China is a big old country,     1     has a history of more than five thousand years. We are proud of     2    culture and part of the culture even influences the world     3    , for example, the thought of Confucius. As Chinese economy develops very fast and plays     4    important role in the world, more and more     5    learn Mandarin (普通话) in Confucius institutions. The Chinese traditional culture can be tested by the time. It unites the whole nation and no matter     6    kind of disaster comes, we will fight together for the country’s future. Today, many young people lose faith in traditional culture and they are crazy     7    the western culture. They follow the western fashion,     8    we are the old style. But some day, they     9    it is wrong     10    traditional culture.

Family Patterns in Modern Britain

The family is a central institution of modern British society, at least in the     1    that almost everybody has had experience of living in a family at some time in their lives. There are many different family patterns in modern Britain.

One pattern that was    2    in the 1950s and covers about one in eight families today is where the parents and married children live    3    together but in separate houses. The family bond    4    strong and mothers and daughters are    5    to meet each other most days to talk or help each other. This pattern    6    more often in settled communities rather than in    7    ones, in the north of England rather than in the south, and in working class rather than middle-class families.

Another pattern is where parents and married children live further apart (usually about an hour’s car    8    from each other). Many of them meet only once or twice a month but keep in    9    by telephone and help each other when    10    . This pattern is growing and covers about half of the population. It is found especially in middle-class families in the south-east of England.

Living in a culture that is different from your own can be both an exciting and challenging experience. You have to learn different cultural     1     and try to adapt to them.

Chinese people do not have the same concept of     2     as Americans do. They talk about topics such as ages, income or marital status, which Americans think is     3     and intrusive.

As is well known, the Chinese like to save. They are always     4     when they are planning to spend money. It is different in the USA, where far fewer families are saving money for    5     and education than their Chinese counterparts.