Many idioms in English are based on animals.

When children jump around and act silly, for example, their parents may tell them to stop monkeying around. To monkey around means to do things that are not useful or serious, or to 【小题1】 waste time.

But to spend time playing with their family pets wouldn’t count as monkeying around. Many American families have a pet dog, which makes the children feel happy. But for some reason, which language experts do not know, Americans use “dog” in a phrase that means to feel unwell. If you are as sick as a dog, you are really, really sick and will most likely have to stay home and rest, or 【小题2】 go and see a doctor.

Apart from dogs, cats are also beloved family members in U.S. households. Sometimes you may hear them 【小题3】 in Americans’ conversations. “I told you to keep that a secret, but you have just let the cat out of the bag!” You probably have guessed it – that idiom means to reveal a secret or tell facts that were previously unknown.

Dogs and cats don’t always get along, but they appear side by side in a 【小题4】 used idiom. When it rains heavily, people might say it’s raining cats and dogs outside!

Mexico is one of the most famous old cultural【小题3】 in the world. The Maya Civilization(玛雅文明)was developed there. People can see many old buildings in Mexico, such as the Sun Pyramid and the Moon Pyramid. They are very famous places of interest,【小题4】 lots of people from the world visit them every day.

In Mexico, you can see cactuses(仙人掌) 【小题5】. There are about two 【小题6】 kinds of cactuses in the world, and you can find more than half of them in Mexico. Some cactuses are about 17 metres 【小题7】 and 40, 000 kilograms! That’s amazing, isn’t it? So Mexico is called“The Nation of Cactuses”.

Mexico is 【小题8】 the home town of corn. The Mexican usually say, “We created(创造)corn and at the same time, corn created us. ”

There are two special days for parents in America. One is Mother's Day on the 【小题1】 Sunday of May, and the other is Father's Day. On these two days, American children often take their parents out 【小题2】 lunch or dinner. It is becoming more and more 【小题3】 to celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day in China now. I believe that there are many 【小题4】 to show our love. In fact, we don't have to spend a lot of money. It is also a good idea to help parents to do something 【小题5】.