2 . Bringing goods into the UK

You are allowed to bring some goods for personal use without paying tax or duty.

You can bring goods from EU countries without being charged tax or duty if they are:

● transported by yourself; ● a gift or for personal use; ● bought with tax and duty included.

You can bring alcohol and tobacco from EU countries without restriction but an inquiry(调查) might be required depending on the amount of your goods.

You will be free of duty or tax on certain amounts of goods brought from outside the EU, as long as they are for your own use. Any goods that are beyond your allowance should be declared.

Alcohol & tobacco allowance:

Allowance for other goods:

The maximum value of other goods you can bring is £390. Any single item that is worth more than the allowance will be charged duty or tax on its full value.

The rate of duty or tax on items above the allowance is:

● 2.5% for goods worth up to £630;

● decided by the type of goods worth above £630 — check by calling the VAT, Customs.

Goods banned include:

● illegal drugs; ● offensive weapons; ● endangered animal and plant species;

● meat and dairy(乳制的) products from most non-EU countries.

Food and plant products restricted include:

● products containing pests and diseases; ● products grown outside the EU;

● products not for your own use.

3 . Traveling by subway can sometimes be quite an adventure, especially during rush hour. There are the times when you have to avoid cups of coffee that could spill (溅) on you. The smells of some passengers’ food are very strong, too. According to the Beijing subway passenger regulations, which went into effect on May 15th, passengers except babies and the sick are no longer allowed to eat or drink on the subway. Violators (违反者) who do not stop after being asked to will be asked to get off. The violation will also be recorded in the violators’ credit record.

Some support the rule. The reason is that the smell of food and drink can annoy other passengers. “The smell of food fills the carriage, causing people discomfort, especially in the hot summer, Besides, eating on the subway produces rubbish. And on subway trains, people often spill their drinks,” said Zheng Yiou, 17, a student from Hefei.

However, others question this rule. “Some citizens live so far from their work places that they have limited time to have breakfast before they go to work. Eating while they travel saves them time and decreases the chance that they will be late for work,” He Songlin, a 17-year-old student from Chengdu said, “And some people, like those with low- blood sugar levels, get sick if they can’t eat when they must.”

Other Chinese cities like Nanjing and Chengdu have similar regulations. Some foreign cities also ban eating and drinking on the subway. For example, eating and drinking have long been banned on the subway in Washington DC. Singapore fines people who eat or drink on the subway up to 500 Singapore dollars, which is RMB 2,417 yuan.

Chen Yanyan, a professor from Beijing University of Technology, believed we should consider the need of some people to eat or drink on the subway. “Commuters (上班族) and travelers are sometimes too busy to eat. Maybe we could learn from Tokyo, where there are many subway stations equipped with services, allowing passengers to eat and drink,” she said.