2 . It’s school time again! You’re probably feeling excited and maybe a little sad that summer is over. Some kids feel nervous or a little scared on the first day of school because of all the new things: new teachers, new friends, and even a new school. Luckily, these “new” worries only stick around for a little while. Let’s find out more about going to a new school.

Most teachers kick off the new school year by introducing themselves and talking about all the stuff you’ll be doing that year. Some teachers give students a chance to tell something about themselves to the rest of the class, too. When teachers do the talking on the first day, they often go over classroom rules and school rules so you’ll know what’s allowed and what’s not. Please pay close attention.

You might already know a lot of people in your classes on the first day, but it’s a great day to make a new friend, so try to say hello to kids you know and new ones that you don’t. Make the first move and you’ll be glad you did, and so will your new friend!

Seeing friends you haven’t seen for some time can make the first day a good one. You can make the day feel special by wearing clothes that you really like. Maybe you got a great T-shirt on one of your vacations, or a pair of sneakers (运动鞋). It also can make you feel good to be prepared and have all the things you need, such as pencils, folders, and whatever else you’ll be needing. But make sure that you pack them the night before in case you don’t have time in the morning.

A good joke can be hardest thing to understand when studying a foreign language. As a recent report in The Guardian newspaper (卫报) noted, “There’s more to understanding a joke in a foreign language than     1     vocabulary and grammar.”

Being able to understand jokes is hard for a language learner to     2     friends with native (说母语的) speakers. “I always felt that humor was a ceiling (天花板) that I could never break through.” Lina Brown, a public relations manager in London, told The Guardian, “I used to study in Japan. I could never speak to Japanese people on the same level as I would speak to a native English speaker. I was almost a boring person     3     all I could talk about was facts.”

In fact, most of the time, jokes are only funny for people who share a cultural background (文化背景) or understand humor in the     4     way. Chinese-American actor Joe Wong found this out firsthand. He had achieved huge success in the US, but when he returned to China for his first live show in Beijing, he discovered that people     5     think his Chinese jokes were as funny as his English ones.

In Australia, many foreigners find understanding jokes about     6     to be the biggest headache. Let’s take rugby (橄榄球) as an example. “The hardest jokes are related to rugby because I know nothing about rugby and few people play it in China” said Zhang Xiao, a doctor in a hospital in Beijing. He was     7     a student in Australia. He added, “When I heard jokes I didn’t get, I just laughed along.”

In the other two major English-speaking countries, the sense of humor is also different. British jokes seem to be more subtle (微妙的) and dark, while American jokes are more obvious (明显的) with their meanings, a bit like Americans     8    .