Apart from the spelling of the word, there are, obviously, many differences between American and British humour.

There is a common belief in the U.K. that Americans don’t understand irony(讽刺). This is of course not true. But what is true is that Americans don’t use it all the time.

Irony may show up in American comedies, but people there don’t use it as much as Brits in daily life and it is generally seen as inappropriate in situations     1    it is normal in the U.K.

On the contrary, irony is a common feature of British culture. It virtually     2    (run) in the blood of Brits. They use it as liberally as prepositions in everyday conversations, as a way of mocking their enemies,     3     (play) with their friends and laughing at themselves.

This may sometimes be considered as offensive     4     the recipients are not used to it. But, it, in fact, is almost a sign of affection if a Brit likes you.

Things are different in America. When Americans use irony they will clearly state that they are “only kidding” after that. They feel the need     5     (make) a joke more obvious     6    it will not offend other people.

Humor is tied so much     7     culture. American jokes are more obvious and forward, a bit like Americans themselves. British jokes, on the other hand, tend to be more subtle but with a dark or sarcastic undertone (讽刺的意味). There is usually a     8     (hide) meaning. This may stem from the fact     9     British culture is more reserved than American culture.

However, we should not neglect the fact that certain American comedies     10    (gain) huge success in Britain and vice versa. Therefore, although there are differences between both comic styles, there is still an appreciation and understanding of the other’s sense of humour.

5 . Hong Kong isn’t the first place you’d expect to find a peaceful island. But in a quiet corner of Sai Kung district (西贡区), a tiny green island offers a rare glimpse into the past.

Nicknamed “Ghost Island,” Yim Tin Tsai (盐田仔) was once home to a flourishing Hakka (客家) community. They settled on the empty island and built salt pans (盐田) to earn a living. When the salt pans were shut down more than 100 years ago, most residents turned to farming and fishing.

In the 1960s, more and more families moved to other places. The last of the villagers on the island had moved abroad by the 1990s, and, in the following years, Yim Tin Tsai lay empty.

If travelers had visited Yim Tin Tsai a decade ago, they would have found nothing but overgrown weeds (野草) and crumbling houses. That’s exactly what villager Colin Chan saw when he returned to the island after 40 years. But, for him, the island represented something special — a unique side of Hong Kong’s history and culture that shouldn’t be forgotten.

“I came back here hoping to recover something I felt I had lost,” Colin said. “I found the island was in ruins and I was very sad. This is the place I grew up. This is my father’s home and his father’s home.”

In 1999, Colin was elected as village representative and began what would become a lifelong mission: to make the island come alive. Together with about 10 former villagers, Colin raised money to build a visitor center for travelers. In 2004, a charitable foundation donated funds to renovate the island’s historical chapel (小教堂). In 2005, UNESCO (联合国教科文组织) Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation honored the chapel with an award of merit (优异奖).

Motivated by this, the villagers organized a regular ferry schedule to enable travelers to reach the island, and set out to showcase the village’s unique history. They built a heritage trail, repaired Hakka ancestral homes, created a museum, and even started an organic farm that sits at the foot of the church.

7 . In the film Inside Out, 11-year-old Riley’s emotions are personified as brightly colored internal figures that drive her behaviors. The same five emotions—anger, fear, disgust (憎恶), sadness, and joy—appear in every other character’s head as well, functioning in much the same way in each individual. In Western cultures, this is the case, argues psychologist Batja Mesquita in Between Us. Emotions in such contexts, she writes, are considered “MINE,” or “Mental, INside the person, and Essentialist,” the latter defined in the book as always having the same properties.

This conception of emotion is not universal, however. Emotions elsewhere, she argues, are thought of as “OURS”—“OUtside   the   person,   Relational,   and   Situated.”   Using   this   distinction,   Mesquita   sets   about contrasting emotions in “the West,” where the individual is the top concern, with “the Rest,” where community is prioritized.

Mesquita describes amae as a central emotion in Japanese culture, where it builds interdependence by encouraging tolerance in parenting process. She describes hasham—which includes shame, embarrassment, and   social   respectability—as   a   fundamental   emotion   for   Egyptian Bedouins   (游牧人).   Such   observations provide a background for her to explore a range of issues, including childhood socialization, the nature of friendship, the role of language in shaping emotions, and cross-cultural communication in a globalized world.

Despite   Mesquita’s   emphasis   on   cross-cultural   emotions,   there   is   little   discussion   of whether   the MINE-OURS dichotomy (二分法) accurately explains global cultural variation. Other scholars have noted, for example, that hunter-gatherer societies at the same time emphasize both individual self-government and social cooperation. And in an apparent contradiction to her earlier arguments, Mesquita herself ultimately concludes that Westerners have OURS emotions.

Taken as a whole, however, the book contributes much to the discussion of the origins of emotions, presenting a remarkable collection of cross-cultural studies intermixed with personal stories about foreign residents’ struggles to reunite   diverse   emotional   and   social worlds.   In   chapter   8,   for   example,   Mesquita describes   an   incident   where   she—a   Dutch   native   living   in   the   United   States—bumped   into   the   famous American   psychologist   Hazel   Markus   at   a   conference   Markus   helped   organize.   Wishing   to   express understanding of Markus’s workload, Mesquita declared “You look a little tired.” The remark appeared to make Markus nervous and confused but was intended as an expression of sympathy—to sympathize in Dutch is to acknowledge suffering, not offer comfort as in the US.

The book’s take-home message is fundamental: There are no natural emotions, no inborn emotions, no universal emotions. Mesquita argues that emotions are “meaning making” and “a preparation for action” and that the idea of “emotions as inner states” is a Western construct. Instead, she suggests that emotions are a “dance” cocreated between people who live in a specific cultural context at a particular historical moment.

Culture Shock

Culture shock is the emotional and mental reaction to being in a completely new cultural environment. This is often a very difficult experience for many people and it consist of several stages of feelings until someone successfully adapts to being in the new culture.

The “honeymoon” stage of culture shock is usually the first stage that people go through when surrounded by different cultural values and lifestyles. During this stage, people often have very positive images of their new cultural surroundings. They tend to view these in an idealistic way and ignore or minimize problems. This stage quickly gives way to the second stage, called “the frustration phase”.

During the “frustration stage”, the newcomer begins to experience a more negative view of their cultural surroundings. There is a definite frustration that things that should be easy are still difficult. For example, people who may have been enjoyed learning the basics of a language during the honeymoon phase would now find it a chore to try and communicate with locals in the frustration phase.

After the frustration stage ends, the adjustment phase begins. This marks the time when newcomers begin to adjust themselves to the new culture. They begin to accept the differences around them and the challenges of everyday life. This opens the door to two possible outcomes— mastery and rejection.

Those newcomers who enter the “mastery stage” have completely accepted the values and beliefs of the new culture. Those who choose the “rejection phase” have decided not to accept it. They usually choose to permanently withdraw from the culture through isolation or returning home.

Culture shock is a very emotional experience for most people and there are many symptoms. It is important to recognize these symptoms in newcomers and understand the reasons for these feelings.

People experience ________________ after arriving in a new cultural environment. It usually consists of four stages. First, people find everything is ________________. Then, they start to find things harder and ________________. Next, they learn to ________________. After that, some people will feel completed integrated into the new culture, while some will choose ________________.