It’s currently December and Christmas is almost here. And what better way to spend time with your loved ones than sitting down to watch some classic Christmas movies? Listed below are four films that will make you laugh, cry or both this Yuletide (圣诞节期间).

The Grinch (2000)

This is a Christmas must-watch and one of Jim Carrey’s best performances. It was also originally a children’s book written by Dr Seuss, which I would recommend reading! It’s the story of a green monster who wants to ruin Christmas, but who in the end discovers the power of love and generosity. It sounds cheesy and cliché (陈词滥调), but I promise it’s a great film with plenty of laughs along the way.

Love Actually (2003)

While this is not a personal favourite of mine, people in the UK absolutely Jove this film. It has a star-studded cast, featuring actors and actresses such as Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman. It might be a little difficult to follow as there are lots of different sub-plots, so I recommend watching a dubbed version (配音版) in your native language. However, the heart-warming elements of the film make it worth watching.

Home Alone (1990)

This blockbuster (轰动一时的电影) is one of my favourite films of all time and I would watch it all year round if I could. It tells the story of a boy, Kevin, who is left alone in his house when his large family forget to take him on vacation with them. While the family are away, burglars (小偷) try to rob the house and Kevin must protect his home by setting traps. The trips, falls and traps will have you laughing out loud as you watch a 10-year old boy outsmart two grown men.

Miracle on 34th Street (1994)

You can’t have Christmas in an English-speaking country without watching this film. It’s not funny like Home Alone or The Grinch, but it is incredibly touching. It’s about a man who claims to be Santa, but nobody believes him except a lawyer and a little girl. The storyline may seem a little childish, but you can enjoy it at any age. I cry every time I watch it and I’m 21!

The Chinese and Western eating habits are different. In the west, everyone has his or her own plate of food. In China,the dishes are placed on the table and everybody shares. It is always polite to let guests or elderly people at the table taste every dish first.

Though there are no strict rules on how to set chopsticks and spoons,there are some things you should never do during a Chinese dinner.

Firstly,and the most importantly, don’t put your chopsticks upright in the rice bowl. The reason for this is that when people die, family members give them a bowl of rice with a pair of chopsticks upright. So if you put your chopsticks in the rice bowl like that, it seems you want someone at the table to die.

Make sure the spout (喷口) of the teapot is not facing anyone as this is impolite. The spout should always face where nobody is sitting. Don’t knock on your bowl with your chopsticks. Beggars knock on their bowls, so this is not polite, especially when you eat in a friend’s home.

Though young children are not allowed to drink any wine, you can still say “Ganbei” and drink to the health of your grandparents and parents. This is sure to please them.

It was a hot morning when I started my flight training. Nearly two hundred of us stood at attention. We were very excited that on this day, we would finally begin the "hands-on" part of flight training. We had been through thirteen tough weeks of basic training.

That morning, we were delighted to wait for the moment to climb into the training plane to actually begin learning to fly. Each of us was convinced that we would soon fly "above the best".

As we stood facing the officers, waiting for instructions, a tiny bird jumped out in front of us. It seemed confused and a little frightened. Suddenly, its mother flew over, as if encouraging it to fly. Everyone's eyes followed the birds. Even our officers turned to watch, mesmerized by the scene.

Over and over, the tiny bird ran as fast as its little legs could move, but it still failed to fly into the sky no matter how hard it had tried.

Completely ignoring the crowd of staring bystanders, the mother bird went on flying to and encouraging her little bird. AII two hundred of us watched breathlessly. Each time it made its way across the grass in front of us, we sighed at its failure.

Finally, after we had stood at attention for what seemed like hours just watching, those tiny wings could fly at last. You could almost see the little bird feel very proud. Then, we burst into wild cheers. We watched, as the little bird followed its mother to fly into the sky. Our officers turned back to us, smiling. We learned a lot from the little bird.

Getting paid to stay in bed all day sounds pretty good, but what if someone pays you $23, 000 to stay in bed for two months? That’s the deal that a medical research team in France is offering to 24 volunteers.

The researchers are looking for volunteers to help them study the effects of weightlessness (失重状态) on the human body and find ways to stop problems. Lying in bed isn’t exactly the same as being weightless, but the effects are alike.

When astronauts spend a long time in an environment with no gravity，their bodies change in many ways. After several months, their hearts don’t beat as hard. Their muscles become smaller and weaker. Their bones may be broken more easily. There may also be changes in the astronauts’ immune systems (免疫系统) and sleep habits.

The study will take 88 days. During the first two weeks, the volunteers will be tested to make sure of their levels of fitness. Then they will spend 60 days lying in bed with their heads lower than their bodies. They will have to do everything while lying down, including eating, brushing their teeth, and going to the bathroom. The rule is that they must have at least one shoulder touching the bed at all times. The last two weeks of the study will be spent trying to build up the volunteers’ fitness again.

Volunteers must be men between the ages of 20 and 45 who are in perfect health. The researchers completed one study in April. A second study will take place from September to December.