The Winter Olympic is also called the White Olympics. At this time, people make many colorful stamps to mark (纪念) the great Games. The first stamps marking the opening came out on January 25th, 1932 in the United States for the 3rd White Olympics. From then on, printing stamps during the White Olympics became a rule. During the 4th Winter Olympic Game, a group of stamps were printed in Germany in November, 1936. It was the first time that the five rings appeared on the stamps of the White Olympics.

    In the 1950s, stamps of this kind became more colorful. The host countries as well as the non- host countries printed stamps to mark those games.  China also printed four stamps in February 1980, when the Chinese sportsmen began to take part in the White Olympics.

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We spoke to three students from around the world about different national holidays. There are different customs for each festival.

Tan Xiaodong, 15, Hong Kong, China

“It’ll soon be Chinese New Year. Before it, we’ll clean the house and decorate（装饰）it for good luck. Every shop is going to close for a few days and we’ll go out a lot to celebrate in the streets. We might go and see the lion and dragon dances in the city center. I love this festival.”

Wendy, 16, Sydney, Australia

“Australia Day is on 26th January and it’s an important holiday here. We always have a Monday off, so we celebrate for three days. My parents and I go to the countryside for a picnic and friends always come over. Many people go to beach parties or street parties and there are lots of music and dancing. What fun!”

Amy, 14, New York, USA

“The first Thanksgiving Day was hundreds of years ago when Europeans who came to America thanked God for his help. It’s still a very important day for families to be together. This year we’re going to visit my grandparents and we’ll eat a delicious meal of turkey. Thanksgiving Day is on the fourth Thursday in November every year.”

Language changes all the time. New words and phrases appear and develop. The words and pronunciations used by young people in the UK can be very different to those used by adults. Living in a multicultural (多元文化的) society has an effect on language, especially on young people, whose friends are often from a mix of backgrounds. TV and music also have big influence on the language of the young. Often UK singers sing in American accents (口音) without realizing.

Young British people use lots of language that you usually can’t find in most dictionaries. These informal words and expressions are known as ‘slang’. It is not possible to make a complete list of modern British slang. By the time the list was finished, it would be out of date! New words come and go like fashions. However, here are a few examples:

Safe, sorted, sound, cool or wicked all mean “That’s good” or “I understand”.

Instead of using different tag questions like … isn’t it?, can’t you? or don’t they?,     people use innit.

Instead of saying very, really or completely, people use well.

Whatever means I don’t care.

‘He’s fine’ or ‘He’s fit’ both mean ‘He’s good-looking’. Fine and fit can describe a boy or a girl.

Not everybody uses slang and not everybody likes it. A school in Sheffield, in the north of England, recently stopped its pupils using slang words such as hiya (hello), cheers and ta (both mean thank you). The head teacher says that if young people learn to speak ‘correctly’ this will help them get a place at university and a good job.

When British people use language like this, it’s no surprise that some students say they can’t understand native (本土的) speakers. But perhaps learners don’t need to worry about communicating with native speakers so much. Research shows that most of the English spoken in the world today is spoken between non-native speakers of the language. In fact, when we think about “International English”, there is no such thing as a native or non-native speaker.

—But the teacher says we can’t leave until we’ve finished.

—________ . I’m going.

In the eyes of many foreigners, Chinese are the best hosts and the worst guests in the world . They’re not really bad guests, but because the guest-host relationship in China is much different than in some western countries , it appears they are not nice guests . And western guests sometimes look rude in the eyes of Chinese guests.

In China , guests are almost like gods . Whenever I enter a Chinese person’s home , there is always fruit on the table for me , and someone is quick to bring me a cup of tea or water . In the west , generally the guest is not a god . Acting according to the host’s way of doing things is usual behavior for a guest.

My wife’s mother, a very kind elderly Chinese lady , doesn’t smoke . When I see some of her guests smoking in her house, as a non-smoker , I feel unhappy . Usually I want to stop them directly, but I must realize that in China , to be a good host , she must not do that . In most North America homes, if you are a guest , and the hosts are not smokers , you should not smoke in their house . At the very least , you could ask , “Is it OK if I smoke .” But, don’t be surprised if they say ,”No , you can’t smoke .” In our culture, if you smoke in their home , you are a bad guest , but if they don’t allow you to smoke in their house , they are not a rude guest.

Guests in China also have special habits. Some western people may not adapt to these habits very soon. Thankfully my wife is Chinese, so whenever we visit a Chinese family she tells me to buy them a gift. However, giving a gift to a host is not always necessary in my country. So, if you invite international guests to your home , don’t be too surprised if they don’t bring you a gift.

In China, you probably won’t need to change the guest – host relationship very much because you will probably only be the host , and Chinese are naturally very good hosts . If western hosts invite you to their house, try not to be too surprised if their style of treating you is not what you have expected.

Americans usually eat three meals a day. Breakfast usually comes before eight o’clock in the morning. They usually have eggs, some meat, bread, fruit juice and coffee. Lunch is between twelve and one o’clock. It is like a light meal and working people must take lunch with them or get it near workplace.

Children in school take sandwiches, fruit, and cookies with them or eat in school. Supper, the main meal, is between six and eight in the evening. People cook it carefully. They may have meat or chicken, turkey and duck. They may all have potatoes or rice, vegetables or salad. The drink is coffee, tea or milk. Then comes the dessert.

Once upon a time there was no tea at all in England. People there used to drink a light beer (啤酒). No coffee or milk but large glasses of beer stood on the breakfast table!

When tea was first brought to England, an old couple got some as a special treat. But they did not know how it should be used. They cooked the leaves in hot water, and spread them on a piece of bacon (熏肉) which they were going to have for dinner. They ate the leaves, and throw the tea away! However, tea is becoming as popular as coffee and milk in England today.

Tea is the leaf of a plant which grows widely in China, Japan and some other countries. Tea farmers usually grow a great many tea plants on a large piece of land. When the tea leaves are ready to be picked, it is the busiest time for tea farmers in a year. They pull off the leaves and dry them. In their spare time, they pick out the best leaves and get them ready for market. In China, whenever a visitor comes into a house, he is served with a cup of tea.

Before you go to another country it is a great help if you know the language and some of the customs of the country.

When people meet each other for the first time in Britain, they say, “How do you do? ”and shake hands. Usually they do not 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 will be away from each other for a long time.

  Last year a group of German students went to England for a holiday. Their teacher told them that 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.