After having traveled through Thailand for over a month, I feel pleasant, because I’ve seen and learnt quite a few things—not just about the country, but also about Thai people.

Here are some things that I have learned about Thai people:

◆They always give you the warmest, friendliest smile—if you smile first.

That people are often very friendly, and many do smile at you in the street. But most of the time, they look at you, and if your eyes meet and you smile, then they will smile back right away.

If you don’t smile, however, neither do they. My experience has often been that they smile bigger and more brightly than you, when you smile first.

◆No matter how early you get up in the morning, most of them will already be awake and working.

It’s true that I’m an early bird. But no matter when I get up, it feels like the city has been awake for just a little longer than me.

People are already in their shops, at the market or in the factory when I get up. It’s not that the city never sleeps. They just don’t sleep the way we do.

◆When it comes to transport, there is no such thing as “full”.

They can always let one more person get on the bus. We had about 33 people in a mini-bus, which in China maybe only 18 people were allowed to get on—it was crazy!

Have you ever been to Thailand? And what did you learn about Thai people?

Can plants talk? Modern research has found something amazing: they do communicate with each other. It has been known for some time that plants use chemicals to communicate with each other. This happens when a plant gets attacked (攻击) by insects. The plant gives out chemicals from the leaves that are being eaten. When another plant gets the chemicals, it starts to give out its own, different chemicals. Some of these chemicals drive insects away. Scientists hope to learn more about this plant warning system, so that we can use it to grow more crops.

Most surprisingly of all, plants have an amazing system of communication that can link (连接) nearly every plant in a forest. Scientists call this system the “wood wide web”. The wood wide web is linked underground by fungi (霉菌). It links the roots of different plants to each other. It is in some ways similar to the Internet we use. Using the wood wide web, plants can share information and even food with each other. However it may lead to bad influence. Plants may use it to steal food from each other.

Scientists are learning more every day about the secret ways in which plants talk to each other. Maybe one day we will know enough about plant communication to be able to “talk” with them ourselves.

Many countries have different ideas about different animals, but when we talk about pigs, we may have the same idea of them---the pigs are ugly, lazy and stupid(蠢的).

Just look at the idioms(习惯) in Chinese. We have “Boiling a dead pig, ” and “A big looking in the mirrors still a pig.” And in English, they have “eating like a pig” and “sweating like a pig,” None(没有一个)of them are good.

In fact, there are some good things about pigs. And maybe now is the best time to clear(澄清)their names because 2019 is the Year of the Pig in China.

First, pigs are not stupid. Their EQ is like dogs and chimpanzees(黑猩猩). They can remember things for a long time. And some pigs can learn things from people.

Second, pigs are very clean animal. On farms, they live in dirty places, so they are very dirty. In the wild(野外). Pigs are very clean.

Third, pigs are very friendly animals. Some people keep them as pets. Of course, people keep the small kind, not the big kind. Small pigs are very cute.

There are cute pigs in cartoons, too. Peppa Pig, for example, a UK cartoon, becomes popular in many countries. The four pigs in the cartoon teach children about love, friendship and family. In China, we have McDull(麦兜), a pig who works hard to make his dream come true.