Early one morning, a crow sat in a tall tree. She had a big piece of cheese in her beak (鸟喙). She thought it would be a nice breakfast ________ her baby.

A fox came by. He was quite hungry ________ he could not find anything to eat. As he walked by, he looked up and ________ the crow up in the tree with the cheese. Since he wanted the cheese for ________, he began to think very hard about how he could take it from the crow. The fox ________ not climb the tree, so he would have to find a way to make the crow drop the cheese.

First, he ________ called up to the crow, and asked, “How are you and your baby, Mrs Crow?”

The crow said ________.

The fox went on, “I know you are different from ________ crows. You are very beautiful. You must have a beautiful voice.” Then he told the crow that he would like to hear her ________.

The crow was quite ________ and thought that the fox was very kind, so she decided ________. She opened her mouth and let out ________ awful “Caw! Caw! Caw!”

The cheese fell from her beak, and ________ by the fox at once. He immediately ate it. After ________ his meal, the fox looked up at the crow and told her that she had a voice to sing with, ________ that she had no sense.

Volunteers Needed to Care for Disabled Children Workplace

Disabled Children’s Care Center, Los Angeles, California USA.

It is our policy that all our volunteers stay with a trained American host family to learn more about life here. On the first day, we meet them at the airport and take them to a hotel.

◆have graduated from a normal (师范) university;

◆come from Asia;

◆be twenty-four or older;

◆speak English well.

No less than four weeks and no more than one year.

◆Playing with the kids during school hours;

◆Teaching in the classrooms: English and Maths;

◆Helping the kids organize their books and school-work;

◆Organizing the children’s homes.

Any volunteers will get a free ticket to Disneyland after working for 4 weeks. For more information, please visit our website at www.helptouchamerica. com or send us an e-mail at touchamerican@email.com.

	★Age: 26 ★Place of birth: London ★Language: English, French ★Graduated from Oxford University I love children. I can play with them and take good care of them, but I have little experience in teaching.
	★Age: 25 ★Place of birth: Shanghai ★Language: Chinese, English, Spanish ★Graduated from New York Normal University I’ve worked as a volunteer for 3 years. Though I am not good at Maths, I know how to help children organize their books and school-work.
	★Age: 23 ★Place of birth: Tokyo ★Language Japanese, English ★Graduated from the University of Tokyo I am now working as a primary school teacher. I teach my boys and girls to sing English songs and to do some housework.
	★Age: 24 ★Place of brth: Singapore ★Language English, Chinese ★Graduated from Beijing Normal University I’m friendly and hard- working. I have lots of experience in taking care of disabled children. I am good at English and Maths.

Every week, Brad’s parents gave him some pocket money. They didn’t give him the money as a gift, though. Brad actually earned it. Each day, Brad took out the trash and cleared the table after dinner. He fed the family dog and took him for walks. For all of this work, Brad earned $12 each week. The problem was, the money Brad earned seemed to be spent out just as quickly as he earned it. His dad said that money seemed to “burn a hole in his pocket”. Brad spent his money on video games more than anything else. He never seemed to have enough money, though.

Dad suggested Brad creating a budget(预算) to set aside money each week for certain expenses. “You spend only as much as your budget allows. That way, you are sure to have money for the different things you want.”

That night, the family made a list of the different types of things Brad wanted to be able to buy. The list included categories such as snacks, entertainment, and clothing. And a budget should also set aside a percentage of earnings as savings so that he would be able to buy something expensive in the future. “It can also be your rainy day fund,” said his mom. Brad gave her a puzzled look. “A rainy day fund is there to help out in an emergency,” she explained. They also said it was important to set aside a little money to help others.

From that day on, Brad always seemed to have enough money to do the things he wanted. The first year, he set aside $104, he chose to give the money to the town’s animal shelter. Giving money to help those in need made Brad feel good. He also used some of his savings to buy a cool new video game console. That made him feel good, too.

As we are writing this book, we are in Venice, Italy speaking at a meeting on cultural differences.

If we had never travelled to Italy, we would have been shocked by what we’d experienced. All cultures walk on the same side of the pavement as they drive on the road. This means if you’re British, Australian, South African or a New Zealander, you drive and walk to the left. What you’d find is that Italians sometimes bump into you as you walk on the pavement because, as they come near and you move to your left, they move to their right.

You’d also be shocked when you go to shake hands to say goodbye to an Italian but, instead, you get a kiss on both cheeks. “As I was leaving, the Italian man kissed me on both cheeks. I was tying my shoelaces(鞋带) at the time!” Woody Allen wrote in her article.

As you talk with local Italians, they seem to stand in your space, holding your arms, talking over the top of you, shouting in fact, and sounding angry about everything. But these things are a normal part of everyday friendly Italian communication. Not all things in all cultures mean the same things.

When they talk, Italians use their entire arms and body, while English people and Germans stand at attention. Italians keep their hands held high as a way to mean that they want to go on talking. Arm touching during an Italian conversation doesn’t show love or affection, but is nothing more than a way of stopping the listener from raising his hands and taking the turn to talk. To interrupt an Italian you must catch his hands in mid air and hold them down.

Tea, coffee and cocoa are three major drinks all over the world.     41     Tea has a history of over 4,000 years and China is the home of tea. In ancient China, tea was used as a kind of medicine, while nowadays people drink it every day.

The word for tea in many different languages came from Chinese like “tea” in English; “cha’i” in Russian.     42    

Over the past centuries, Chinese people have developed their special tea culture, which includes tea planting, tea making, tea drinking and so on.

    43     When we use the words “kung fu”, we are not taking about fighting. Instead, “kung fu” means “work” or “skill”. Kung fu tea takes work and skill to make. It is not as simple as just putting tea in a teapot with some hot water.

First, we put hot water into the teapot. Then we empty the teapot.     44     Next, we put tea leaves into the teapot and put hot water into the teapot again. Then we pour the hot water into the tea cups.     45     Finally, we put hot water into the teapot a third time, and wait. At the same time, the hot water is emptied from the tea cups. Then we pour the tea into them.

Everyone then picks up their tea cups, and enjoys the lovely smell of the tea before drinking it.