(Jane and Lin Tao are talking about classical(古典的) music ， pop music and the Beijing Opera.)

Lin Tao: I really love classical music.  

Jane:  What about pop music? Do you like it?

Lin Tao: Yes, but not so much as classical music.

Jane:  Well, I'm interested in pop music. I like it very much.

Lin Tao:  

Jane:  Yes, certainly.

Lin Tao:  

Jane:  Only a little, but it doesn’t matter whether I understand the words or not.  

Lin Tao: How about the Beijing Opera? Do you like it, too?

Jane:  

Lin Tao: Really? I don't like it at all. I'm afraid I'll fall asleep if I listen to it. It's much too slow.

    TV has a huge influence on our lives. Many people like to watch TV. Watching TV is one of the most important 1 of the day. TV brings the outside 2 closer to people's homes. Some people say the world is  3 than before because of TV. Do you think so?

    What's 4 in other countries? How do people live in faraway(遥远的) places? Is 5 a good sports game somewhere? What lives in the deepest sea?

    If you want to 6 these and other kinds of questions, just 7 the TV and watch. You can see a lot and learn a lot. Of course, people can also learn 8 reading or listening to the radio. 9 with TV they can learn better and more easily. Why? Because they can both hear and see.

    TV helps to open our eyes, and TV also helps to open our 10. TV often gives us new ideas. We learn newer and better ways of doing things.

      Many children act in TV shows. They work several hours every day, so they cannot go to regular school. How do they get an education?

      In Hollywood, many TV shows are made. About forty teachers give lessons to the children in the shows. They teach wherever their pupils are working. The teachers’ job is very important. They are responsible(负责) for making sure that the children work only the permitted(允许) hours each week. They are also responsible for making sure that children learn the required subjects. They make sure, too, that the children get enough rest and play, along with their education.

Children actors are required to attend classes twenty hours each week. California law says they must be taught from September to June. If they do not make much progress in school, they are not permitted to continue working in TV shows. TV children are usually good pupils, and most of their teachers like this special kind of work. Their classes are held in some wonderful places. Sometimes the “classroom” is a Mississippi riverboat, and sometimes it is the inside of a spaceship. Often the pupils become famous TV or movie stars.

    An idiom is a phrase that we can't understand from the m of each word. For example, if an American boy asks his mom what's for dinner tomorrow, she may say “I'll play it by ear”, that means she doesn't have plans for dinner and she will d later.

    “Play it by ear” used to mean playing music w using the sheet music (乐谱), but now people often use it when they're not talking about music!

    There are many idioms in English. If you learn to use them, your English will be much more vivid (生动的) and colorful.

    Have you ever heard the idiom “He bought the farm”? It means he died. Do you know how it became p? It was first used in World War I. When a soldier died, the government gave his family enough money to buy a farm.

    In the early 1930s, people in the US often didn't know when or where their next meal was. So once they got something in their hand that could be e, it would go into their mouth. That was how people began to use the idiom “living hand to mouth” to mean “living a p life”.

    And don't be a if your English friend says this to you, “Break a leg in your game!” He is wishing you good luck! Hundreds of years ago, people believed in sprites (小妖精). Sprites enjoyed causing t. If the sprites heard you ask for something, they would make the o happen. Tell someone to “break a leg” and the sprites would make something good happen.

    Aren't English idioms interesting? And break a leg in your next football m!