Some British and American people like to invite friends for a meal at home. You should not be upset if your English friends don’t invite you home. It doesn’t mean they don’t like you.

Dinner parties usually start     33     7 p. m. and 8 p. m., and end at about 11p. m. . Ask your host what time you should arrive. It’s polite to     34     flowers, chocolates or a bottle of wine as a gift.

Usually the evening starts with drinks and snacks. Do you want to be more polite? Say how much you like the room, or the     35     on the wall. But remember - it’s not polite to ask how much things     36    .

In many families, the husband sits at one     37     of the table and the wife sits at the other side. They eat with their guests.

You’ll probably start the meal with soup or     38     small, then you’ll have meat or fish with vegetables and then dessert is     39     by coffee. It’s polite to finish everything on your plate and to take more if you want it.

Did you enjoy the evening? Call your hosts     40     or write them a short “thank you” letter. British and American people like to say “thank you” all the time.

A day at the shops can help you live longer, and surprisingly, the benefits are actually greater for men, says a study group from Taiwan. The study even suggests that shopping regularly is better than going to the gym. Seeing friends and just people-watching can stave off loneliness and improve psychological health, suggests the study. It looked at almost 1850 people aged 65 and over living alone at home in Taiwan, who were asked how often they went shopping. They found those who shopped daily lived longer than those who shopped less, with thinking of people’s physical or other health problems. By comparing with those who didn’t often go out to the shops had the best life record, with a 28% cut in their chances of dying, while older women saw a bit fewer benefits with a 23% cut in dying.   The researchers said, “An elder who shops less for food would be at risk of poorer diet to keep healthy. This makes a bad cycle. Shopping less causes poor health and poor health causes less shopping. ” But the study added, “In shopping situations, communicating with, or watching others can provide social and mental benefits. ” “Compared with other types of spare-time physical activity, like exercise, which usually needs motivation and sometimes professional instruction, shopping is easier to keep on.”

A kite is one of the oldest toys. And it's very simple to make. Kite come in many sizes, shapes, and colors. Do you know that kites can be both toys and _______?

Kites were named _______ kite birds. Kite birds have wide wings and easily fly high in the sky. No one knows who made the first kite. But one famous Chinese story about kite was written over 2,000 years ago. It is about a man who used a kite to attack a fort（要塞）. He tied himself to huge kite and flew over the wall of the fort.

The inventor Ben Franklin had the idea that lightning was made of electricity. He wanted to _______ his idea. One stormy day, he tied a metal key to a kite. The he flew the kite up into the storm clouds. Lightning from the storm hit his kite. The electricity ran down and gave him a shock. _______, He was hurt badly.

Some people have used kites for fishing. They put fishhook and bait（饵） on the long kite tail. The kite tail dragged in the water. When a fish saw it, it bit the bait and was caught. Then the kite was pulled in. Years ago, some armies used kites with cameras to spy on enemies. Kites were also used as flying targets. The kites trained soldiers to aim better. The _______ kites were hard to hit.

Different shapes of kites fly in different ways. Flat shaped kites fly easily. Box-shaped ones can hang still in the air for a long time. Stunt kites can twist in the sky.

On a sunshine day, take your kite to an open area. Be sure that there are no _______ lines or big trees nearby. Hold your kite up and run into the wind. Slowly let out some string（绳）until your kite is high in the sky. Happy flying.

Sometimes we forget that many things we use every day were not always there. They had to be invented. Someone had to have an idea. Then they had to do a lot of experiments with the idea until it worked well. Here are few you might like to read about: In Maine, the northeast of the U. S., winters are long, windy and cold. Every winter, Chester Greenwood’s ears got so cold that they turned colors. When he was 15, Chester got ice skates for his birthday. He wanted to go skating. The cold wind and his frozen ears soon sent him running home. The next day, Chester tied a scarf around his ears. It was w    66    , but too uncomfortable. Then he got a GREAT IDEA. Chester made two oval loops out of wire. He asked his grandmother to sew covers on the ovals. Then she connected the ovals with another wire. The ovals fit over his ears. Chester had invented earmuffs! They saved his ears and made him rich. People in Maine found another way to r    67     Chester. December 21st , the first of winter, is Chester Greenwood Day. Sometimes inventions happen by chance. As a boy, Thomas Alva Edison was called Al. When he was 12 years old, he got his first j    68    . He sold newspaper and candy on the train.   One day on the job, he bravely s    69     a boy from being run over by a train. The boy’s father worked a telegraph. Al asked how to run a telegraph. Not only did Al learn the telegraph, but he made a better one. It was one of his earliest GREAT IDEAS. Edison’s new telegraph made a lot of money. Later, he became the first person to o    70     and run an inventions business. He was good at that, too. We could thank Thomas Edison every day. He had many, many GREAT IDEAS such as bulbs, movie cameras, and batteries. Edison is the one who invented more things than a    71     else in the world. So, who knows? You might invent something some day!

Almost everyone shares the same daily routine（例行公事）: beginning the day by reading the newspaper, then going off to work and then returning home tired and ready for bed. Younger people in school or college may have a different routine from adults, but their lives are pretty similar. Most people, young or old, can’t find the time or energy to relax and enjoy the day. Luckily, music is here to help us forget our worries and feel peaceful. Besides being pleasant to the ear, music can help us relax. Music is also good because it can teach us something about different languages and cultures and all around the world. Everyone likes music and every country has a history of music to be proud of. From birth to death, we have music along with us. Music, like all forms of art, is another way to add peace to our lives. Modern studies show that relaxing music can do good to our bodies in some way as hard exercise does. Pythagoras, the Greek mathematician, said that some kinds of music could change behavior patterns. Listening to the sounds of music can make us relax ourselves. Music can help people communicate and express their feelings. Every day people enjoy songs on the radio because the songs reflect（反映）their feelings inside. Lovers need love songs for each other. As much as music expresses feelings, it can also change feelings. A sad day can be made happy with the help of music. Sometimes when we feel angry we need angry music to make us feel better. Music can also help people remember something. School children are taught to sing songs about colors, animals and letters to help them memorize new words and concepts（概念）. Music can change people’s lives in unimaginable ways.

Electricity in our daily life