If an American is satisfied with you，he will put his thumb and forefinger into a circle．That means OK．But in Brazil，the very sign is considered to be rude．In Poland，a guest usually presents flowers to his hostess．The number must be an odd（奇數(shù)）one．Besides，the hostess isn’t expected to remove the cover of the bunch of flowers．And usually，the red rose is a sign of love．
Usually we nod to express our agreement and shake our heads to show disagreement．To our surprise these body movements mean the opposite in Bulgaria．
The differences in customs and cultures in the world are really noticeable．We should learn more about them to avoid embarrassment（窘迫）．Then，would you please remember：When in Rome，do as the Romans do．
【小題1】In Poland，if a man gives some odd red roses to a woman as a present，it means that he ____．

When you read an article you will understand and remember it better if you can work out how the writer has put the ideas together．Sometimes a writer puts ideas together by asking questions and then answering them．For example，if the article is about groundhogs（土撥鼠），the set of questions in the writer’s head might be：

What does a groundhog look like？

Where do groundhogs live？

What do they eat？…

In the article，the author might answer those questions．

Sometimes an author writes out her questions in the article．These questions give you signals．They tell you what the author is going to write next．Often an author has a question in her head but she doesn’t write it out for you．You have to work out her question for yourself．Here’s a sample reading for you to practice this method.

Earthworms

Do you know how many kinds of earthworms there are？There are about 1800 kinds in the world！ They can be brown，purple，green．They can be as small as 3 cm long and as large as 3 m long．

The best time to see earthworms is at night，especially a cool，damp night．That’s when they come up from their burrows（地洞）to hunt for food．Earthworms don’t like to be in the sun．That’s because they breathe through their skin，and they can’t breathe if their skin gets too dry．Earthworms must come out of the earth if it rains a lot，because they can't breathe in their flooded burrows．What a dangerous life！

Earthworms don't have eyes，so how can they tell when it's dark？ They have special places on their skin that are sensitive to light．These spots tell whether it’s light or dark．If you shine a flashlight on an earthworm at night，it will quickly disappear into the ground．

Earthworms don't have ears either，but they can hear by feeling movements in the earth．If you want to hear like an earthworm，lie on the ground with your fingers in your ears．Then have a friend stamp his or her feet near you．This is how earthworms feel birds and people walking，and moles digging，near them．

Earthworms are useful．Farmers and gardeners like having lots of earthworms in their land because the worms help to make better soil when they dig．That digging keeps the soil loose and airy（通風(fēng)的）．In one year earthworms can pile up as much as 23,000 kg of castings in an area about the size of a football field．

1.What’s the purpose of reading Earthworms?

A．To show the special life facts of earthworms.

B．To explain the differences from the groundhogs.

C．To put the writer’s idea into real use.

D．To make the readers think more clearly.

2.Which question CANNOT be answered in the passage?

A．How do earthworms help with gardeners?

B．What life are earthworms living with?

C．When may people observe earthworms?

D．Why can human listen like earthworms?

3.How can you understand Earthworms better according to this passage?

A．Read, ask and answer questions in your own head while reading.

B．Read to work out all the questions in the writer’s head while reading.

C．Read and check all the things that are not clear to you again and again.

D．Read for general ideas and discuss or compare with other similar topics.

4.What’s the best title for the passage?

A．One way to help with understanding

B．One way to practice with a new idea

C．One way to learn to be a wise writer

D．One way to be clearer about worms

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?” as an example. If you looked up each word in the dictionary, once at a time, what is your translation （翻譯）? It must be a wrong sentence in your own language.

Languages do not just have different sounds; they are different in many ways. Its important to master（掌握）the rules for word order in the study of English, too. If the speaker puts words in a wrong order, the listener can’t understand his sentence easily. Sometimes when the order of words in an English sentence is changed, the meaning of the sentence changes. But sometimes the order is changed, but the meaning of the sentence doesn’t change. Let’s see the different between the two parts of sentences.

“She only likes apples.”“Only she likes apples.”

“I have seen the film already.”“I have already seen the film.”

When you are learning English, you must do your best to get the spirit（精神實(shí)質(zhì)） of the language and use it as the English speaker does.

1.From the passage we know that __________when we are learning English.

2.The writer thinks it is ________ in learning English.

3.We can learn from the passage that _________ .

4.“She only likes apples.”____________.

5.Which is the best title（題目）for this passage?

Last year in the UK at least 45 people died and 900 more were injured in car accidents where drivers were using their mobile phones．Yet many people continue to use them while driving even though it’s dangerous．
Research has shown that it is difficult to concentrate 0n driving and talking at the same time．It can even be more dangerous than driving after drinking too much．A recent study found that when drivers were talking on their mobile phones，their stopping times were 30 percent slower than when they had drunk too much—and nearly 50 percent slower than when they were driving normally．It also found that drivers talking on mobile phones were less able to control their cars than drunk drivers．
And talking isn’t even the most serious problem, texting is. Unbelievably, another recent study reported that 22％ of adults admitted they had sent a text message while driving at least once in the past month．An average text message takes 90 seconds to write and send．That means for one and a half minutes a driver is looking at their phone’s screen and not at the road．The arrival of new smart phones such as the iPhone will only make matters worse as they will allow users to do more things than ever before．
Using a mobile phone while driving puts others’ lives at risk．No matter how well we drive，if another driver is not being professional or careful，we are put in danger by their actions．Such drivers are selfish，careless and should have their driving licences(駕照)cancelled．
There is no doubt that mobile phones call be fun and are extremely useful，especially when you’re in trouble．But there is no need to use them while driving．Just wait until you stop or you will probably get into trouble of your own．
【小題1】The underlined word“'them”in paragraph 1 refers to          .