【正文】 that i t m akes you bel i eve that i t i s one of the best m eal s he has ever tasted! Charl i e Chapl in wrote, di rected and produced the fil ms the starred i n. In 1972 he was gi ven a speci al O scar for hi s outstandi ng work i n fi lm s. H e li ved i n Engl and and the USA but spend hi s last years i n Swi tzerl and, where he was buri ed i n 1977. He i s l oved and rem em bered as a great actor who coul d i nspi re peopl e wi th great confi dence. AN APRI L FOOL’S JOKE: THE NOODLE HARVEST April Fool ’s day, or April 1st , i s known i n m any countri es as a day for pl ayi ng jokes on others. It i s usual l y a tim e when chi l dren m ake fun of each other, but som etim es other peopl e can get caught i n the fun too. O ne of the m ost fam ous jokes in Engl and took place on Bri tish tel evi si on i n 1957. It was a Monday ni ght when there were al ways m any seri ous programm es on the tel evi si on. O ne of them was cal ed Panoram a, thi s show expl ored probl em s and progress al over the worl d, so nobody was surpri sed when i t began wi th a report on the excel l ent noodl e harvest i n the south Swi tzerl and. The programm e m enti oned two reasons for the good crop: an unusual y warm wi nter and the disappearance of the i nsect that atacked the noodl e crop every year. The reporter showed m any noodl e trees wi th the farm ers pul ing nodl es off them and putting them i nto baskets. The peopl e watchi ng were tol d that they m ay not have heard of noodl es from thi s part of the worl d because noodl es were grown as part of sm al l fam il y businesses. The programm e makers makers real i zed that peopl e mi ght wonder why nodl es were al ways the sam e size so that they expl ained that “it was the resul t of m any years’ patient research with the tree to produce noodl es of exactl y the sam e l ength. ” But even so they explained, the l ife of a noodle farm er was not easy. “The l ast two weeks of March are an anxious tim e for noodl e farm ers. There i s al ways a chance of very col d weather spoil ing their crop. Then it is difficul t for them to get top prices on the m arkets. ” Many people i n Engl and bel i eved thi s story. They rang the BBC to fi nd out hoe to grow thei r own noodl e tree. They were tol d to “pl ace a piece of noodl e in a tin of tom ato sauce and hope for the best. ” This m ay seem very sil l y, but in the 1950s very few Bri ti sh people travel ed aboard for thei r holi days and even fewer of them ate noodl es. So i t seem ed posi bl e to im agi ne that noodl es grew on tree li ke appl es, pears and nuts. Peopl e al so trusted the Panoram a programm e for its careful research and serious inform ation. So they were shocked to find the next day that they had al believed an April Fool’s joke. Even today the report of the noodl e harvest is rem em bered as one of the best April Fool ’s jokes ever! Uni t 4 Comm uni cat i on: No Pr obl em ? Yesterday, another student and I, representing our university’s student asociation, went to the Capital International Ai rport to m eet this year’s international students. They were ing to study at Beijing University. We shoul d take them first to thei r dorm itori es and then to the student cantee. After an hour of wai ti ng for thei r fli ght to arrive, I saw several young peopl e enter the waiti ng area l ooking around curiously. I stood for a m inute watching them and then went to greet them. The fi rst person to ari ve was Tony Garcia from Colum bi a, cl osel y fol owed by Juli a Smi th from Bri tai n. After I m et them and then i ntroduced them to each other, I was very surpri sed. Tony approached Jul ia, touched her shoul der and ki ssed her on the cheek! She stepped back appeari ng surprised and put up her hands, as i f i n defence. I guesed that there was probabl y a m ajor mi sunderstandi ng. Then Aki ra N agata from Japan cam e i n smil i ng, together with Gee Cook from Canada. As they were i ntroduced, Gee reached hi s hand out to the Japanese student. Just at that m om ent, however, Akira bowed so his nose touched Gee’s m oving hand. They both apol ogi zed another cul tural mi stake! Ahm ed Azi z, another internati onal student, was from Jordan. When we m et yesterday, he m oved very cl ose to m e as I i ntroduced myself. I m oved back a bi t, but he cam e cl oser to ask a questi on and then shook my hand. When Darl ene Coul on from France came dashi ng through the door, she recogni zed Tony Garci a39。s smi li ng face. They shook hand and then ki sed each other twi ce on each cheek, si nce that i s the France custom when adults m eet peopl e they know. Ahmed Aziz, on the contrary, sim pl y nodded at the gi rls. Men from Mi ddl e Eastern and other Musl im countri es wil l often stand qui te cl ose to other m en to tal k but wi l usual y not touch wom en. As I get to know m ore international friends, I l earn m ore about this cul tural “body l anguage”. N ot al cul tures greet each other the sam e way, nor are they fortabl e i n the sam e way wi th touching or di stance between peopl e. In the sam e way that peopl e m unicate with spoken language, they al so express their feel ings using unspoken “l(fā) anguage” through physi cal di stance, acti ons or posture. Engli sh peopl e, for exam pl e, do not usual ly stand very cl ose to others or touch strangers as son as they m eet. H owever, peopl e from pl aces li ke Spai n, Ital y or South Am eri can countri es approach others cl osel y and are m ore li kel y to touch them. Most peopl e around the worl d now greet each other by shaki ng hands, but som e cul tures use other greeti ngs as wel , such as the Japanese, who prefer to bow. These acti ons are not good or bad, but are si m pl y ways i n whi ch cul tures have devel oped. I have seen, however, that cul tural custom s for body l anguage are very general not al m em bers of a cul ture behave i n the sam e way. In general, thoug