A greeting is a way of saying "Hello" to someone. People in different countries greet each other in different ways. Here are some.

World Greetings

    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.

    February 14th, Valentine's Day, is a complicated but interesting occasion. First of all, Valentine's Day is not a holiday from work. No one gets a day off. In many countries it is observed by sending cards to your friends and candies or flowers to your husband or wife if you're married, or to your boyfriend or girlfriend if you're not married. In Japan, some girls even give their fathers chocolates.

    Why is this holiday for people in love called Valentine's Day?

    One explanation comes from a Christian man whose name was something like "Valentine". He lived at a time when the Roman Emperor refused to allow any Roman soldiers to get married for any reason. Many couples came to Valentine to be married. So he would secretly marry them in a Christian ceremony. He was discovered and put in prison by the Emperor. One tradition says that he wrote notes to his friends by marking on leaves and then throwing them out of the window of his prison. The leaves were shaped like a heart. Valentine was killed on February 14th and Valentine's Day recalls his tragic death.

    On Valentine's Day, American elementary school children make or buy Valentine cards, write the name of a classmate on them, and take them to school and put them in a special Valentine's Day box. And then on that day the box is opened, the cards are taken out and given out.

Now, it is easy to get vegetables from stores or supermarkets. It seems that you don't need to spend months growing them. It takes time to grow your own vegetables. However, there are good reasons to think about growing vegetables yourself.

First, you can get fresher vegetables. The vegetables you grow don't have to travel from far away and wait in stores, so they can be as fresh as possible. You might think that a pepper is a pepper, no mate r where it comes from. However, you can have a more delicious pepper when you grow it yourself.

Second, growing vegetables in the fresh air may be good for your health. Working outside in the sun can also help you get vitamin(维生素) D.

What's more, studies show that growing vegetables is good for mental (精神的) health. While you are working on the vegetables, you may forget your unhappiness and after that you may become much more relaxed.

It's good to grow your own vegetables. But the problem is that not everyone has a garden to do it. In fact, you can grow your vegetables in small cups or pots at home. So what are you waiting for? Let's get started!

These days, some videos on big smiles won many people's hearts online. The man behind the videos is Mei Xiao. He hopes his videos can help cheer others up. Mei was{#blank#}1{#/blank#} in Chongqing in1995. He {#blank#}2{#/blank#} up in a poor family, and saw how hard his mother worked to support the family. So Mei made up his {#blank#}3{#/blank#} to improve their lives. Mei got a {#blank#}4{#/blank#} at a restaurant after leaving school. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} , he had always dreamed of being a comedian (喜剧演员). So in 2016, he went to Hengdian. There he worked as a background {#blank#}6{#/blank#} . One day in 2019, while thinking about the days he spent in Hengdian, he decided to make short videos about his life and {#blank#}7{#/blank#} them online. In his videos, he was always smiling. To his {#blank#}8{#/blank#} , many people left warm messages under the videos to say thanks to him for cheering them up. " I am very moved and realized that a little encouragement(鼓励) could make a big {#blank#}9{#/blank#} , " says Mei. 

Up to today, Mei has {#blank#}10{#/blank#} more than 1, 000 videos. What a great young man!

Hello, everyone. We are students from China. We {#blank#}1{#/blank#} colors. Here I'd like to give you some {#blank#}2{#/blank#} about colors. We Chinese like red best,{#blank#}3{#/blank#} it means good luck in China. Blue means freedom and imagination(想象力). It can {#blank#}4{#/blank#} us calm. Green means life and growth. It is {#blank#}5{#/blank#} to see the plants come back to life after a long winter. Sitting around the plants is like sitting in the nature. It makes us feel fresh.