UK vs US manners
Britons may like to complain a lot, but they rarely do so in the moment, explains BBC writer Ruth Margolis. They would rather grumble afterward.
This is because Britons hate to put someone out and cause a scene. Margolis writes: “For instance, I’m much more comfortable just leaving that lump of raw chicken on my plate [instead of complaining to restaurant staff]. But beware: if this kind of thing happens when you’re dining with an American, they will most likely speak up on your behalf and not understand why you find this humiliating.”
In a BBC blog post comparing cultural differences between the UK and the US, Margolis mentions a few other things that Americans like to do that are offensive to Britons.
Not making introductions
Americans rarely remember to introduce a new friend to their friends at parties. Strangers are supposed to introduce themselves. But Margolis says most Britons dislike this approach because “talking to strangers without a facilitator gives them a stomachache”.
‘Quite’ good
Using “quite” to mean “very” happens a lot in the US. But if you are invited to a dinner party in a British household, don’t describe the meal as “quite good” if you want to express high praise. To Britons’ ears, “quite” detracts from the “good”: the meal was passable but could have been better.
Money Talk
Americans can talk about money subjects for hours without feeling uncomfortable. For Britons, says Margolis: “talking about how much we make is unthinkable - only less so than discussing our feelings”.
Over-politeness
In the US, it is not unusual to be greeted by a perfect stranger as “honey” or “sweetie”. But Margolis says Britons find put-on friendliness, especially in stores, deeply irritating. “It’s not that I want shop assistants to be actively rude. But neither do I want to expend energy responding to someone who’s been paid to ask: ‘How are you today?’” says Margolis.
1. When do Britons prefer to do if they want to complain something?2. How many examples does the writer tell us?
3. Why do most Britons dislike the American approach of strangers introducing themselves at parties?
4. What does the use of the word "quite" imply when describing a meal in a British household?
5. What do Britons think of “honey” or “sweetie” in stores?
Untangle this mini mystery
HBO’s new limited dramatic crime series The Night Of will keep you on edge as it unfolds the fate of Nasir “Naz” Khan, an American-born college student of Pakistani descent from the New York borough of Queens, trying to fit into a United States of America that is often hostile.
A night that begins with promise ends up going very wrong for the shy and mild-mannered Naz, played by Riz Ahmed. He takes his father’s cab without permission to go to a party in Manhattan, hoping to meet girls. And when an attractive, but troubled, young woman named Andrea Cornish gets into the cab believing he’s on duty, Naz can’t turn her away.
But happiness soon turns to horror. After a debauched night of sex and drugs at her place, Nasir wakes up to find Andrea dead, the victim of multiple stab wounds. Did he kill her? Later-shown ample evidence seems to confirm that he did, but we don’t know for sure.
Based on the BBC series Criminal Justice (2008), the eight-part show is on the surface procedural, yet it has something of the feel of the crime-based podcast Serial (2014-) or the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer (2015-) as it explores a tangled case, with elements of racism and a justice system overburdened by human failings.
“Growing up as a Muslim-American, post-9/11, you kind of have a very (unpleasant) relationship toward the authorities; you are told you are automatically a suspect,” Ahmed says. “It certainly does play into what you can expect in the criminal justice system. People view you as a threat.”
Rather than present a carousel of would-be killers as so many prime-time whodunits are prone to do, The Night Of invites the viewer to ponder the fate of its single key suspect without trying to pull the wool over their eyes in the process. Did he do it? If he didn’t, who did and why? Is the soon-to-be-retired police detective (Bill Camp) making too many easy assumptions? Will the anti-Muslim tensions in the community further hamper Nasir’s chances of acquittal?
The Night Of dutifully delves into the social and political undertones present in American criminal cases – along with the emotional carnage they cause – as it explores the police investigation and legal proceedings. And it takes on added layers when it follows Nasir to prison, where he is the proverbial fish out of water.
The miniseries unfolds in leisurely fashion – maybe too leisurely for some viewers. But it’s hard not to admire how carefully observed and precisely rendered the scenes are. You could do worse than to lock yourself away to watch this carefully put together masterpiece.
1. What is the main character’s name in The Night Of?2. What event causes the night to go wrong for Naz?
3. How many parts are there in The Night Of?
4. What does The Night Of mainly talk about?
5. Who will be unhappy after 9/11 in America?
How to save a life
The students at No 19 Middle School in Nanning, Guangxi were having a class. Suddenly, a curtain (窗帘) went on fire and the fire spread quickly. Some students were burned.
Not really! This was a fire drill (消防演习) that took place in the school on April 28. After the drill, experts from the Red Cross (红十字会) gave a lesson to 400 students on how to deal with some injuries, such as burns and bleeding (流血).
Every year in China, 1.2 million emergencies take place, according to Xinhua. These lead to at least 200,000 deaths and 1.7 million injuries. Experts say that the ten minutes after an accident are the most important moments for saving a life.
May 8 is World Red Cross Day. Let’s learn the steps for how to save lives.
When there is an accident, remember Dr ABC:
1. Danger – Check the area to see that you are not putting yourself or the hurt person in any more danger. For example, check that there are no loose electrical cables (松弛的电线).
2. Response (反应) – Call out to the hurt person or shake him or her to see if he or she is conscious (有意识的).
3. Airway (通风) – If the hurt person isn’t responding, tip back his or her head and open the mouth. Remove anything that might be blocking the airway.
4. Breathing (呼吸) – Put your ear to the person’s mouth to hear if he or she is breathing, and watch to see if his or her chest is rising and falling. If he or she is breathing, ensure that he or she is in a stable side position.
If he or she is not breathing, give him or her five full breaths in 10 seconds.
5. Circulation (血液循环) – Feel and look at the person to try and judge if his or her circulation has stopped. If he or she is cold, or has turned pale or blue, it is likely that there is no circulation.
【回答问题】
1. When did the fire drill take place in the No 19 Middle School in Nanning?
2. How many emergencies take place in China every year?
3. When is World Red Cross Day?
4. What is the second step to save lives?
5. What should we do if the hurt person is not breathing?
Changing rooms
Are you tired of your boring bedroom? Try to decorate it yourself during the holidays. Use your imagination to change the way it looks.
Your room is your own special space. It’s more than just a place for you to study and sleep. So make it fun and enjoyable to live in. Here are some tips to help you.
Try to make it different. Give your room a theme. Having a theme makes your room look more stylish and beautiful.
A room’s theme can be different. It could be about one of your favorite things, like football or music or a colour. Pick a theme and keep it in mind, then decorate the room around the theme you have chosen.
For example, some boys like skateboarding. Paint the walls in skater stripes, and hang disco balls from the ceiling and use skateboards as shelves. Build a skate ramp at the head of the bed, to make it look cool.
If you are a girl, you may be more interested in animals like dolphins. Pick curtains and bed covers with dolphin patterns on them. Put dolphin toys on your bed, too. Draw or paint pictures of dolphins playing on your walls. Make your room as blue as the sea. So when you walk into the room, you feel like it's a home for dolphins!
Do you want to change the way your room looks? Then decorate your room this holiday and show all your friends.
1. Why does the author suggest decorating the bedroom during the holidays?2. What can you do to make your room different?
3. What could be a theme according to the passage?
4. If you are a boy, how to make your room cool?
5. What colour will be your room if your room’s theme is dolphin?
What is it like to grow up?
As you grow older, there will be certain events that will mark your growth. Graduating from high school and getting your first job are just a few of these. What are some other ways in which we mark our journey toward adulthood?
In the US, getting your driver’s license (执照) at the age of 16 is seen as a major coming-of-age (成人) ritual (仪式). You may have seen kids celebrating their first car in movies and TV shows. It is the first true taste of independence for most teenagers. But not every teenager gets a car right away. Usually, their parents will buy a second-hand car for them as their first car.
Another big coming-of-age event is the prom (毕业舞会). Held at the end of the year, the prom is a graduation celebration for senior high school students. Teenagers wear fancy clothing, ask each other to dance and vote (投票) for a prom “king” and “queen”. For many teenagers, prom is the biggest social event of the year. It’s a time for them to dress and act like an adult.
And there’s still more. At the age of 18, we can vote in the US － and at 21, we can drink alcohol (酒). This is also the time when most children move out of their parents’ home for college or work.
It is around this age that society starts to consider us to be adults. But what does it really mean to be an adult?
Psychologist Jeffrey Arnett surveyed young adults and found three common adulthood goals: taking responsibility for yourself, making independent decisions, and being financially (经济上) independent.
I agree with Arnett. Being an adult has more to do with one’s maturity (成熟). If you want to drive, vote, drink, leave home or even start a romantic relationship, you have to make sure that you’re ready to be responsible.
【回答问题】
1. What can be seen as a major coming-of-age ritual in the US?
2. What do parents usually buy for their kids as their first car?
3. When is the prom held?
4. At what age can one vote in the US?
5. What are three common adulthood goals found by Jeffrey Arnett?
Planting trees to stop storms
Fourteen years ago, President Xi Jinping said “clear waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets (绿水青山就是金山银山)”. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the central government has placed great importance on environmental protection. Great achievements have been made in this area in recent decades through strong measures (措施).
Fighting desertification 荒漠化防治
Desertification has been a major challenge for China. In the early 21st century, many parts of the country, including Xinjiang, Gansu and Inner Mongolia, were affected by sandstorms.
During a sandstorm, large amounts of sand are blown into the air by strong winds. They usually happen in deserts. They can do great harm to plants, animals and buildings.
In recent years, the government has tried to prevent (防止) deserts from growing in size and bringing more sandstorms. Planting trees has played an important role. China’s total forest coverage (覆盖率) rose from 12 percent in the 1980s to 22.96 percent last year. The total desert coverage has been reduced by an average of 2,424 square kilometers every year. That’s as big as 340,000 soccer fields.
One example of this is the Mu Us Desert (毛乌素沙漠), one of China’s four major deserts. One-quarter of the desert has been turned into forest.
Air pollution control 治理空气污染
China has improved its air quality in recent years as efforts (努力) to control air pollution take effect.
Back in January 2013, thick smog (雾霾) covered a total area of 2.7 million square kilometers in cities around China.
To solve this problem, the government rolled out a series of measures to control air pollution, particularly in three major regions: the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster, the Yangtze River Delta and the Fenhe-Weihe River Plain.
Beijing has made many efforts to fight air pollution, such as by promoting (推广) clean energy, monitoring emissions (监控排放) from factories, and encouraging the use of new-energy vehicles instead of gas-powered cars.
【回答问题】
1. What has been a major challenge for China?
2. What can sandstorms do harm to?
3. How to prevent deserts from growing in size and bringing more sandstorms?
4. What percentage has China’s forest coverage increased from the 1980s to last year?
5. What kind of cars are encouraged by the government to use?
Hugging creates happiness
When your friend has a bad day, what will you do to comfort him or her? Hugging can help them feel better, Time reported.
According to scientists from Carnegie Mellon University in the US, hugs can be good for a person’s mood and stress levels. Hugging can increase positive (积极的) feelings and reduce negative (消极的) feelings.
Researchers talked to about 400 people. They asked them about their mood, whether they had any conflicts (冲突) with others and if they had a hug that day.
They found that when people experienced conflicts but didn’t get any hugs, they reported more negative feelings. But when people had both on the same day, they reported more positive feelings and fewer negative feelings.
When you receive a hug, your body releases a certain hormone (荷尔蒙). This hormone lowers blood pressure, as well as reduces stress and anxiety (焦虑), Michael Murphy from Carnegie Mellon told Time.
Of course, hugging is not the only way to comfort others. People sometimes give advice or just try to solve the other person’s problems directly. However, doing these things might make people feel like they’re being criticized (批评). But physical contact like hugging “makes people feel like they are cared about and have someone who is there for them,” Murphy said. “But that doesn’t make any judgments (about right or wrong).”
Scientists are still studying this effect. They want to know if it matters who the hug is from, or whether the person in question actually needs a hug. But Murphy said hugging is always a simple and helpful way to give support to someone you care about.
【回答问题】
1. What are hugs good for?
2. What kind of feeling can be increased by hugging?
3. What will people feel if they don’t get any hugs?
4. What does your body release when you receive a hug?
5. What will people feel if they receive a hug?
Surfing on land in amazing style
When you walk on the city street, you may find such a “creepy” scene: people hold their arms out and swing their bodies around with bent knees. No worries. They’re just a group of surfskaters (陆冲玩家) practicing surfing on land.
Since this summer, surfskating has become popular among all ages in China. It became a trendy topic on many online platforms (平台), such as Xiaohongshu and Sina Weibo. On the short-video platform Douyin, posts hashtagged (话题标签为) “surfskate” had over 150 million views by August, according to China Daily.
“We thought surfskating would be popular someday but we didn’t expect that day would come so soon,” Li Dezhi told China Daily. Li, a supplier for the Chinese market of YOW, a Spanish surfskate brand, started selling YOW boards five years ago. “We think COVID-19 has sped up its popularity because the pandemic affected many outdoor activities like skiing and surfing (冲浪). Surfskating became a fun alternative (替代物).”
“You can see an increasing number of people of almost all ages practicing surfskating in a wide space inside the community I live in, “ said Ma Yuan from Beijing.
Once a surfing fan, Ma started surfskating a few months ago. “I knew about surfskating from social media and decided to give it a try. It was easier than I thought,” said Ma.
“Besides, surfskating needs a lot less equipment (装备) compared with many other sports. I can start skating at a random (任意的) place and all I need is a board.”
Ma joined a WeChat group set up by other surfskate lovers. “It could be very helpful in learning and socializing (社交), as the group organizer often talks about gatherings (聚会). We also invite people we like to hang out with. I really enjoy the community atmosphere (氛围).”
【回答问题】
1. What became a trendy topic on online platforms this summer?
2. How many views did posts hashtagged“surfskate” have by August?
3. Which country is this brand YOW from?
4. What has accelerated the popularity of surfskating according to Li Dezhi?
5. Where did Ma Yuan learn about surfskating?
Students in the US work hard and play hard
There are some stereotypes about students in the US – that they have little homework, that their teachers are too nice, that they have no rules to follow, that they are bad at math, that they don’t work hard like students in China. I would like to break (打破) these stereotypes.
Let’s take a look at the lives of American students. They get up at six in the morning for school. Many students take classes that are higher than their current (目前的) grade level. There are lots of rules in their schools. Even nicknames (绰号) can be against the rules sometimes.
When school is over, there is a small amount of homework. But there is more to do than that. Students have their choice of after-school activities, such as drama (戏剧), swimming, softball (垒球), golf, art, speech and debate (辩论), and many more. Students take these activities seriously. They don’t do them just once a week, as many Chinese students do, but for hours a day, every day of the week.
Students in the US might have more free time than those in China, but they are hard workers as well. Getting up early, skipping (跳过) grades, going to different activities… Students, whether in China or the United States, should not be underestimated (低估).
【回答问题】
1. When do American students get up for school?
2. What else do American students do besides doing homework?
3. What are American students’ attitudes towards after-school activities?
4. How often do Chinese students do after-school activities?
5. Do you think American students are hard-working?
Get out and explore
With summer here, we all want to get out of the house and enjoy the weather. But maybe picnics and badminton are not exciting enough. Would you like to try something more challenging?
If so, this section (板块) is for you! Here, TEENS writers and readers share their personal experiences on a range of (一系列) outdoor activities, from snorkeling to climbing rock faces to exploring caves deep under the ground.
Outdoor activities are more than just a fun way to pass the time in summer. Most activities have clubs and organizations where you can learn and share your knowledge with others. As a teenager, I was in the Scouts (童子军). Not only did I get outside and have adventures, but I also made some lifelong friends.
Outdoor activities challenge your body, but also your mind. You’ll have to organize and make plans, as well as analyze (分析) your environment. You will need to learn skills－making fires, tying knots (打结) and testing the wind－things you can’t just learn from a book. You also learn emergency procedures (操作步骤). Once, in Scouts, I was asked to plan meals for a camping trip, but forgot to plan cooking equipment (装备). We had to improvise (即兴发挥), with Frisbees as dinner plates!
Maybe most importantly, these outdoor activities will give you confidence in yourself and your abilities. As you use your skills and gain experience, things that seemed impossible and scary become simple. You will start to trust yourself and your intuition (直觉).
The best part? You can do these outdoor activities almost anywhere in the world, with new challenges in new environments. Wherever you go, you will have the skills to explore.
【回答问题】
1. What can we do in the clubs and organizations?
2. What did the author do when he was in the Scouts?
3. What can we learn from outside other than books?
4. What did the author use as dinner plates?
5. What can we get from the outdoor activities according to the author?
