it was a morning in the end of march. the fountain was spraying① water about 2 metres high. the coloured flags were waving in the wind. a blackboard was put at the gate of the school. on it were large chinese characters and german, saying:“welcome to our school!” the whole school was set for a gala②.

　　it was about 8 o'clock. a modern bus slowly came into the gate and stood in the middle of the drive. warm applause broke out. the members of the delegation got off one by one. we shook each other's hands.

　　accompanied by the school master, they entered the reception room③. a simple and short meeting of welcome was held. the school master delivered a brief speech. he also made an introduction to the school to them and, after that, showed them around the school. they were greatly surprised at the superior equipment in our school, like the computer room, the electronic educational room and audio④ room.they were eager to know how the class was conducted here and so attended a junior english class. in class the teacher and the students cooperated well. no language but english was used. they were amazed to find that our students had such a good command of english. they also attended a german class. it is the second foreign language taught in our school.

　　we treated the german visitors to lunch. it was very funny that they all wanted to use chopsticks, which they were not accustomed to, but they appreciated⑤ chinese dishes very much just the same. while we were eating, some performances were put on. singing and laughing mixed together.

　　the last item was free talk. though language is an obstacle⑥ to communication, it did not matter. if we were not able to express our idea in language, we, used gestures. the exchange made us realize how important it is to master a foreign language! language can strengthen the friendship among the people all over the world.