If someone says to you “give me five”, don’t give five yuan to him! It will make others laugh! The person is not asking for your money, but for your fingers. In the USA, “give me five” is a popular body language. It means the slapping（拍）of each other’s right hands together. People do it when something happy happens. For example, if a student gets an “A” in the exam or gets No.1 in the school sports meeting, he will do “give me five” to his friends to celebrate. Why did he or she do that? There are many different stories about how the “give me five” began. One common story about it goes like this: A very long time ago, some Americans met a group of wild animals which they had never seen before, and they put their hands up into the air and slapped each other’s hands. They just wanted to show their excitement. Whatever the beginning of the “give me five” is, it is an important part of American culture.

People communicate in many different ways. The most common way is by talking with others. Except for talking, we can also use body language. When we use body language, we need to use body to show what we mean. Sign language is a kind of body language. Let’s see more about it.

Sign language is popular among dumb people who are unable to speak or don’t want to speak. If you want to communicate with a foreigner, but you can’t speak his language and he can’t speak Chinese, what can you do? Maybe you can communicate by making signs. Now let’s learn some signs Indians often use.

★When they are hungry, they move their right hands back and forth in front of their stomachs.

★When they mean “Let’s eat”, they put their right hands and move them up and down in front of their mouths.

★When they have had enough, they part their thumbs and first fingers, and move their hands from their chests to chins（下巴）.

★If they have a stomachache, they put both hands on their stomachs, and move them back and forth.

When I first come to America, I live with a family. In the family there are Mr. Brown, Mrs. Brown and three little kids. They go to the school close to their house. I help them do some housework for 15 hours from Monday to Friday. I get three meals and a room to live in. My work is to walk the kids to school in the morning, pick up (接) the kids from school in the afternoon and do some work around the house. Most of the time work inside ( 在……里面) the house doing some cleaning and washing. I don’t help with garden wok, but only when Mr. Brown and Mrs. Brown get very busy (忙碌) in the garden.

One day, they are busy with the new swimming pool in the garden. I am on the second floor cleaning the floor. When I hear ( 听 到 ) a call from the end of the swimming pool, I run out of the door and hear Mr. Brown say, “Jane, do you have time?” “They must need some help.” I say to myself. Then I run quickly (快地) to the end of the swimming pool and ask Mr. Brown, “How can I help?” Then Mr. Brown says, “Do you have the time?” I begin laughing at myself (笑自己) and tell him the time. I don’t hear the word clearly (清晰地) and don’t get what he says at the beginning.

Now I am very careful when people are saying “have time” or “have the time”. Then I can give the right answer.