People with different cultures and languages lived together in India thousands of years ago. It's a very old country with a large population.

   Today there are over one billion people hi India. By 2050, it might surpass China and become a country with the largest population in the world.

   Different from China's one-child policy, family planning in India isn't made. In the 1970s and 1980s the government tried to stop their growing population, but it still kept increasing.

   Many Indian women have at least three children. In India, boys are more valuable than girls. About one third of India's population is under 14． It makes India become one of the world's youngest countries. However, India has the largest proportion (比例) of people who cannot read or write.

   More than 70% of Indian people live in the countryside. These years more and more people in the countryside are mox4ng to cities. But there they live in crowded slums (贫民窟) with no electricity or clean water. As a result, cities like Mumbai, Calcutta and New Delhi arc having more and more problems with people who have no jobs.

Are you an eating-lover? Do you want to eat every delicious food in the world? Then do you watch the popular program A Bite of China? It's a TV program on Chinese delicious food which has been produced by CCTV. Is there any holiday that isn't celebrated with special festival food? Here are several traditional Chinese foods:

 Noodles are a symbol of long life in Chinese culture. They are as much a part of Chinese birthday celebration as a birthday cake with its candles lit in many Western countries. Since noodles mean long life, it is considered very unlucky to cut it off.

 Although westerners sometimes may be very sorry to see fish lying on the plate, in China a whole fish is a symbol of richness. In fact, at a party it is a tradition to serve the whole fish last, pointed towards the most valued guest. Fish is also has a special meaning because the Chinese word for fish, yu , sounds like the word for richness or plenty, and it is believed that eating fish will help your wishes come true in the year to come.

 A very popular dish during the Dragon Boat Festival is zongzi. This tasty dish is made of rice dumplings with meat, peanuts or other delicious food in bamboo leaves. The tradition of zongzi is meant to remind us of a great man, Qu Yuan in Chinese history.

Dear mum and dad,

I’m writing this letter to you from the center of Australia. At the moment we’re staying near Uluru—that’s the aboriginal (土著) name for Ayers Rock. On the first day, we took a balloon tour over the rock, and I was surprised at how big it was: 3.6 kilometers long and 384 meters high. The colors of the rock are fantastic, and at different times of the day, they change from purple to red. The Aborigines are the first people of Australia, and the ancient aboriginal stories describe the spirits that created the world. Uluru is a center of Aboriginal culture.

The Australians have many British relatives. That’s why they’re like us in many ways. Their family life is similar to ours, and they enjoy the same food and hobbies. The food and drink that most Australians like are grapes, lamb, ham and especially wine that they make in the south of the country. They love all sports, but football is the most popular. Most Australians live near the coast, so they also love going to the beach, swimming and surfing.

Although it’s December, it’s summer over here. The sunshine is very bright, and near the coast the countryside is very green. There are lots of sheep in the fields and on the hills, but the outback (澳洲内陆) is more like a desert, full of rocks and sand.

The next day after we arrived at Uluru, we went on a camel (骆驼) ride. The camel that I rode had a badtemper. When I sat on its back, it became very angry and refused me. So everyone else thought it was very funny that my camel kept lying down...

Finally, later this evening, we’re taking the plane back to Sydney and coming home, it’s been a fantastic trip!

                                                                      Tony

      Tea is an important part of Chinese tradition. It has very close relationship to Chinese culture. It is said that Chinese tea was discovered by King Shen Nong. People say that he lived 5,000 years ago. One summer day, while he was visiting a faraway part of his country, he felt very thirsty. The servants began to make water hot enough for him to drink. Dried leaves from a near plant fell into the water. The king drank some, and found it could make him feel less tired. Also as a scientist, Shen Nong was interested in the new drink. And so, tea was created in 2737 BC.

Drinking tea hasmanyadvantages. It makes people feel less tired, clears heat inside the human body and helps people lose weight. As you add a cup of tea to your daily life, please check the following helpful advice.

  Drink it hot. Teaoxidizes(氧化) quickly, so it is suggested that you drink it hot.

   Do not drink too much strong tea. It will probably be harmful to your stomach and make you feel sick if you make the tea too strong.

  The best time to drink tea is between meals. It may not make you have a strong wish to eat when your stomach is full.

  Do not drinkwith medicine. It may change the medical result. You can drink tea two hours after you take medicine.

  Green teais the best choice for office workers. It helps stop the bad result of the computer.

When you are about to do something brave, a cheerful wish of “Good luck!” from a friend can be helpful. But if you think you need lots of luck, what else might you do?

In the UK and US there are some strange traditions for bringing yourself a little more good luck. Some are hundreds of years old and some are much newer.]

Have you heard t he saying “When you wish upon a star”? If you are looking up at the sky on a clear night and you see a sudden flash of light, it is probably a shooting star! Seeing one doesn’t happen very often. The saying goes that if you see one you have been very lucky, and so if you make a wish, it will come true.

Maybe you have heard of the lucky rabbit’s foot. Some people believe that rabbits are lucky animals, so they carry a part of the rabbit, its foot, for good luck. There are all kinds of strange, unclear rules about which of the rabbit’s feet is the luckiest. It is said that this good luck tradition is the oldest one of all. However, as the funny saying goes, “Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will, but remember it didn’t work for the rabbit!”

People in Britain love trees. If it is autumn and leaves are falling from the trees, some people try to catch the leaves as they fall because they think each leaf they catch will bring them a lucky month in the following year—they will need to catch 12 falling leaves to havea whole ofgood luck!

Different countries have different customs. When you travel to other countries, please follow their customs.

In China, it’s impolite to talk when eating dinner. And you’re not supposed to start eating first if there are older people at the table.

Very often people who travel to the United States forget to tip (付小费). It is usual to tip porters(搬运工) who help carry your bags, taxi drivers and waiters. Waiters expect to get a 15% tip on the cost of your meal. Taxi drivers expect the same amount (数目).

In Saudi Arab(沙特阿拉伯), men kiss one another on the cheek (脸颊). Your host may welcome you with a kiss on both cheeks. It is polite for you to do the same.

In Japan, people usually give personal or business cards to each other when they meet for the first time. When a person gives you a card, don’t put it into your pocket right away. The person expects you to read it.

Don’t forget to be careful of your body language to express something in conversation.  A kind of body language that is acceptable in one culture may be impolite in another.

Two hundred years ago, American students went to American schools. Like you, they studied maths, spelling and geography, unlike you, they also studied Greek(希腊语) and Latin(拉丁语). In fact, students spent more than half their time studying Greek and Latin.

The same was true for most students in Europe. Until the seventh century, all educated Europeans knew Latin. It did not matter if they lived in England, Italy, France or Spain. If they were educated, they knew Latin.

During the seventh century, educated Europeans began to study Greek as well as Latin. Greek and Latin had been the leading languages of the ancient Greeks and Romans. All educated Europeans were expected to know these languages.

To educated Europeans, the languages of the Greeks and the Romans were important. The ideas of the Greeks and Romans were also important. People knew that many of their own ideas had come from the Greeks and the Romans. To understand their own culture, they must understand its origin(起源). They knew that those beginnings lay in the classical(古典文学) world.

Today we have so many things to study that few people have time to learn Greek and Latin Few of you will study either language in school. Yet the ideas of the Greeks and the Romans are still important to us. These ideas still help to shape Western culture today. To understand our own culture, we must understand the culture of the classical world.

Gift giving is different from culture to culture and person to person．

When giving gifts, sometimes color is important．For example, for many Chinese people around the world, red is a lucky color, and people often like to wrap(包装)gifts in this color．However, did you know that in Korea, red is a color of death? That is why you should not wrap your gifts in this color if you are giving a gift to a Korean person．

What about western countries? In western countries, the color of wrapping paper is not really important．But color does matter when giving flowers, especially roses．You should not give red roses to a western person you don't know very well because they are a symbol of love．You could give yellow roses instead as these are a symbol of friendship．You could also send pink roses as gifts to say thank you．

What other things should you remember when giving gifts to someone from a different culture? Well, one thing you should keep in mind is the person's religion(宗教)．When choosing a gift for a Muslim(穆斯林) or Jewish(犹太族的)friend, you should never get food including pork, or things made from pig skin．Another thing that you should not get for a Muslim person is alcohol(酒)．

正确的写A错误的写B