4 . The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th of the first month of the lunar calendar (阴历). This day is always the first full moon in the new year. Ancient people also called it Shangyuan Festival.     

Celebrations and traditions on this day began from the Han Dynasty (朝代) and became popular in the Tang Dynasty. Watching the red lanterns is one of the main traditions. Lanterns of different shapes and sizes are usually put on trees, or along river banks on show. It is said that sky lanterns were first used by Zhuge Kongming to ask for help when he was in trouble.

Today, when the lanterns slowly rise into the air, people make wishes. Another tradition is guessing lantern riddles. The riddles are usually short, wise,and sometimes humorous. The answer to a riddle can be a Chinese character (汉字), a famous person’s name, or a place name. The most important thing is to eat sweet dumplings with different tastes. In northern China, they are called yuanxiao while in southern part they’re named tangyuan. Because making sweet dumplings is like a game or an activity, they are usually done happily by a group of friends or family members. In old times, the Lantern Festival was also romantic (浪漫的).Watching lanterns gave young people a chance to meet each other. A line from Xin Qiji, a poet during the Song Dynasty, shows this: Hundreds and thousands of times I searched for her in the crowd. Suddenly I turned, and there she stood, in the dim(昏暗的) light.

5 . If Indian food is your cup of tea, please come to some food festivals in India.

National Street Food Festival

This is the most popular food festival in India. All of the mouthwatering goodness comes together to New Delhi for this festival, where visitors can make a pig of themselves with much-loved street delicacies (美味佳肴) from all over the country. Taking a walk around the city can be just like dining in a five-star restaurant.

Goa Food and Cultural Festival

The southern state of Goa is famous for its spicy fish, curries, cashew nuts and cold Kingfisher beer. It's easy to add a Goan beach vacation on to a winter foodie tour. The annual food festival has more than 70 stalls (货摊) set up in an open-air market in the capital city, just a half-hour drive from the sunshine state's beautiful coast.

The Great Indian Food Festival

With more than 75 food stalls from 12 different states, this is perhaps the mother of all food festivals in India in terms of national variety. It takes place in early November, and features not only food from all over India, but various activities such as eating contests (竞赛), cooking shows and cultural performances.

International Mango Festival

Who doesn't love mangos? In India, more than 500 varieties of its national fruit exist. Mango harvest is celebrated at the annual International Mango Festival every summer. Visitors who come to celebrate this event can expect activities such as mango-eating contests, mango carving and taking a bite of everything with mangos from stalls.

6 . Australians are pretty bold (大胆的) when it comes to humour. Not afraid of saying something insulting (冒犯的) in the name of a good laugh, they generally don’t hold back. This is always done in fun, however.

You get yourself a haircut before going to meet your new Aussie friend. You’re expecting to be praised, but what you hear is, “Did ya have a fight with a lawnmower (割草机)?” You might take this as an insult, but it’s just your friend’s way of saying that you’ve had a haircut.

Your friend comes knocking at your bedroom door one morning to tell you’re late for class. You were up studying late the night before and you look a mess. Your friend thinks you need to put a brush through your hair before leaving, but instead of just saying so he says, “Wow. Your hair looks like a bush pig’s arse.” He’s trying to be nice.

Australia is one of the cultures on this planet where making fun of someone is a sign of friendship. If you find yourself being made fun of lots, it could be that you’ve scored yourself a whole lot of new friends. Consider yourself lucky — these insults are all part of building a relationship.

Australians also use a lot of sarcasm (讽刺). You foolishly say something that’s obvious. For example, “A six pack of beer is named after the number of beers you get in the pack, the number being six.” A normal answer would be, “That is the most obvious statement I’ve ever heard”, but an Australian would say, “Really? You’re so clever.”

Now let’s say your teacher tells you that there will be a test the following day. Australians might say, “Great. I can’t wait to add preparing for a test to my already long to-do list. Thank you for this gift.”

8 . Traveling abroad is becoming increasingly popular these years. Some people are afraid of making linguistic (语言的) mistakes while traveling. Actually, cultural mistakes may be more serious, which can lead to serious misunderstanding.     1     .

●Touching Someone

    2     In Mediterranean countries, if you don’t touch someone’s arm when talking to him or if you don’t greet him with kisses or a warm hug, you’ll be considered cold. However, if you backslap (拍背) someone who isn’t a family member or a good friend in Korea, you’ll make him uncomfortable.

In Thailand, the head is considered sacred — never even pat a child on the head.

●Talking over Dinner

In some countries, like China, Japan and some African nations, food is important, so don’t start chatting about your day’s adventures while everyone else is digging into dinner.     3     It’s not because your group is unfriendly, but because mealtimes are for eating, not talking.

●Removing Your Shoes or Not

Take off your shoes when arriving at the door of a London dinner party and the hostess will find you rude, but fail to remove your shoes before entering a home in Asia, Hawaii, or the Pacific Islands and you’ll be considered disrespectful. So, if you see a row of shoes at the door, start undoing your shoelaces.     4    .

Once you are on the ground of a different country, remain highly sensitive to native behavior.     5     And don’t feel offended if something seems offensive — like queue-jumping. After all, this is a global village, and we are all very different.

9 . An old story goes that once there were four single men, leading very boring lives. None of them were married, or had lovers, or did anything exciting. They just sat around all day and played Mahjong (麻将).One day they played Mahjong from 11 in the morning until 11 at night. During the game, no matter who won, the winning card was always the “four columns” card (the card shows four independent, parallel columns in two lines). Even more of a coincidence, it was November 11, or 11/11. In order to commemorate the day, they nicknamed it Singles Day.

Singles Day was first celebrated at various universities in Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu Province during the 1990s. It got the name Singles Day because the date is comprised of four “ones”. These college students have since graduated, and carried their university tradition into society. Singles Day is now a special day for all fashionable youths.

The main way to celebrate Singles Day is to have dinner with your single friends, but it’s important thateach person should pay his own fee to show his independence. People also hold “blind date” parties in an attempt to bid goodbye to their single lives.

Many singles also choose to say goodbye to their single lives on this day. Many attend “blind date” parties and many people choose to marry on this day. In addition to meaning “Singles”, the four “ones“ of the date can also mean “only one” as in “the only one for me”. Some people will use this date and this meaning to tell their special someone that they are the only “one” in their hearts.