Suppose(假设) you are going to Boston, and you ____ the city before. If someone ____ you about the interesting places in the city, you ____ to get some ideas of what you will see. But you don’t have a ____ idea of where these places are or of how to find ____.However,____ someone has a map of the city and ____ you the main roads and buildings, you may say, “Oh, now I see. I can find my way with ____ trouble at all.” Working on math is somewhat(有点儿) like trying to find your way ____ a new city. Perhaps the words may tell you some information and you have ____ it, but you can’t see any clear road to the answers.

I was in a strange city and I didn’t know the city at all. And what’s more, I couldn’t speak a word of the language. After having spent the first day in the town center, I decided to lose my way on my second day, since I was sure that this was the better way of getting to know the strange city. I got on the first bus in the morning, rode on it for several stops, and then got off and walked on. The first two hours passed happily enough. Then I decided to turn back to my hotel for lunch. After walking about for some time, I decided I had better ask the way. The trouble was that the only word I knew of the language was the name of the street in which I lived and even that was pronounced badly.

I stopped to ask a friendly-looking newspaper seller. He smiled and handed me a paper. I shook my head and repeated the name of the street and he put the paper into my hands. I had to give him some money and went on my way. Then I met a policeman. I asked him at once. The policeman listened to me carefully, smiled and took me by the arm. There was a strange look in his eyes as he pointed left and right and left again. I thanked him politely and began walking on.

About an hour passed and I found that the houses were getting fewer and green fields could be seen on either side of me.

The thing left for me to do was to find the nearest bus stop.

We all know that the British people love their manners(礼仪).They are part of their national identity(特性),as well as having fish and chips and complaining about the weather.Recently I read online that they say “sorry” up to eight times a day.

After some research I have not been able to find any specific reasons why they are like this.I suppose,for centuries,manners,including how they behave at table and talk to other people have been one of the differences between the lower and upper classes and those manners show their social classes.Britain has traditionally been a quite conservative(保守的) country.There are many articles suggesting that their seemingly polite attitude of always saying “please” and “thank you” is quite false because it is impossible for a person to always feel that he or she wants to thank someone or say “please”.

Maybe it is for this reason that people are going one of two ways:they are too polite and hold back their feelings or they are not polite at all and express their true feelings directly.Some British people are tired of pretending that they are always happy and having to please others.But sometimes because they feel they have to be polite,they are prevented from saying what they truly think.

Being polite is very important.(1) If you are polite to others, they will be polite to you.

In English there are many words to show your politeness; the use of “sir” and “madam” is not an important one. These words are used far more rarely than we think. In Britain, it is unusual for someone in the street to say “Excuse me, sir.(2) Can you tell me the way to the station?” The people who use the word “sir” in this way are usually expecting some money for a service—a taxi or a waiter. For example, “That will be $12,sir.Thank you!”

The word “please” is used everywhere in Britain.(3) Many visitors don’t know when to use “please”. When they go into a cafe they say “A coffee.” or “I want a coffee.” or even “Can I have a coffee?”(That might be really alright in their own languages).However,(4) it seems that they are impolite! Just adding a simple “please” would make it better —“A coffee ,please.” or “I would like a coffee, please.” It is better and safer to always use “please”!

Let’s look at polite ways of asking questions. Instead of a direct question we often use “Can you” and “Could you” before we say what we want .Look at these examples, which are from a normal conversation at home between husband and wife: “Can you park your car over there, please?” “Could you move the table against the wall, please?”

“Could...?” is a little more polite than “Can...?”,but both questions contain the word “please”.

If you are not a native English speaker ,then to use “Can...?” and “Could...?”to express a request is wise. In fact, you can be even more polite: “Sorry, could you tell me the way to Oxford Street, please?” “Sorry, could you tell me your name again, please?” (5) it’s, with, the, word, request, very, common, to, start, a, “sorry”.

If you ask for help, try “I’m sorry to bother you, but could you help me, please?” You might say to a friend “Hey John, lend me $100,will you?” But you couldn’t say this to somebody you do not know well.

I’m Xiao Ming,a Grade Nine student at Xinxing School._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Xiao Ming