There are hundreds of funny and strange expressions in the English language. A lot of them include country names or nationalities. Take these examples:

The Dutch（丹麦人）are the target of most English expressions about nationalities. Why are there so many jokes about the Dutch in English? And what do these expressions mean? In the 17th and early 18th centuries, there were three wars between the British and the Dutch, and Dutch became a bad word. So double Dutch means something that has no meaning or is impossible to understand. A Dutch uncle is someone who gives much stronger advice than they need to. There are later expressions, which are funnier and kinder, like to go Dutch, which is nowadays a popular expression. It means to pay for your part of a bill. This often happens when a group of friends have a meal together, and each person pays for the food they ate. I’m a Dutchman is another commonly used expression. This means not being able to believe something.

An expression with a similar meaning to double Dutch is it’s all Greek to me, which means I don’t understand. The expression was made famous in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar although the expression is actually hundreds of years older.

If you take French leave, you are not present or leave somewhere without permission. For example, you could take French leave from a classroom or the place where you work. This expression is from the 18th century when French people left parties without saying goodbye to the host or hostess.

There are Chinese whispers, which mean confused（令人困惑的）messages. This describes the fact that a message can often change as it is passed from person to person. This expression comes from the First World War when foreigners were often confused by Chinese language.

Many people find English expressions confusing, but now that you know about some of them, you can easily have fun finding out many more funny English expressions.

1.Are there many jokes about the Dutch in English?

2.When did Dutch become a bad word?

3.What does “French leave” mean?

4.Which three expressions mentioned above have similar meanings?

5.What do the funny and strange expressions in the passage have in common?

Nowadays many people go abroad. Then they must learn some customs about the country because different countries have different customs. In order that we can learn more about customs, the Culture Palace has invited some foreign speakers to give us speeches. Here is the timetable.

1.The Culture Palace invites some foreign speakers to give speeches, because __________.

2.Mr Smith comes from_________.

3.If you want to go to England on business, you can attend the speech in __________.

4.How much is it if someone wants to listen to all the speeches?

5.Which of the following is true according to the timetable?

完成句子

根据句意及括号内的汉语提示，完成句子。（每空一词）

1.Low-carbon is a popular word nowadays.  We should make a great contribution to__________(保护)the environment.

2.There are 56_______(民族)in China.  We are like a big family.

3.There will be a ________(强) Wind in the northeast of china.

4.GPS is one of the greatest__________(发明) in the world.

5.Bolt is a magic__________(奔跑着) in the world I think.

6.I’m Sorry to tell you that the situation has become _______(坏) than before.

Nowadays more and more Chinese teenagers find life more difficult without their parents. They don’t know how to do 1.h        because their parents do almost everything for them at home. This is a big 2.p       .

Joy is 14 years old. Last month her parents went aboard on 3.b       , so she had to stay at home alone. At first she thought she would be 4.h        when her parents were not in. She could do everything that she liked. 5.B        when it was six o’clock in the afternoon, she felt 6.h       . “Oh, it’s time to have supper. Where can I get my food?” she said to herself. 7.L        she found some food in the fridge, but she didn’t know how to cook. At that moment, she 8.m        her parents very much. At last she could only go to the supermarket and bought some food to9.e       .

Many teenagers are the same as Joy. So I think they should 10.l        some life skills, like cooking, tidying up their rooms or dressing themselves properly. They shouldn’t depend too much on their parents.

根据下列句子及所给汉语注释，写出空缺处各单词的正确形式，每空只写一词。
【小题1】The old woman looked_________(着急的) because she couldn't find her purse.
【小题2】Sorry, I can’t follow you. Would you please speak more __________（缓慢地）?
【小题3】He got five m_________(百万) dollars from his grandpa.
【小题4】Peter is c___________(自信的) of winning the basketball match against the No.1 Middle School Team.
【小题5】He is r_________(视为) as the best writer nowadays.