When I was fourteen years old, I made my first visit to the United States. It wasn't the first time I had been abroad (Like many English children, I had often been to France). So when I went to America I thought I would have a nice easy holiday without any language problem.
How wrong I was! The misunderstanding (误解) began at the airport. I was looking for a public telephone to tell my American friend Danny that I had arrived. A friendly old man saw me looking lost and asked if he could help me.
"Yes," I said, "I want to give my friend a ring."
"Well, that's nice," he said, "Are you getting married? But aren't you too young?"
"Who is talking about marriage (婚姻)?" I replied, "I only want to give my friend a ring to tell him I've arrived. Can you tell me where there is a phone box?"
"Oh," he said, "there is a phone downstairs."
When at last we met, Danny explained the misunderstanding to me.
"Don't worry," he said to me, "I had so many difficulties at first. There are lots of words which Americans use differently in meaning from British people. You'll soon get used to all the funny thingstheysay. Most of the time, British and American people understand each other. "
