1. Shaking hands is a polite gesture indicating friendship and acceptance. At one time, however, meeting with a stranger aroused suspicion and fear. To prevent each other from suddenly attacking, strangers joined right hands as a pledge of non-aggression, thus demonstrating that neither party was about to use a weapon. Handshaking is now the activity practised by both men and women not only to greet one another, but to seal a contract as well.

2. The American “OK” sign, the joining of the thumb and forefinger in a circle, indicates that all is well or perfect. The “OK” sign acquired its modern connotation from the ancient world, wherein the circle itself was one of the oldest and most common symbols for perfection. The verbal expression “OK” is native to the United States and was formed in support of the letter “O” indicating that something was as perfect as a circle.

3. When not used in hitchhiking, the thumbs-up gesture in American culture typically indicates “I like that”, while the thumbs-down gesture indicates your negative feelings towards something. The gesture has been linked to the time of the Roman arena, where the emperor supposedly ordered life or death for a gladiator by turning thumbs up or thumbs down.

4. Crossing one’s fingers serves as protection from bad luck or from the penalties associated with lying. Thus, when people wish for good luck, they cross their fingers, and when they wish not to be held accountable for a lie, they cross their fingers and hide their arms behind their backs to not let on that they are lying.

5. By sticking out their tongues, people react to situations that may be unpleasant for them. Such displays indicate laughing or rejection. For example, children often stick out their tongues to tease each other. Or, they may also stick out their tongues in reaction to activities requiring close concentration; hence, the tongue-showing of children focused on their homework.

Generation Gap

As president of the Walt Disney Company’s children’s book and magazine publishing unit, Russell Hampton knows a thing or two about teenagers. Or he thought as much until he was driving his 14-year-old daughter, Katie, and two friends to a play last year in Los Angeles.

“Katie and her friends were sitting in the back seat talking to each other about some movie star; I think it was Orlando Bloom,” recalled Mr. Hampton. “I made some comment about him, I don’t remember exactly what, but I got the typical eenager sigh and Katie rolled her eyes at me as if to say, ‘Oh Dad, you are so out of it.’ ”

After that, the back-seat chattering stopped. When Mr. Hampton looked into his rearview mirror he saw his daughter sending a text message on her cellphone. “Katie, you shouldn’t be texting all the time,” Mr. Hampton recalled telling her. “Your friends are there. It’s rude.” Katie rolled her eyes again.

“But, Dad, we’re texting each other,” she replied. “I don’t want you to hear what I’m saying.” Mr. Hampton turned his attention back to the freeway. It’s a common scene these days, one playing out in cars, kitchens and bedrooms across the country.

Children increasingly rely on personal technological devices like ellphones to define themselves and create social circles apart from their families, changing the way they communicate with their parents. Adults and teenagers alike found a form of easy communication unknown to the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, and his daughters.

And the computer, along with the Internet, has given even very young children virtual lives distinctly separate from those of their parents and siblings.

Social psychologists who have studied the social impact of mobile communications, say these trends are likely to continue as cellphones turn into mini hand-held computers, social networking devices and pint-sized movie screens.

“For kids it has become an identity-shaping and psyche-changing object,” Ms. Turkle said. “No one creates a new technology really understanding how it will be used or how it can change a society.”

Lollipop Men and Women

In Britain someone helping children cross the street is called “lollipop person”, because their sign looks like a lollipop.

The job of a lollipop person is to walk to the middle of the road at a suitable time, (1) __________; it is a legal requirement for traffic (2) __________. The lollipop man/lady will signal that it is all right (3) __________. Traffic may only move once the sign has been lowered.

Generally speaking, school crossings are manned for approximately 3 hours a day or less. As a result, the work has always appealed more to people who were just seeking (4) __________ such as the retired.

Lollypop people were introduced (5) __________, who had previously run crossing patrols, to perform other duties. The earliest lollipops were red and black rectangles printed with “Stop, Children Crossing”.

In 2001 in Europe patrollers were given extra powers allowing them (6) __________. The most recent change in the history of the School Crossing Patrol saw the word “children” replaced with a symbol to bring the UK in line with the rest of the EU

Harry Potter Film Takes $168m to Break Ticket Records

The (9) __________ Harry Potter movie has shattered box office records in the US and Canada, taking $168m over its opening weekend.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 had already made $92.1m on its opening day, said the film’s distributor, Warner Bros. The (10) __________ opening weekend record was held (11) __________ Batman film The Dark Knight, (12) __________ took $10m.

The Potter film is the eighth movie in the hugely popular franchise. Fans around the world (13) __________ for hours to be among the first to see the film, which was based on the second part of JK Rowling’s seventh and final book in the series.

Most cinemas were showing the film in 3D, which slightly increased the ticket (14) __________.

The (15) __________ Potter film series has so far earned more than £4bn worldwide, not including the final film’s takings so far. Internationally, the film had taken $157.5m by Friday. “A billion dollars is (16) __________ going to happen,” said Dan Fellman, head of domestic distribution at Warner Bros. It has been 10 years (17) __________ the first movie in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was (18) __________. It made stars of its young cast, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.

Ancient Olympic Events

The ancient Olympics were rather different from the modern Games. There were (19) __________ events, and only free men who (20) __________ Greek could compete, instead of athletes from any country. Also, the games were always held at Olympia instead of moving around to different sites every time.

Like our Olympics, though, winning athletes were heroes who made their (21) _________ towns proud. One young Athenian nobleman defended his political reputation by (22) __________ how he entered seven chariots in the Olympic chariot-race. This high number of entries made both the aristocrat and Athens (23) __________ very wealthy and powerful.

Enduring Masterpiece

Although it’s known as the Mona Lisa, (24) __________ famous painting was (25) __________ titled La Giaconda. Painted on wood, it’s a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a Florentine merchant. X-rays (26) __________ that Leonardo sketched three different poses before (27) __________ on the final design. The painting of Lisa has no eyebrows because it was the fashion of the time for women (28) __________ them off.

Writing

You’ve got a letter from your English pen-friend in which he/she wrote you about his/her future plans. He/she wants to become an actor. And your friend is sure that this profession will give him/her the opportunity to become famous and make a lot of money. Write a letter to your pen-friend in which say
• about your thoughts regarding his/her career plans
• what you are going to do after leaving school
• how you prepare yourself for your future profession
• what you think is necessary to be successful in your future job