无论你是要去国外出差还是学习，你都必须时刻做好克服文化差异和语言障碍的准备。本文就弥合文化差异给出了几点建议。

Whether youre traveling to a different country for business or study， you must always be prepared to experience and overcome cultural differences and language barriers. Here are a couple of tips on how to help bridge the gap between cultures.

Every country in the world， old or new， has a rich and storied history. They celebrate their own holidays， cook national dishes， listen to their own styles of music and wear clothes appropriate for their culture. Take some time to learn the history， art and customs of the country youll be visiting. Showing your knowledge of the local customs and history will make those around you realize you truly care about their culture.

Languages are hard to learn. You spent years in grade school learning all the grammar and intricacies of English. Why not spend more time learning a whole new language—especially when so much of the world speaks English already？ Even if you can only recite a couple key phrases， it shows that youre making the effort to bridge the cultural gap.

Unfortunately， no matter how much you research a country or how well you know the language， there will always be some culture shocks and confusion. Words， actions or gestures that are not offensive （冒犯的） to us can be very offensive to someone from another culture. When this happens， it is important to stay patient. Working through these frustrations together will lead to a smarter and stronger bond between you and your friend from another culture.

When I learn a new language， or study the history of a culture Im unfamiliar （不熟悉的） with， I think of it as exploring （探索） a new world. There are so many things that make each culture unique. You have to be open to trying and learning new things in order to fit in well in another country. Always try to think about how they see things from their cultural perspective.

All of this being said， there are so many similarities between people of all nations. We all laugh at the same physical comedy， groan （發牢骚） when we have to clean up our pets messes， and cry when we lose a loved one. After all， we are all humans.

The following four sentences are the main ideas of paragraph 2 to paragraph 5 in the text. Put the paragraph numbers in the blanks.

熟词生义

Here are a couple of tips on how to help bridge the gap between cultures. 这里有一些关于如何帮助弥合文化差异的建议。

bridge v. 消除（分歧、隔阂、鸿沟）

e.g. It is unlikely that the two sides will be able to bridge their differences. 双方不太可能消除彼此之间的分歧。