If you're the kind of person who loves travel but finds it difficult to break down language barriers，you may want to check out ICONSPEAK，a T-shirt covered in basic pictographs（图画文字）ranging from clocks to bathrooms. Simply point to the symbol associated with your need，and hopefully，the person you're talking to will understand you soon. I can tell you that it's better than having to make gestures to strangers.

ICONSPEAK is the brainchild of friends George and Florian. They were traveling through Asia in 2013 and found themselves in a remote（偏远的）village with no vehicle，no tourism，and just some locals. The problems they had while trying to express their needs to the locals inspired them to start working on a simple yet effective solution to the language gap. Two years later，they came up with the ICONSPEAK T-shirt.“In the furthest and deepest corners of our world we were repeatedly left with no words，either in breathtaking awe（赞叹）due to the scenery or in empty silence due to our lacking linguistic talents，”its website states.“Such situations got us thinking about how to bridge language barriers with simplicity on a global level. The answer came to us after a remarkable experience in Vietnam: ICONs. Because with ICONs, you can SPEAK, and you can SPEAK to the world.”

The ICONSPEAK collection consists of three types of T-shirts — long, short, sleeveless — as well as large bags and hats that feature fewer icons. The products are available internationally through the website, with the founders attesting that they work anywhere in the world.“I have used it in Norway,”said George.“It works beautifully — the people you ask are surprisingly quick in getting what you want or mean since they are anyway thinking in a certain context. If you point to the bus and the clock on the shirt and you do this at a bus stop, anybody will know that you want to know when the next bus leaves.”

ICONSPEAK is a clear example that the answer to complex problems can be very simple. I have yet to try the shirt, but somehow I have no doubt that it actually works. It might not always help, but for common problems, like finding a telephone, the nearest hotel or an ATM, ICONSPEAK seems like a good solution.

   The degree of individual freedom that exists in America seems loose and therefore uncomfortable to many visitors，while in many countries，people will tell you what they think you want to hear，whether it is true or not. To them，this is the _____ thing to do. To Americans，it is considered confusing — even dishonest — to _____ telling the true facts，_____ avoiding the truth is done only to be polite. It is helpful to remember that different cultures _____ some matters more important than others. To Americans，however，_____ and truth are the most important. One of the worst things that can be _____ about someone in America is that“you cannot trust him”.

_____ such differences in values among the many cultures of the world，it is _____ that misunderstandings will occur.“How far is it to the next town？”an American asks a man standing at the edge of a road. In some countries，because the man _____ that the traveler is tired and ______ to reach the next village，he will politely say,“______ down the road.”He thinks this is more encouraging, gentler, and therefore the ______ the traveler wants to hear. So the American drives alone for many more hours before he comes to the village. The traveler is ______, feeling“tricked”. He thinks that the man has lied to him ______ because he must have known quite well what the ______ is.

If a visitor to the United States asked an American standing at the edge of a road how far the next town was, the American would think it dishonest if he said it was near ______ he knew it was really 24 miles away. Although he, too, would be ______ to the tired traveler, he would say,“You have a long way to go yet; it is ______ 24 miles more.”The traveler might be disappointed, but he would know what to ______, and there would be no ______.

I think university life is a time for learning and experiencing new things. I can meet the other young people like me from many different place and can make lots of friends. I will probably study and live away home during this time，so I will have a lot more independence. Study at university will be quite differently from studying at high school. I may not have so much homework to finish every day，and I will have to spend much more time working by myself. I know that in any university where are different societies or clubs organizing by the students themselves. I want to join the film society and the travel club because I showed interest in both activities. These societies and clubs can make my life interesting and help us make friends.