Charlie studied in a famous college for four years．He studied hard and did well in all his subjects．He hoped to become a good teacher．This year he left the college and began to work in a senior high school．He likes his students and is strict with them．He does his best to make his classes lively and interesting．

   One day he carefully explained a chemical reaction(反应) to the students of Grade10 inthe chemistry lab．

   “Be careful，everyone，”he said loudly，“Before I make the experiment，there are 25 atoms of carbon(碳原子)，but after I finish it，there are 24 atoms of carbon left!”

   He stopped to watch the classroom and hoped his students would go on explaining it．But the students looked at each other and nobody answered him．He had to ask，“What happens?What makes the atom lost?”

   The classroom was very quiet and none of the students looked at their teacher．

  “Who can tell us where it has gone?”

   Suddenly a soft voice came from the back row，“We did not see anybody leave the lab．”

D

 Banquets (宴会) are usually held in restaurants in private rooms that have been reserved for the purpose. You will be met at the door and led to the banquet room. Traditionally, the head of your delegation should enter the room first. Do not be surprised if your hosts greet you with a loud round of applause. The proper response is to applaud back.

　　Seating arrangements are stricter than in the West. Guests should never assume that they may sit where they please and should wait for hosts to guide them to their places. Traditionally, the Chinese regard the right side as the superior and the left side as the inferior. Therefore on formal occasions, the host invariably arranges for the main guests to sit on his right side.

　　It is the host's responsibility to serve the guests, and at very formal banquets people do not begin to eat until the host has served a portion to the principal guest. Or, the host may simply raise his chopsticks and announce that eating has begun. After this point, one may serve oneself any food in any amount. Remember to go slow on eating. Don't fill yourself up when five courses are left to go. To stop eating in the middle of a banquet is rude, and your host may incorrectly think that something has been done to offend you.

　　Drinking takes an important place in Chinese banquets. It is likely that the host will stand and hold his glass out with both hands while saying a few words. When he says the words "gan bei",which means bottoms up, all present should drain their glasses. After this initial toast, drinking and toasting are open to all. No words are needed to make a toast, and it is not necessary to drain your glass, although to do so is more respectful. When filling another glass, it is polite to fill it as full as you can. This symbolizes full respect and friendship.

  When the last dish is finished, the banquet has officially ended. There is little ceremony involved with its conclusion. The host may ask if you have eaten your fill. Then the principal host will rise, signaling that the banquet has ended. Generally, the principal host will bid good evening to everyone at the door and stay behind to settle the bill with the restaurateur. Other hosts usually accompany guests to their vehicles and remain outside waving until the cars have left the premises.

C

Sometimes it is difficult to talk to taxi drivers.They must give all their attention to the road as they work out the shortest way to the place where you are going.However，passengers from Wangfujing were in surprise when they took a taxi.The driver just would not stop talking—in English.

Organized by the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy，“Dare to Speak”examines if Chinese people will speak English in“real­life”situations.

Matthew Knowles，an acting student from South Carolina at Beijing Film Academy，acted the part as the“driver”.He collected six passengers on Saturday morning，most of whom were female white­collar(白领) workers.

“Of course they were surprised at first，wondering why I’m driving a taxi，and wondering whether this is a real taxi，but then most of them were pretty willing to speak，”he said.Knowles said he was also surprised by his“passengers”.“Apart from my first‘passenger’，who could speak very little English，all the rest spoke English very well，and it was fun to communicate with them，”he said，adding that some“passengers”were quite talkative.

The“foreign taxi driver”project was just one of the“Dare to Speak”activities，which have been going on since the end of October.Other projects included a foreign store owner near a high school in Beijing，a cook in a Shanghai university canteen.They were testing the willingness of Chinese people，especially students and white­collar workers，to speak to foreigners in English.

Rong Xin，senior manager of IELTS(雅思) with the British Embassy，said they hoped to let IELTS takers in China know that communication is the ultimate goal of IELTS.

“We hope that more and more IELTS takers in China can realize the importance of communicating in English in real life，instead of just getting high test scores，”she said.

It was the first snow of the winter---an exciting day for every child but not for most teachers. Up to now, I had been old enough to dress myself, but today I would need some help. Miss Finlayson, my kindergarten teacher, Ontario, had been through best snow days many times, but I think she may still remember this one.

   I managed to get into my wool snow trousers. But I struggled with my jacket because it didn’t fit well. It was a hand-me-down from my brother, and it made me wonder why I had to wear the ugly clothes. At least my hat and scarf were mine, and they were quite pretty. Finally it was time to have Miss Finlayson help me with my boots.

In her calm, motherly voice she said, “By the end of the winter, you will all be able to put on your own boots.” I didn’t realize at the time that it was more a statement of hope than of confidence.

   I handed her my boots and stuck out my feet. Like most children, I expected the adult to do all the work. After much pushing, she managed to get the first one into place and then, with a sigh, worked the second one on too.

   I announced, “They are on the wrong feet.”

   She struggled to get the boots off and went through the joyless task of putting them on again.

  “They are my brother’s boots, you know, I hate them.”

   Somehow, from long years of practice, she managed to act as though I wasn’t an annoying little girl. She struggled with me. She asked “now, where are your mittens(手套)?”

   I looked into her eyes and said, “I didn’t want to lose them, so I hid them in the toes of my boots.”

I was never very neat, while my roommate Kate was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but mine always hid somewhere. She even labeled(贴标签) everything. I always looked for everything. Over time, Kate got neater and I got messier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other. 
    War broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming, “Take your shoes away! Why under my bed!” Deafened, I saw my shoes flying at me. I jumped to my feet and started yelling. She yelled back louder. 
The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute without a phone call. Kate answered it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled(爬) under her covers, weeping. Obviously, that was something she should not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy rose up in my heart, Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bed, cleaned the socks and swept the floor, even on her side. I got so into my work that I even didn’t noticed Kate had sat up. She was watching, her tears dried and her expression one of disbelief. Then, she reached out her hands to grasp mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me. “Thanks.” 
    Kate and I stayed roommates for the rest of the year. We didn’t always agree, but we learned   the key to living together: giving in, cleaning up and holding on. 

    If you have a chance to go to Finland, you will probably be surprised to find how “foolish” the Finnish people are.

      Take the taxi drivers for example. Taxis in Finland are mostly high-class Benz with a fare of two US dollars a kilometer. You can go anywhere in one, tell the driver to drop you at any place, say that you have some business to attend to, and then walk off without paying your fare. The driver w ould not show the least sign of anxiety.

     The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their guests, but also serve outside diners. Hotel guests have their meals free, so they naturally go to the free dining rooms to have their meals. The most they would do to show their good faith is to wave their registration card to the waiter. With such a loose check, you can easily use any old registration card to take a couple of friends to dine free of charge.

     The Finnish workers are paid by the hour. They are very much on their own as soon as they have agreed with the boss on the pay. From then on, they just say how many hours they have worked and they will be paid accordingly.

       With so many loopholes (漏洞) in everyday life, surely Finland must be a heaven to those who love to take “petty advantages”. But the strange thing is, all the taxi passengers would always come back to pay their fare after they have atte nded to their business; not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms. And workers always give an honest account of the exact hours they put in. As the Finns always act on good faith in everything they do, living in such a society has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”.

      In a society of such high moral practice, what need is there for people to be on guard against others?

D

There is one legendary monkey in Chinese literature, who is Monkey King in the famous work Journey to the West.

As it is the year of monkey in Chinese traditional lunar New Year, many people think that Zhang Jinlai, who starred Monkey King in Journey to the West, should show up in the spring festival gala (春晚) of Monkey Year 2016. However, the truth turns out to be quite disappointing for them. Lots of angry remarks go quickly on the internet.

Once I read an article criticizing the people who spread the angry remarks of the absence of Zhang jinlai in the gala. The author obviously can’t understand the feeling of the angry remarks commentators(评论者). He said that the TV series did not match up to the original work and the stories that the TV series described were too simple and naïve. I am sure he hasn’t been growing up with the TV series. 

In those days the ways of entertainments were rare and simple, so the legendary TV series caught numerous hearts of people. When I saw the TV series, I got to know the mysterious and soul stirring stories in one of the four famous novels. Although later I found out that the stories in the TV series is more or less different from the original novel, it didn’t decrease my love for it.

In recent years, the stories of this great novel have been adapted into many different versions. However, there is no one can surpass my beloved old version first showed in 1986. Those who were born in the 90s, 20s and even the latest may not think much of the TV series. The fantastic feeling presented a child a brand new world and gave him a pair of magical wings. How can he forget such turning point in his childhood? We don’t care much about the truth of the stories. What we care for is the joy of watching it and the wonderful world this TV series opened to us.

No matter how the time will change the surroundings, and how wonderful the new technology will be applied in the movie industry, there will always be just one Journey to the West in my mind and only one Monkey King forever! 

(D)

        Tony Bennett，the American singer recently touring Britain，can't remember how many times he has sung his standard hit I Left My Heart in San Francisco. He sang it again to his audience at the London Palladium last night.

      “I never get tired of singing it，”he said.“I like it very much. It's a great city and it's a good song.”

        Bennett is to record a TV special with the American singer Lena Horne while he is here. And a new LP recorded by him in London for Philips titled Listen Easy will be published in June.

     “I like it here，”he added quietly over whiskey.“I would like to live here so many months of the year.”

          He already keeps a large flat in Grosvenor Square，where he is staying with his actress wife Sandie Grant and their three-year-old daughter Joanna. It has a studio where he likes to paint. Tony plans to have his first exhibition later in the year and he has already sold one picture for $ 4，000. At the end of the year Tony is to star in a musical film which has been specially written for him called Two Bits，an informal expression for 50 cents. It's about an Italian immigrant(移民) who goes to America，but he becomes a failure.

         “In many ways it's very close to my life，”said Bennett.“My father，an Italian，was ill and died when I was nine. He always wanted me to sing，but he never lived long enough to be a part of my success.”

The film is to be made by Italy's top director Vittoria De Sica.

A     

There lived a king who liked art. One day an artist offered to paint the most beautiful picture on the wall of his palace.

So the king said，“All right, you may work on one of the walls in the new hall.”

Just then, another artist said, “Please allow me to work on the opposite wall. I shall make exactly what that man will make on the opposite wall. Moreover, I shall do so without looking at his work. I would even request you to have a thick curtain put up between the two walls so that neither of us can see the other.”

Everyone in the king’s court, including the king and the first artist was intrigued. So the king decided to give the second artist a chance.

The following day, a thick curtain was put in place and both the artists got to work. The first artist brought a regular supply of paint, oil and water. But the second one would come with a piece of cloth and a bucket of water every day.

A month later, the first artist said that his work was completed and invited the king to come.

So the king sent a message to the second artist, saying he was coming to see their works that evening.

After seeing the first artist’s wall，the king was very impressed with the painting and gave him a huge sum of money as a reward. He then asked some people to remove the curtain.

The same painting was seen on the opposite wall too! It was exactly like the one on the first wall. But the second artist had not seen what was going on, on the other side of the curtain.

The king gave the second artist a double reward，and then asked，“I am indeed very happy with your work. But how did you do it？”

The man said simply, “It’s very easy！I just polished (擦亮) the wall every day！”

It was a wall made of white marble (大理石)! The fellow polished it till it shone like a mirror. The reflection of the painting across the room showed up in it!

D

    One day last month，I read a story about two teachers who gave awards to their students．The awards were labeled the“8th Annual Ghetto(贫民区)Classroom Awards，”They were intended to be“light-hearted”and the teachers didn’t mean anything bad．One student was recognized for his academic difficulties with the award．

    The world learned about it because his mother posted it on social media．She wasn’t proud．She was angry，confused and hurt for her son．Did I mention that the students to whom the awards were given were in a class for kids who receive special services for learning disabilities? Yes，the "Ghetto Classroom" was the special education classroom．

    When I read this story，I was sure of three things：That student got the message that he was a loser；he would never forget those teachers；he would head to high school without a lot of confidence．

    Humor can be tricky．I learned this the hard way，in my first year of teaching．Someone mentioned that one of my students，whom I had placed into the "athletic" category，had taken ballet lessons for years，and I gently teased her for it．At least I thought it was gentle．I also thought it was okay，until the day when she came to me after class and told me that it hurt her feelings and she'd like me to stop．

    I'm thankful every day that she had the courage to talk to me．Over the years I think I figured out how to throw away my sarcastic(挖苦的)wit(风趣)and learned how to have humor without being hurtful．

    It's really quite simple：You can make fun of yourself in a self-deprecating(自我贬低的)way，but never make fun of your students．