Yu Rong, a Chinese artist, thinks of a new way to introduce     1     ancient story of Hua Mulan in her picture book. In the book, I Am Hua Mulan, she tells the story by     2     (combine) Chinese paper-cutting with international artistic styles. She places Shaanxi papercuts over western-style pencil sketches (素描)    3     (create) typical presentation of Chineseelements (要素), which turns out to be a     4     (success) and impressive breakthrough.

Hua Mulan,     5     story has been told by generations in China, was a fighter from the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). As a devoted daughter, she dressed herself as a man to serve in the army     6     place of her father. Mulan’s character, such as courage, kindness and a disinterested attitude towards fame and fortune, made     7     (she) one of the most respected historical Chinese heroines. Mulan’s story has been adapted     8     (frequent) in modern media. For example, in 1998, Disney produced a film named Mulan, which     9     (consider) a great success by critics and the public right after its release.

To better tell the story, Yu Rong takes inspiration from her several     10     (visit) to sites of ancient battles and Henan Province’s Yu Opera. After years of preparation she finally makes this extraordinary work.

3 . 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.

Last year at Christmas time, my wife, three children and I were on our way from Paris to Nice. Somehow everything went wrong. Our hotels were “tourist traps” and our rented car broke down. On Christmas Eve, when we checked into a dirty hotel in Nice, there was no Christmas spirit in our hearts.

It was raining and cold when we went out to eat. We found a small restaurant poorly decorated for the holiday. Only five tables in the restaurant were taken. There were two German couples, two French families, and an American sailor, by himself. They were eating in stony silence except the sailor. He was writing a letter, and a half-smile lighted his face. In the corner a piano player was listlessly (无精打采地) playing Christmas music.

All of us were interrupted by an old French flower woman through the front door. She had a worn overcoat and her old shoes were wet. Carrying her basket of flowers, she went from one table to another. No one bought any. Exhausted and sad, she sat down at a table.

The sailor finished his meal and got up to leave. Putting on his coat, he walked over to the flower woman’s table.

“Merry Christmas,” he said, smiling and picking out a handful of flowers. “How much are they?”

“Two francs, sir.”

The sailor put a twenty franc note in the woman’s hand.

“I don’t have change, sir,” she said. “I’ll get some from the waiter.”

“No, ma’am,” said the sailor, leaning over and kissing the ancient cheek. “This is my Christmas present for you.”

Then the sailor headed for our table with the flowers in his hand.

6 . Live at Leeds Festival, United Kingdom

A weekend of indie music taking over Leeds for one day in May, Metronomy, Sundara Karma and Tom Grennan will headline, but there’s a focus on the city’s newer bands, with the festival aiming to bring new artists into the spotlight. Events take place across the city, with wristbands giving you access to all the places. And to go to this festival, you need to be over 14 years old.

Time: 4 May, 2019

Midnight Sun Film Festival, Finland

Almost a hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle, Sodankylä is where Finnish film director brothers Aki and Mika Kaurismäki rock up every summer for their Midnight Sun Film Festival, a five-day-and-night celebration of new cinema. A mix of silent films, contemporary Finnish ones, recent festival hits and box-office classics are screened around the clock.

Time: 12 - 16 June, 2019

Fuji Rock Festival, Japan

The first ever Fuji Rock Festival was held at the bottom of Mount Fuji back in 1997 and has brought in music and rock fans from all over the world. The festival is now held in the Naeba Ski Resort and is celebrating its 23th anniversary this year. The artists who perform aren’t all rockers. Your wristband has to be checked at the entrance. We offer facilities for children, but they can’t be left unaccompanied.

Time: 26 - 28 July, 2019

The White Nights Festival, St. Petersburg, Russia

The White Nights Festival is held at the city’s famous Mariinsky Theatre and shows some of the world’s best opera and ballet. It’s the best time to visit St. Petersburg because it’s held during the magical summer period when there’s almost 24 hours of sunlight a day.

Time: 11 May - 31 July, 2019

How is everything going?

Best wishes.

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua

8 . A British friend told me he couldn’t understand why Chinese people love eating sunflower seeds(嗑瓜子) as a snack so much.“I’ve met a lot of older Chinese and many have a crack in their front teeth, I believe that’s from cracking the seeds,”he said.

I had never noticed the habit, but once he mentioned it, I suddenly became more aware, I realized that whenever I’m watching TV or typing a report, I always start mindlessly cracking sunflower seeds. My friend doesn’t like sunflower seeds, and, to him, it seems unnecessary to work so much just to get one small seed.

When we were young, the whole family would usually get together for Chinese New Year. Then, we all lived close to one another, usually in a small city, and sometimes even neighbors would go door-to-door on Chinese New Year’s Eve to check out what every household was making.

I remember my parents would be in the kitchen cooking. Out in the living room, a large table would already be laid out, complete with fancy tablecloth, ready-made dumpling fillings, and dishes full of candy, fruits and sunflower seeds. Some of the dishes were to be offered to our ancestors later, while others were for neighbors and children to eat before the evening feast. I must have learned how to crack sunflower seeds back then.

I don’t think it’s right to criticize one’s choice in food or eating habits, no matter how strange they may seem.

It’s not only in China. When I went abroad, I found people had all sorts of strange habits when it came to food. In Denmark, they put salted red fish on bread and eat it for dinner, no matter how much it ruins your breath. They think it’s a delicacy(美味佳肴), and it’s connected to their certain culture. I think it’s a wonderful tradition.

10 . Some years ago, I was hired by an American bank. I received a letter from the head of the Personnel Department that started, “Dear John, I am quite pleased that you have decided to join us.” That “quite” saddened me. I thought he was saying “we’re kind of pleased you decided to join us although I wish we had hired someone else.” Then I discovered that in American English “quite” sometimes means “very”, while in British English it means “fairly”.

So the first lesson about working in other countries is to learn the language and by that I don’t just mean the words people speak. It is body language, dress, manners, ideas and so on. The way people do things highlights many of the differences we see between cultures.

Some of the differences may be only on the surface——dress, food and hours of work——while others may be deeper and take longer to deal with. Mostly, it is just a question of getting used to the differences and accepting them, like the climate, while getting on with business.

Some of the differences may be an improvement. People are more polite; the service is better; you ask for something to be done and it happens without having to ask again. However, other differences can be troubling, like punctuality. If you invite people to a party at 7 o'clock your quests will consider it polite to turn up exactly on time in Germany, five minutes early in the American Midwest, an hour early in Japan, 15 minutes afterwards in the UK, up to an hour afterwards in Italy and some time in the evening in Greece. I prefer not to use the word “late” because there is nothing wrong with the times people arrive. It is simply the accepted thing to do in their own country.