Everyone has his own birthday. People in different countries celebrate(慶祝) their birthdays  in 
different ways. Here are four people from different countries. They will tell us how they celebrate their
birthdays in their countries.
     Sandy Morrison comes from Madrid(馬德里). He says happily, " My twenty-first birthday is on a
Saturday, and I'm going to go out with some friends. To wish me a happy birthday, they are going to
pull(拉, 扯) on my ear twenty-one times, once for each year. It is an old custom(風(fēng)俗). Some people
pull on the ear just once, but my friends are very traditional."
     Mr. and Mrs. Sato are from Tokyo. Mr. Sato is going to be sixty tomorrow. In Japan, the sixtieth
birthday is called Kanreki-it's the beginning of a new life. The colour red is for a new life, so they
always, give something red for a sixtieth birthday. Mrs. Sato says, " What am I going to give my
husband. I can't say. It's a surprise(驚喜). "
     Li Xiaomei from Beijing feels very excited and tells us, " Tomorrow is my sixteenth  birthday. It's a
special birthday. So we're going to have a family party. I'm probably going to get some money in lucky
envelopes(信封) from my relatives. My mother is going to cook noodles noodles are for a long life."
     Phillip  Evans, from Paris, smiles to us, " I'm going to be thirty next week, so I'm going to invite three
very good friends out to dinner. In France, when you have birthday, you often invite people out. In some
countries, I know it's the opposite-people take you out."
1. Do people in different countries celebrate their birthdays in the same way?
                                                              
2. Is Mr. Sato going to receive something red on his birthday?
                                                                
3. What is Li Xiaomei going to do on her birthday?
                                                                
4. How old is Phillip Evans going to be?
                                                                
5. Who is going to take his friends out to dinner on his birthday?
                                                                

     Different countries and different people have different manners.We must find out their  customs so that
they will not think us ill-mannered(沒(méi)有禮貌的). Here are examples of the things that a person with good education does or does not do.
     If  you  visit a  Chinese  family, you  should knock at the door first. When the door opens, you will not
move before the host says" Come in, please." After you come into the room, you would not sit down until
the host asks you to take a seat. When a cup of tea is put on a table before you or sent to your hand, you will say "thank you" and receive it with two hands, not one hand or they will  think you are ill  -  mannered.
Before entering a house in Japan, it is a good manner to take off your shoes. In  European countries, even
though shoes sometimes become very dirty, this is not done. In a Malay house, a  visitor never finishes the
food on  the  table. He leaves a little to  show that he has had enough. In England, a visitor always finishes
the drink or the food to show he has enjoyed it. That will make the host pleasant.

根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，回答下列問(wèn)題。
     1. Does the writer think it is necessary to know different customs in different countries?
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    2. When can you enter the room if you visit a friend in China?
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     3. What should you say when a cup of tea is sent to your hand?
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     4. In which country do you have to take off your shoes when you enter the host's house?
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     5. Why does a visitor always finish the food at dinner in his friend's home in England?
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     Before you go to another country, it's great helpful if  you know the language and some of  the
customs of  that country.
     When people meet each other for the first time in Britain,  they say" Hello" or " Nice to meet you"
and shake hands. Usually they don't shake hands when they just meet or say goodbye. But they shake
hands after they haven't met for a long time or when they'll be away from each other for a long time.
     Last year a group of German students went to English for a holiday. Their teacher told them the
English people hardly shake hands. So when they met their English friends at the station, they kept their
hands behind their backs. The English students had learned that the Germans shake hands as often as
possible, so they put their hands in front and got ready to shake hands with them. It made both of them
laugh.
1. If  you want to travel, it's             _ for you to know the language and some of the customs of the
    country you're going to visit.
A. not useful            
B. not helpful            
C. very helpful
2. English people usually shake hands when they _             .
A. meet every time  
B. meet for the first time  
C. say goodbye to each other
3. Usually English people don't shake hands ________.
A. when they'll be away for a long time
B. when they just meet or say goodbye
C. after they haven't met for a long time
4. Which of the following is not true?
A. The Germans shake hands as often as possible
B. The English people hardly shake hands
C. The Germans hardly shake hands
5. This story is about                 .
A. languages            
B. customs              
C. bowing

       Can you remember the day when you spoke your first word? If you can, you are unusual.
       Try to imagine what first few months of your life were like. I am sure you just spent most of your time
eating, sleeping and crying. As you grew older, you were awake more of the time. It took your parents more
time to play with you and talk to you. You watched and listened curiously (好奇). You began to know that
people made certain sounds to go with certain things.
       Then you began to try making the sounds you heard. And step by step you were able to make the right
sound for one thing.
       On that day you came to understand the secret of language. The secret is that a certain sound means a
certain thing. One sound might be as good as another. But it is no good as a word unless everybody agrees
on its meaning. Only when a group of people use the same set of sounds of things, can they understand each
other. Then, and only then do these people have a LANGUAGE.
       After you found the secret of language, you learned words. Some of the words meant things, such as
BOOKS, CHAIRS and SHOES. Some words meant doing things, such as GO and SWIM, and other words
describe things, such as GOOD and DIRTY. Soon you learned to put words together to express your idea,
such as "I want to go out and play with my friends." This is language. By means of language people can
communicate (交流). So we say languages are means of communication.

1.             can remember the day when            .

A. One, he spoke his first word
B. No one, he spoke his first word
C. Most people, they spoke their first words
D. None, they spoke their first words

2. When you were a little baby, you            .

3. The secret of language is that            .

A. one sound might be as good as another
B. people can understand each other
C. a certain sound is for a certain thing
D. there is a special sound for each person

4. You could learn words            .

A. before you knew what the language was
B. after you knew what the language was
C. before you knew the secret of the language
D. when you were a baby

A. to get everything one wants from others
B. to say what one wants to know
C. to share ideas, opinions, news, etc with one another
D. to make oneself understood by others