When you are learning English, you find it not clever to put an English sentence, word for word, into your own language. Take the sentence "How do you do?" for example. If you look up each word in the dictionary, one at a time, what is your translation? It must be a wrong sentence in your own language.

    Languages don't just have different sounds; they are different in many ways. It's important to master the rules for the word order in the study of English, too. If the speaker puts words in a wrong order, the listener can't understand the speaker's sentence easily. Sometimes when the order of words in an English sentence is changed, the meaning of the sentence changes. But sometimes when the order is changed, the meaning of the sentence doesn't change. Let's see the difference between the two pairs of sentences.

    "She only likes apples." "Only she likes apples." "I have seen the movie already." "I have already seen the movie."

    When you are learning English, you must do your best to get the spirit of the language and use it as the English speaker does.

    Idioms(成语) are phrases and sentences that do not mean exactly what they say. Even if you know the meaning of each word you see or hear, you may not understand the idiom because you don't understand the culture behind it.

    For example, if an American boy asks his mother what's for dinner tomorrow, she may say “I'll play it by ear”, that means she doesn't have plans for dinner and she will decide later. “Play by ear” used to mean playing music using the sheet music(活页乐谱), but now people often use it when they're not talking about music.

    There're many idioms in English. If you learn to use them, your English will be more vivid and colorful. English idioms are more common in spoken English. They can be difficult to remember sometimes. Next time when you hear somebody saying to you, “Give me a hand”, you don't necessarily reach out your hand to him/her, but you do need to be helpful. And when the situation is out of hand, you usually can do very little to manage all that. What about a green hand? It's not about the color of your hand! You're a green hand when you are very new at your work and don't have much experience. If you and your partner always work together hand in glove, you two certainly work together very well.

    Can you guess the meanings of some common English idioms to do with parts of your body?

    Every year during the National People's Congress (全国人民代表大会), there is an important report. It is the Government Work Report (政府工作报告). On March 5, Premier Li Keqiang gave this year's report at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

    The report is about the Chinese government's work. How did the government do last year? And what does it plan to do this year?

    Take a look at some parts of this year's report!

    Fast facts about the Government Work Report

    Last year's work:

    · China's GDP grew by 6.6 percent. The GDP is the value (价值) of everything made in a country in a year.

    · Per-capita disposable income (人均可支配收入) grew by 6.5 percent.

    · About 13.61 million new jobs were created in cities.

    This year's plan:

    · Over 10 million people will be lifted out of poverty (贫困). Each of them will make over 2,300 yuan a year.

    · Air pollution will decrease (减少).

    · Mobile phone users will pay 20 percent less for mobile internet services (移动网络服务).

    The government's job is to help us live better lives. It has to work hard in order to do this. This year's Government Work Report asks the government to do more. Take a look!

    Government works for the public; words can't compare with actions.

    Struggle creates history; hard work makes a bright future.

    Make big advances in green development.

    Only when the elderly live happily can the young have a future to look forward to.

    Reading is very important. World Book Day falls on April 23 every year. It encourages people, especially teenagers, to discover the pleasure of reading. It is also the day to honor (尊敬) great writers.

    Many countries celebrate (庆祝) World Book Day. On that day, millions of school children can buy books at a much lower price than usual in any bookstore in England. It has been done every year since 1998. World Book Day is also celebrated in China. Wen Jiabao, Premier of China, is an avid reader. He does lots of reading every day though he is very busy. On World Book Day 2009, he called on (号召) people to do more reading. Wen suggested that young people should spend more time reading. "Books can not change the world, but people can change the world by changing themselves through reading," he said.

    Reading helps us become more knowledgeable and smarter. Reading helps us to follow the latest developments of science and technology (技术). Reading gives us information about other cultures and places in the world. Reading is also one of the most important ways to learn a foreign language like English. We all know that it is difficult to learn everything in the classroom, for example, the ways English people are living and working today can be learnt by reading.

    Books, magazines, newspapers and other kinds of reading materials can help us to know more about the outside world. Therefore, it is necessary for us to spend time reading every day.