It is awkward（令人尴尬的）when everyone around you bursts out laughing at a joke that you do not find funny, especially if it's a joke told in a foreign language.

While Chinese students find it easy to adapt to a foreign lifestyle, socializing with locals is much harder, according to a recent study. Researchers looked at how well Chinese students made themselves a part of communities across the world. Of all the activities they struggled with, understanding jokes was considered the toughest.

Most of the time, jokes are funny only for people who share a common cultural background or are aware of humor in the same way.

Being able to understand local jokes can help students feel a sense of belonging. But even without the ability to understand jokes, students should not feel any less confident about themselves.

"It's OK if you don't get the jokes. Don't doubt yourself because in most time, it is not a problem of language ability but a matter of the known and unknown, "said Christine Han, who was once an overseas student and is now an Australian permanent resident.

Australia is ready-made for jokes, thanks to its history as a colony for prisoners, its unusual accent, the inner bush country and its strange food. However, to most Chinese overseas students, understanding jokes about sports is the biggest headache. Sport is an important part of Australian national identity.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 16percent（3. 3 million）of the population aged 15 years and over watched Australian football in 2010. About 9 percent（1. 9 million）attended a rugby league game.

British actor and comedian Simon Pegg discussed the differences between British and American sense of humor in a column of The Guardian. He believes that while Brits use irony（反语）on a daily basis, the Americans do not see the point of using it so frequently . He wrote, "British jokes, on the other hand, tend to be more subtle with a dark or sarcastic（讽刺的）undertone while the American jokes are more obvious and forward, a bit like Americans themselves. "

In the West, when you go to a restaurant, you choose all that you want to eat;you do not choose a dish to share with others. Your food 【小题1】（ bring） to you, for you alone. As a guest, you may have the problem that the food you like is expensive. So you dare not order it, for it feels greedy. But when you choose something 【小题2】   （ little） expensive, your host will order what you really want.

But“ordering badly”is a bigger problem. Something can sound nice on the menu, but when it comes, you find that the 【小题3】（ combine） of flavors（味道） is wrong. But it is 【小题4】（you）, and you have to do your best to eat it. I have a friend in London 【小题5】 orders badly. Never has she really 【小题6】（enjoy） her meal.

In China, the question is not . “What shall I have? 【小题7】 ”“ What shall we have?” Food is ordered to share with others, not just 【小题8】 oneself. My friends here usually take my likes and dislikes into consideration when 【小题9】（order）, and I do the same for them. But if something I don't like is ordered, it's not a problem because there are all the other 【小题10】（dish） that I can enjoy.

Prime Minister of the UK Theresa May's visit to China shows the more frequent communication between Britain and China. The cultural differences between the two countries have caused a heated 【小题1】（discuss）.

Table manners are the important process in our daily life. We get used to using chopsticks 【小题2】 Englishmen use knives and forks. It's impolite 【小题3】（laugh）when you are eating in Britain, which suggests you don't respect others. 【小题4】 the contrary, we laugh and talk during a meal. What's more, in Britain, people have to drive along the left side of the road, but traffic in our country 【小题5】（keep）to the right. Besides, for Chinese students, what they have experienced in studying is 【小题6】 organized learning way. Students are asked to follow a clear plan.【小题7】（compare） with Chinese education, British education is 【小题8】（flexibility） and imaginative. Students there are encouraged to discuss the subject they want to learn. Last but not least, in China, "thank you" is not frequently used between friends and family members. However, "thank you" is 【小题9】（wide） used in Britain.

There is no sense in debating 【小题10】is better. We owe these manners to the different history, but you should do as the Romans do.

   Some years ago, I was hired by an American bank. I received a letter from the head of the Personnel Department that _______. "Dear John, I am quite pleased that you have decided to join us." That "quite" _______ me. I thought he was saying" We're _______ pleased you decided to join us although I _______ we had hired someone else. "Then I discovered that in American English "quite" sometimes means "very", _______ in British English it means "fairly".

So the _______ lesson about working in other countries is to _______ the language and by that I don't just _______ the words people speak. It contains _______ language, dress, manners, ideas and so on. The way people do things ________ many of the differences we see between cultures.

Some of these differences may be only on the surface-dress, food and hours of work-while ________ may be deeper and take longer to deal with. Mostly, it is just a question of getting used to the ________ and accepting them, like the climate, while we're getting on with business.

Some of the differences may be a（n）________. People are ________ polite; the service is better; you ask something to be done and it happens without having to ask again.________, other differences can be ________ punctuality（准时）.If you invite people to a party at 7 o'clock, your guests will consider it polite to ________ exactly on time in Germany, five minutes early in the American Midwest, an hour early in Japan, 15 minutes afterwards in the UK, up to an hour afterwards in Italy and some in the evening in Greece. I ________ not to use the word "late" because there is nothing wrong with the ________ people base their behavior on. It is simply ________ in their own country.