【推荐1】It is said that a new culture can always keep your eyes and your mind open. Now I am studying in Russia as ________ exchange student. I learn about it from my own experience.

One of ________ differences is about people’s way of life. One day, a Russian friend invited me to a well-known restaurant in Moscow. I ________ to try local food. After arriving there, I found nothing on the table but some small plates. To my greater surprise, on the plates there ________ only a few slices of tomatoes, nuts, and several piece of onions. ________ the dishes were simple, we drank a lot and I felt the passion (热情) from the bottom of his heart. In China, when we invite our friends or relatives, we always provide ________ with a big dinner with all kinds of dishes. We like to prepare ________ we can to show our friendliness.

________ Russian custom also surprises me greatly. As we know, it is ________ cold in winter there that it takes a lot of courage to just go outside. However, when winter comes, Russians enjoy ________. They even take their kids outside to swim. Like their parents, Russian kids rub (揉擦) their bodies ________ snow before jumping into the water. The water is freezing cold, but they all play ________ in it! Sometimes they invite us to join them, however, we have to say no, because it is really difficult for us ________ it just like them!

I ________ a lot from the exchange visit and it’s been educational in many ways. ________ interesting the visit is!

The schools in America are very different from our country’s. In America, the school day usually starts at 9:00 am and ________ at about 4:00 pm. The school subjects are different from ________. In China, we always have Chinese, maths, English, P.E. and so on. But in America, students have ________ lessons than us, such as cooking and driving lessons. They study very ________. But their life isn’t just about study. They have more things ________. There are many clubs in American schools too. If the students are ________ in sports, they can join different sports clubs. From 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm, they do different things in different clubs. All students ________ join at least one club.

Maybe you think English is very popular in the world, so American students don’t need to learn other languages. ________ that’s not true. In fact, American children from ________ age of seven choose a foreign language to learn. ________, they learn French, Japanese or Chinese.

I arrived in the UK last month to learn English. So far I ________ a few friends and have had some traditional English food there. But after three days of hamburgers, sandwiches and potatoes, I thought no food could be ________ than Chinese food, especially my favorite — huoguo. So I was very excited when I got to know ________ there was going to be a free hotpot meal to welcome the new students. On the way ________ the canteen (餐厅), I thought I could smell huoguo in the air.

To my surprise, when I went into the room, I didn’t see ________ about huoguo. Where was it?

With many questions in my mind, I sat down to have the free meal. After ________ with an English boy, I got to know that Chinese huoguo is completely different from hotpot. Chinese huoguo ________ in two words —- hot pot, and hotpot, one word, is a traditional British dish.

Hotpot is made of mutton (羊肉) and onion (洋葱). On the top ________ pieces of potatoes. It is cooked in the oven (烤炉) all day in a heavy pot on a low heat (热). It is not difficult to do that. You can often see ________ at parties in the UK because it is easy to prepare it for a large number of people and it is not expensive.

Hotpot doesn’t taste ________, but I don’t like it. I really miss huoguo — hot pot, two words!