that it makes you believe that it is one of the best meals he has ever tasted!Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed and produced the films the starred in. In 1972 he was given a special Oscar for his outstanding work in films. He lived in England and the USA but spend his last years in Switzerland, where he was buried in 1977. He is loved and remembered as a great actor who could inspire people with great confidence.AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE: THE NOODLE HARVESTApril Fools day, or April 1st, is known in many countries as a day for playing jokes on others. It is usually a time when children make fun of each other, but sometimes other people can get caught in the fun too.One of the most famous jokes in England took place on British television in 1957. It was a Monday night when there were always many serious programmes on the television. One of them was called Panorama, this show explored problems and progress all over the world, so nobody was surprised when it began with a report on the excellent noodle harvest in the south Switzerland. The programme mentioned two reasons for the good crop: an unusually warm winter and the disappearance of the insect that attacked the noodle crop every year. The reporter showed many noodle trees with the farmers pulling noodles off them and putting them into baskets. The people watching were told that they may not have heard of noodles from this part of the world because noodles were grown as part of small family businesses.The programme makers makers realized that people might wonder why noodles were always the same size so that they explained that “it was the result of many years patient research with the tree to produce noodles of exactly the same length.” But even so they explained, the life of a noodle farmer was not easy. “The last two weeks of March are an anxious time for noodle farmers. There is always a chance of very cold weather spoiling their crop. Then it is difficult for them to get top prices on the markets.” Many people in England believed this story. They rang the BBC to find out hoe to grow their own noodle tree. They were told to “place a piece of noodle in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.” This may seem very silly, but in the 1950s very few British people travelled aboard for their holidays and even fewer of them ate noodles. So it seemed possible to imagine that noodles grew on tree like apples, pears and nuts. People also trusted the Panorama programme for its careful research and serious information. So they were shocked to find the next day that they had all believed an April Fools joke. Even today the report of the noodle harvest is remembered as one of the best April Fools jokes ever!Unit 4Communication: No Problem?Yesterday, another student and I, representing our universitys student association, went to the Capital International Airport to meet this years international students. They were coming to study at Beijing University. We should take them first to their dormitories and then to the student cantee. After an hour of waiting for their flight to arrive, I saw several young people enter the waiting area looking around curiously. I stood for a minute watching them and then went to greet them.The first person to arrive was Tony Garcia from Columbia, closely followed by Julia Smith from Britain. After I met them and then introduced them to each other, I was very surprised. Tony approached Julia, touched her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek! She stepped back appearing surprised and put up her hands, as if in defence. I guessed that there was probably a major misunderstanding. Then Akira Nagata from Japan came in smiling, together with George Cook from Canada. As they were introduced, George reached his hand out to the Japanese student. Just at that moment, however, Akira bowed so his nose touched Georges moving hand. They both apologized- another cultural mistake!Ahmed Aziz, another international student, was from Jordan. When we met yesterday, he moved very close to me as I introduced myself. I moved back a bit, but he came closer to ask a question and then shook my hand. When Darlene Coulon from France came dashing through the door, she recognized Tony Garcias smiling face. They shook hand and then kissed each other twice on each cheek, since that is the France custom when adults meet people they know. Ahmed Aziz, on the contrary, simply nodded at the girls. Men from Middle Eastern and other Muslim countries will often stand quite close to other men to talk but will usually not touch women.As I get to know more international friends, I learn more about this cultural “body language”. Not all cultures greet each other the same way, nor are they comfortable in the same way with touching or distance between people. In the same way that people communicate with spoken language, they also express their feelings using unspoken “language” through physical distance, actions or posture. English people, for example, do not usuall