When    1    (approve) to be volunteer for American Peace Corps(中美友好志愿者项目), I was excited but also anxious.

My task was to introduce traditional Chinese painting to Americans who came to China by using PowerPoint.

When I was making my PPT, I discovered that there were many differences between Chinese and Western art cultures, so the most difficult problem    2    (face) me was to translate painting terms from Chinese to English.

For example, when I tried to translate “意境”, which is a very common word in traditional Chinese painting, I found the phrase “artistic conception” on the Internet. However, I asked my American friend Dino, a volunteer I met at work, and he said the translation was strange and unreasonable and couldn't    3    (understand) at all.

So how could I solve this translation problem? We-had a heated discussion that evening, but we    4    (eventual) found a phrase in the spirit of traditional Chinese painting. We decided that “意境” means the use of abstraction to arouse a viewer’s imagination. Therefore, we could translate it as “poetic imagery”. I understood that the secret to translation is to interpret the    5    (origin) meaning of the words in a certain context rather than invent a concept that does not exist in American culture.

But that wasn't the end of the challenge. When I was doing my detailed    6    (present) on stage, there was a power cut, as a consequence of    7    I could not use PPT! What could I do? I frowned and thought about it. Finally, I took a deep breath to calm myself What I said was based on my memory.

I showed brushes, ink    8    xuan paper to begin introducing the tools of Chinese painting. I thought I would be very nervous, but as I went on, I forgot all my    9    (tense) and became fluent. When I finished my speech, everyone clapped    10    me. I was so proud of myself.

Just like     1    (speak) language, body language varies from culture to culture. For example, making eye contact is a way to display interest in some countries. By contrast, eye contact is not always approved     2     in other countries. Even the gesture for “OK” differs around the world. In Japan, people might think it means money. In France, a person may interpret it as     3    (mean) zero. And in many countries, shaking one’s head means “no”, and nodding means “yes”. By     4    (compare), the gestures have the opposite meaning in Bulgaria and southern Albania. There are also differences in how we act when we meet. In France and Russia, people may kiss their friends     5     the cheek when they meet.

When travelling abroad, we are expected to respect the social customs of the places we visit. In conservative countries, for example, wearing appropriate clothes is a way of showing we are     1     (respect) and open-minded. Even if we are behind the walls of a hotel the entire time, the staff are locals, and should     2     (treat) accordingly. Remember we are guests in their home, and while we     3     (visit) foreign lands many times with this in mind, we still fall short occasionally.