Wang Fei, a Chinese student, and Mary, an American student studying Chinese in China, were in a supermarket. They saw a young man 1 down the stairs. In his hurry, he missed the last two steps and fell onto the ground. He tried to stand up 2 people around him laughed. Luckily, he seemed to be OK.

    Mary found Wang Fei smiling a little and was not happy 3 it. "Tell me, Wang Fei, how could people laugh when someone fell like that? Why didn't they go up and ask him if he was hurt?"

    Wang Fei said, "Because they knew he wasn't hurt too 4 ."

    "But I still don't understand. A fall is a fall. In my culture, people would never laugh!"

    This is an example. The Chinese and the western will think and act differently when seeing 5a thing. Chinese people are used to laughing or smiling. Very often the person who is in embarrassing situation would also laugh or smile to get out of it.6 , if someone gets hurt seriously, it will not be a laughing matter any more. People will help him or her instead.

    But, in that case, a westerner will rush over and help the person get up. If a westerner falls, he or she, like a Chinese person, may try to make a joke if he or she is not hurt. If two close friends are walking together, and one falls 7 clearly isn't hurt, a common joke is to say "Have a nice trip."

    So different people have different habits and different countries have different cultures.

    Every year, thousands of students choose to study in a country. More than 30 per cent of these students go to the United States. Around 15 per cent go to Italy, and 10 per cent go to b England and Germany. A little less than 10 per cent go to Australia, and around 5 per cent go to Canada.

    No matter where a student chooses to study, there are some things universities around the world need. First, all students must graduate from high school b they can apply (申请) to a university. Most universities also need some kind of standard (标准化的) exam, such as the SAT in the United states. Students w do not come from English-speaking countries also must take a test such as the TOEFL in the United States and Canada to show they know e English to study in English. England and Australia require students to take the LELTS.

    In most countries, students must apply to each university they h to go to. However, students applying to universities in England can use one form to apply to six universities at one time t the British Council (英国文化学会). Many students like this because it can save them a lot of time and money. For universities in other countries, students must fill in different forms for each university and pay a fee (费用) with each application (应用).