Every Chinese-language textbook starts out with the standard phrases for greeting people. But as an American, I always found myself unable to speak freely when it came to _____ guests at the door. Just a goodbye would not do, yet that was all I had ever _____ the books. So I would smile and nod, bowing like a Japanese and searching _____ for words that would smooth over（缓和）the visitors' leaving and make them feel they would be _____ to come again. In my unease, I often hid behind the skirts of my Chinese husband's kindness.

Then finally, listening to others, I began to pick up the phrases that _____ relationships and sent people off not only successfully but also skillfully.

The parting for the Chinese includes a lot of necessary habitual practice. Although as a _____ I'm not expected to observe or even know all the rules, I've had to learn the expressions of politeness and _____ at a leave-taking.

The Chinese feel they are _____ to see a guest off to the farthest possible point-down the flight of stairs to the street below or perhaps all the way to the _____bus stop. I've sometimes waited half an hour or more for my husband to ______ from seeing a guest off, ______ he's gone to the bus stop and waited for the next bus to arrive.

That's all very well, but when I'm the guest being seen off, my polite refusals are always ______ .My hostess or host, or both, insist on ______ me down the stairs and well on my way, with my repeating the "Don't ______ to see me off" at every landing. If I try to go fast to ______ them from following, they are simply out to the discomfort of having to run after me. Better to ______ the inevitable（不可避免的）.

Besides, that's going against Chinese ______ , because haste（doing things quickly）is to be avoided. What do you say when you ______ someone？People often say "Go slowly" ______ "Farewell". To the Chinese it means" Take care" or" Watch your ______ ", or some such caution, but translated literally（按字面）it means "Go slowly".

It's not unusual for youth nowadays to speak more than one language, but 32-year-old Muhamed Mesic can communicate fluently in 56 different languages.

As a little boy, Muhamed 【小题1】（discover）to have an unusual talent for quickly learning to communicate in different languages. Once he was on vacation with his family in Greece, he was able to figure out 【小题2】 the locals were saying from the situation they were in.

But that was only the beginning of his journey to mastering as many languages 【小题3】 he could. When he was nine, he picked up Swedish from the Swedish soldiers in his town. Soon after, he went to Hungary and managed to learn Hungarian as well. And he 【小题4】（become） fluent in the Baltic language in just 2 weeks, with the help of YouTube and 43 cartoons.

Though having the great ability 【小题5】（learn）foreign languages quickly, Muhamed also devotes almost all of his time to 【小题6】（study） them. "The more languages you speak, the 【小题7】（easy） it is to learn new ones, because many of them have lots of 【小题8】（similar）, "he says.

Today, Muhamed speaks an 【小题9】（impress）56 different languages, from common ones like English or Portuguese, 【小题10】 Japanese and Georgian, and even languages that most of us have never even heard of, like Kinyarwanda or Quechua.

When I was a kid, the very thing that aroused my interest about New Year's Eve was trying to stay wake until midnight. My parents didn't force me to go to bed early. However, I usually fell asleep before the New Year arrives. It wasn't until my 10th birthday when I could stay up late but was able to cheer with the rest of the family. I woke up happily next morning. When asking if I wanted to make a New Year's wish, I said I would try to fight less with my brother. Unfortunately, the wish was lasted only until dinner time. The reason was that my brother and me got into an argue about who would set the table.