Most people buy a lot of gifts just before Christmas. But some people think we buy too much. They have started a special day called Buy Nothing Day. 【小题1】

Buy Nothing Day is on November 29. It’s 25 days before Christmas. It’s after Thanksgiving and often the first day of Christmas shopping. 【小题2】

The idea for Buy Nothing Day started in Vancouver, British Columbia. 【小题3】 In California, parents and children get together to read stories, sing songs, and paint pictures. The children talk about why they don’t need a lot of toys. This year, in Manchester, England, people dressed up in costumes to tell people that we buy too much.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, high school students wanted to tell other students about Buy Nothing Day. They organized a spaghetti dinner to give people information about Buy Nothing Day. 【小题4】 They made posters and talked to other students about it. The dinner was a big success, and many students agreed not to buy anything on November 29. The students at high schools liked the idea of this new tradition. 【小题5】

It is interesting when you think about how Japan is a nation that appreciates the virtues of silence and good manners, and yet when it comes to eating noodles, Japanese people can be the loudest in the world.

According to lifestyle website grapee.jp, slurping (发出“哧溜”声) when eating noodles is encouraged in Japanese culture. It is believed that taking air into your mouth can enhance the flavor of the noodles, and that it helps cool down the noodles. It is also considered to be a way to show appreciation for the dish. Sometimes, just making the noise alone seems to make the noodles more enjoyable.

It was not until a new expression “noodle harassment (骚扰)” ,or “hu-hara” in Japanese - came out last year on social media that Japanese people started to realize that the slurping noise is making some foreign visitors uncomfortable.

As a response, Japanese instant noodle maker Nissin introduced a so-called noise-canceling fork last month. The fork, which looks like an electric toothbrush, is connected wirelessly to a smartphone. When the person using the fork starts to slurp, the fork sends a signal to the person’s phone, making it play a sound to mask the slurping noise. “The fork is a solution to the ‘noodle harassment’ issue, particularly as the number of tourists visiting Japan increases,” said the company, according to Euro News.

But is it really necessary?

Dining traditions do vary. What is considered to be proper table manners in one country is likely to be seen as rude in another. (In India, for example people eat with their hands because they think in this way they build a connection with the food. However, people who are used to eating with utensils might find it uncomfortable to get their hands covered in oil and bits of food. But this eating method is part of India’s culture, just like Japan’s slurping. It is common and an everyday part of the nation’s culture.

“So, if you are eating noodles, whether that is ramen, udon, or soba, please slurp,” wrote reporter Brian Ashcraft on blog Kotaku. “If anyone gets annoyed while you are doing that, pay them no mind because they are missing the point entirely.”

Christmas around the world is a wonderful time for celebration and a sharing of Christmas traditions around the world. No matter where you and your family spend your Christmas around the world, it is sure to be a time for laughter and cheer.

It is both interesting and exciting to learn about other Christmas traditions around the world. Christmas around the world for many is a time full of stories, traditions and beliefs, nowhere is this more true than in the country of Poland where superstitions(迷信) and legends take preference.

Christmas Eve in Poland is a time for family gathering and reunion. It is also considered to be a night of magic. It was believed long ago that animals talked and had the power to tell the future. The traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner is a grand feast including twelve different dishes representing the twelve months of the year.

Usually the meal will not include any meat except for fish. Some of the favorite dishes include wild mushrooms or peas, dried fruit compote (蜜饯) for dessert, dumplings with a variety of fillings. When dinner is finished, the host will give a signal for everyone to rise as it is bad luck for only one person to rise at a time.

Christmas in Poland would not be complete without the storytelling and Christmas songs sung around the Christmas tree. In Poland after the traditional Christmas Eve dinner, the remainder of the night is reserved for exactly that storytelling and singing while sitting around the beautifully decorated tree with its glass decorations, eggshells colored paper and straw.