Thanksgiving Day is a special holiday in the United States and Canada. Families and friends     1     to eat and give thanks for their blessings.

Thanksgiving Day is really a harvest festival. This is why it     2     in late fall,   after the crops are harvested.

The first New England Thanksgiving did celebrate a rich     3     harvest. Early in the 16th century,   the     4     Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth,   Massachusetts. But in the first winter of their     5     they had a difficult time. They suffered a lot and many of the Pilgrims even     6     to death. It was in the next year that they     7     a good harvest. So Governor (州长) Bradford declared a three-day     8    . The Pilgrims invited Indian friends to join them for their special feast. Everyone brought food. Such is the     9     of Thanksgiving Day.

In time,   other colonies (殖民地) began to celebrate a day of thanksgiving. But it took years before Thanksgiving Day became a national     10    . During the Civil War,   President Abraham Lincoln announced the last Thursday of November 1863 as a day of thanksgiving. Today,   Americans celebrate this happy harvest festival on the fourth Thursday in November while Canadians, their neighbours, celebrate Thanksgiving Day on the second Monday in October.

The most difficult part of a Chinese-Western marriage is the cultural differences. The traditional Chinese culture is     1     on the Confucian philosophy (儒家哲学). However, the Western culture is founded on ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. Cultural differences exist in almost every aspect and are therefore reflected in     2     relationship and marriage.

It is not easy to keep a Chinese-Western relationship, for cultural differences may result in     3    . From the traditional Chinese     4    , marriage is a relationship involving family, friends and relatives. In contrast, Westerners’ marriages recognize the     5     and privacy of the couple.

That is why Westerners sometimes cannot understand why we Chinese need to support our     6     if we are asked to do so. Chinese people need to maintain their “face” and “relations”. Even in a relationship, we are somehow still     7     to our family and relatives. Our partner has to understand it and at least does not oppose it.

My suggestion for the cross-cultural relationship is always trying to put yourself in the other’s shoes; always     8     your partner but making clear your own red lines; showing your interest in the     9     culture and carefully remarking on it and so on.

There have been more and more cross-cultural marriages     10     recently. I would like to take this chance to sincerely wish them the very best in their love journeys.