On New Year’s Day, many people eat special food for good luck.

1 In Spain and some Latin American countries, people eat twelve grapes for good luck at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Each grape stands for one month of the new year.

2 Chinese people eat dumplings. Some are made with coins inside. Everyone tries to find the coins for luck and money in the new year. Of course they don’t eat the coins.

3 Japanese people eat noodles on New Year’s Eve and their birthdays. It may bring them good luck and long life.

When you wave to a friend, you are using body language. When you smile at someone you mean to be friendly. When you put one finger in front of your mouth, you mean “be quiet.” Yet, people in different countries may use different body languages. Once an Englishman was in Italy. He could speak little Italian. One day while he was walking in the street, he felt hungry and went into a restaurant. When the waiter came, the Englishman opened his mouth, put his fingers into it and took them out again and moved his lips. In this way, he meant to say, “Bring me something to eat.” But the waiter brought him a lot of things to drink, first tea, then coffee then milk, but no food. The Englishman was sorry that he was not able to tell the waiter he was hungry. He was ready to leave the restaurant when another man came in. The man put his hands on his stomach, and this body language was good enough for the waiter. In a few minutes, the waiter brought him a large plate of bread and meat. Finally the Englishman had his meal in the same way.

English people and Chinese people are different（不同的）in many ways（很多方面）. For example（例如）, English names are different from Chinese names.

Many English people have three names, a first name (a given name), a middle name and a last name (or a family name). For example, my name is James Allen Green. James is my first name. Allen is my middle name. Green is my last name. We don’t use（使用）Mr., Mrs., Ms. or Miss before（在……之前）the first names. We should（应当）use them before the family names.

But in China, people use Mr., Mrs., Ms. or Miss before their first names, because（因为）the first name is the family name. For example, my name is Lin Tao. “Lin” is my family name, and “Tao” is my given name.