Improve your English through watching television programmes! If you have studied English for some time, you 1 know which study method works best. You may work hard and be sure to get it. You have taken 2 to learn English as a second language and you most likely 3 English at home with books and maybe even tapes. That's good! But the 4 is a great way for English language learners, too. If you do it correctly, I think programmes can help you improve your English.

    The 5 thing about TV programmes is that there are different kinds of shows and they are 6. This means you can get close to live English in many 7 subjects. One day you can watch a TV programme about natural science, and the next day you may 8 a show about the life of a teenager in New York. To be good at English, you need to be able to 9 the language used in many situations. Set aside(保留)an hour a day to watch TV programmes in English. Choose a different type of 10 each day. One day you watch and enjoy a comedy and the next day watch a show about doctors to study the expressions used in hospital. If you plan on using English in a certain field in the future, watch shows that use that special language.

    The Spring Festival is one of the most important festivals in China. During the Festival, Chinese people have many activities. They paste up Spring Festival couplets(春联) , greeting the New Year and saying 1 to the old year. On the first day of the Spring Festival, people 2. wearing new clothes. Nowadays, children get 3 pockets from their parents and their relatives by web chat. It is a good time for people to visit relatives and friends. More importantly, the Spring Festival is celebrated not only in China but also in 4 parts of the world.

    The Spring Festival was 5 in the UK from 1980. Every new year, people also get together and have lots of activities. They sing songs, dance 6 music, share photos with friends or watch 7 in the cinema. Additionally, the Spring Festival has become a key time for Chinese living in the US. They 8 in a large evening party to welcome the traditional new year. The Chinese New Year will be welcomed with three weeks of celebrations across Australia. Thousands of people come to Sydney's Chinatown. They enjoy fireworks(鞭炮) and lion dances. The family dinner on New Year's Eve is an important tradition for Chinese 9 they were born in Singapore or moved there from China. They usually hold it at 10 because having it in a restaurant takes away the meaning of the tradition.

    Do you know an old city called "Pingyao" in Shanxi? The old city is not1 Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province. It's a town2 a long history of more than two thousand years.

    The old city is not very large. It is 3 2.25 square kilometres in size. And there are no tall buildings here. 4 of the buildings have only two floors. And most of them are made of stones(石头). There are many Chinese-style shops on5 side of the street.

    Pingyao is a square city. The city has a6 around it. It's about 6 km long and 12 m7The wall has six gates. And you mustn't 8  the nice food in Pingyao. Try Pingyao beef and you are sure to fall in love with it.

    Pingyao is a very good place to visit. You can take buses or trains here. It's less than 2 hours' bus ride from Taiyuan. It 9 you only 20 yuan. If you take a train, it will take you 10 time, only one and a half hours. And if you want to go to Pingyao from Beijing, the train ride takes only about 6 hours.

    One day, I heard an American boy say to a Chinese girl student, "You speak very good English." But the girl answered, "No, no. My English is very poor." The foreigner was quite surprised at the answer. Thinking he had not made1understood or the girl had not heard him clearly, he said, "Yes, indeed, you speak very well." 2 the girl still kept saying, "No." In the end the American boy could not understand and didn't know 3 to say.

    What's wrong with the girl's answer? She didn't 4 a compliment(恭维) in the same way as the American people do. She should answer "Thank you." instead of "No." She 5 understood what the American boy had said, but she thought she should be modest. In the West, people will feel proud and 6 when they are praised. So if someone says the 7 you have cooked are very delicious, you should say, "Thank you."

    In our country we think being modest is a virtue (美德) and being proud is a bad thing, but in my opinion, being confident does not 8 being proud, so sometimes you should be confident 9being modest. If you are modest and say, "No. I'm afraid I can't do it well." while working in a Western country, the others may think that you really cannot do it. If you often say "No", you will certainly be looked down upon by 10. When asking for a job, if one says something like "Yes, I can certainly do it." instead of "Let me have a try.", he or she will expect to get it. So in the West, you should be brave to show your self­confidence.

    There's a hotel in northern Sweden. It is1. It's open only from the middle of December to late April. The name of the hotel is the Ice Hotel. The hotel is completely made2ice and snow. Every year, more and more visitors want to stay at this very cold hotel.

    In the first year, the Ice Hotel had3one room, Now the hotel has 37 rooms and 6, 500 overnight guests every year. The hotel has a reception desk, a main hall, a cinema, and hotel rooms. There's an ice4for weddings(礼), too!

    In early October, artists and workers prepare the hotel. They use5snow equipment(设备)to prepare snow and ice. In November, builders bring ice from a very clean river. In December, the outside part of the hotel is finished.

    The rooms are6as there are no telephones and no televisions. The Ice Hotel visitors can use computers to send e-mail messages to friends and family.

    In late April, the last guests leave the hotel. The weather becomes warmer, and the beautiful Ice Hotel begins to melt. In June, the Ice Hotel is a water hotel.

    Before meeting with my friend Leticia from Honduras, Central America, I would ask her if she was arriving according to North American time or Latin American time. Smiling, she would answer, "Latin American time, of course." This meant that she would be1. The concept(概念)of time is very different for Latin Americans and North Americans.

    Life in the United States is fast-paced. Americans2"The Carly bird gets the worm" and" First come, first served". North Americans even have their meals in an efficient(有效率的)way, Microwaves help heat up their early breakfasts, noon lunches, and five o'clock dinners.

    Time is money for big businesses. Everyone follows schedules(时創表), Minutes are taken at meetings that are planned. North Americans are proud of carrying out 3work and still finding time to spend with family and friends.

    Latin Americans enjoy a slow life. In the cafes, the service is slow. Outside on street, people walk by, not to lose weight, but to somewhere. Buses arrive and leave on their own schedule, sometimes sooner or later than the scheduled time. And if you 4the bus, just wait. One will come along finally. Mid-morning breakfasts are homemade. Lunch is around three in the afternoon and dinner could be anytime. No-body really follows a schedule. You seldom hear the question, "What time is it?"

    If you don't know the cultural5, you may feel angry sometimes. In my opinion, people in the United States need to live less by the clock and enjoy more of their days, Although Latin Americans can sometimes be very frustrating(令人沮丧的), they tell us it's good to be6and one should slow down enough to enjoy simple pleasure in life.

    Dinner customs (习俗) are different around the world. If you are a guest in Ghana (加纳), these pieces of1will help you a lot.

    In Ghana, dinner is usually from four to six in the afternoon. But there are no2rules (规则) about time. Whenever a guest arrives, a family3food. When you go to a home, the person4receives guests takes you to the living room first. At this time5welcomes you. Then you go to the dining room. There you wash your hands in a bowl of water. All the food is on the table.

    In Ghana you usually eat with your fingers. You eat6the same dish as everyone else. But you can only eat from one7of the dish. It is impolite to get food from8side of the dish. After dinner, you wash your hands again in a bowl of water.

    Most meals in Ghana contain a dish called fufu. People in Ghana9fufu from the powder (粉末) of some plants. Sometimes they cut fufu with a saw(锯子) 10 it is very hard. You must chew(咀嚼) fufu well, or you may get sick. You should only eat fufu with the fingers of your right hand.

    "Readers(《朗读者》"is a popular TV show. It invites1people to read aloud on the stage(舞台). Some are famous actors and actresses. Some are students. Some work in different places. The show also tells the moving stories behind those people. They can read everything, like poems, books, and letters. By reading aloud, the 2 on the paper come to life.

    Many people are fans of the show. They begin to 3 reading aloud at home. Now, the show gives people a special 4 to read across China. It is a reading pavilion( 朗读亭). They are in many cities, including Shanghai, Hangzhou and Xi'an.

    The pavilion is very small. Only one person can come into it each time. There is a microphone in it and it records(录下) people's voices. Everyone can read for three minutes in the pailion. They can read anything they like. The show will 5some of the readers to read on TV.

    People of all ages read in the pavilion. "Reading should be just like singing and talking," said Dong Qing, the host and producer(制作人) of the show." We can express our 6 feelings by reading aloud.

    Hello, dear friends. I'll show you some places of interest. Our first stop is London!

    London has 1 nine million visitors every year. They come and visit some of 2 buildings in England—the London Eye , Buckingham Palace, Big Ben etc.

    You can see some of the most interesting places by 3 on one of the special visitors' buses. You can get off (and on again) at the places you want to visit. Or you can take a ride on the London Eye. This big wheel slowly takes you 135 metres 4 the River Thames. From here you get wonderful views everywhere.

    Buckingham Palace is the Queen's London home. It is at the end of a long road called "The Mall". On some days you can see the Queen's flag above the building. Then you know she is not 5 at the palace. You can visit some of the rooms in August and September. And 6 mornings of the year you can watch the soldiers outside change the guard.

    People eat different things in different parts of the1. In some countries, people eat rice every day.2they eat it two or three times a day, for breakfast, lunch and supper. They usually eat it with meat, fish and vegetables. Some people do not eat any kinds of meat. Muslims, for example, do not eat pork. The Japanese eat a lot of fish, and they also eat a lot of rice. In western countries such as Britain, Australia and the U. S. A. themost3food is bread and potatoes. And people there can cook potatoes in4ways. Some people eat only fruit and vegetables. They don't eat meat or fish or anything that comes from animals. They only eat food from5. Some people say that food from plants is better for us than meat.