Barbados in 1988.She grew up there with her two younger brothers. As a child, she loved singing. She formed her first group with two friends from secondary school when she was just fifteen. In 2004 her friends introduced the group to American record producer Evan Rogers, who was on holiday in Barbados. Rogers thought Rihanna could be a big star in America, so she moved there aged sixteen to take up music after she finished school. Rihanna lived with Rogers and his wife. Then she worked for Def Jam Recordings and started working on her first album, Music of the Sun. It came out in 2005 and got into the top ten. Over 69,000 copies of the album were sold in the first week alone. It went on to sell over two million copies worldwide and Rihanna quickly became a big star. Her second album, A Girl Like Me, came out a year later and included the song SOS, which was her first number one hit in America. In 2007 Rihanna brought out her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, which had more dance music than the first two albums.

    Rihanna sold more than fifteen million albums and forty-five million singles worldwide between 2005 and 2010, the most of any artist at the same time. However, she manages to find time for her charity work, too. She has performed in several concerts to raise money for charity and in 2006 she created her Believe Foundation to help sick children. She also took part in Gucci's activities to raise money for children in Africa.

    Today was not a good day. Everything went wrong. First, I slept late and Mum shouted at me to wake up. I tried to wake up but I couldn't. I just went back to sleep, and she had to come and shout at me again.

    When I finally got out of bed, I went to the kitchen for breakfast. There was no cereal (谷类食物). I decided to have some toast (烤面包片) instead, but I burned it. I had to eat it anyway because there was no more bread. There was no juice, either. I just had a glass of water.

    When I was almost at the bus stop, I realized that I had forgotten my wallet, so I had to go back home and get it. Of course, I missed the bus and had to wait for the next bus.

    I was late for school and the teacher told me to stay in the classroom at lunchtime to catch up on (补上) the schoolwork I had missed.

    After lunch, it was the time to give the teacher our homework. I reached into my bag to get it, but it wasn't there. I had left it at home. I was in trouble again.

    When I got home, I went straight to my room to catch up on my homework. Mum cooked fish for dinner. She knows I don't like fish, but she thinks it is good for her son. I am going to bed early so that nothing else can go wrong. It was a terrible day. I hope tomorrow will be better.

    Ron, a teacher at the skydiving school, was surprised when he saw the grey haired man drive up to the airfield. He was more surprised when the man said that his name was Walter and asked if he could take skydiving lessons. Ron asked Walter how old he was and Walter replied that he was 60. Ron explained to Walter that anyone over 50 had to be checked by a doctor before he could learn to jump from a plane.

    "I'm afraid you should have thought about that before coming here." Ron said, "I'm sorry, but I can't let you start learning without a letter from your doctor.

    Walter smiled, "Here's a letter from my doctor. He asked me to take lots of tests and he said that I was fine. "

    So Walter was able to join the skydiving school. He came to all the lessons and worked very hard, although the other students were much younger than him, mostly about 30. Soon it was time for him to make his first jump. Ron asked him if he was feeling OK. Walter replied that he had never felt better. However, he added that there was something he should have told Ron earlier. Ron asked what it was and Walter smiled. Then, just before he jumped, he told Ron that he wasn't 60. Ron asked how old Walter really was and Walter told him he was 75!

    Walter's first jump from a plane was six years ago and yesterday he made his eighteenth jump. "I should have started skydiving a long time ago!" he said.

    Walter has lots of other hobbies. He enjoys riding fast motorbikes and climbing mountains. Last year he was saved by a police helicopter in Wales.

    Walter's daughter Betty worries about him, "I think he should stop all these activities. But my mother says that as long as he's happy, it's OK."