Like most English children, I learned foreign languages at school. When I made my first visit to the United States, I was sure I could have a nice and easy holiday without any language problem. But how wrong I was! At the American airport, I was looking for a public telephone to tell my friend Danny that I had arrived. An American asked if he could help me. "Yes," I said, '1 want to give my friend a ring." "Well, that's nice. Are you getting married?" he asked. "No," I replied, "I just want to tell him I have arrived." "Oh," he said, "there is a phone downstairs on the first floor." "But we're on the first floor now," I said. "Well, I don't know what you are talking about Maybe you aren't feeling too well after your journey," he said. "Just go and wash up, and you will feel a lot better." And he went off, leaving me wondering where on earth I was: At home we wash up after a meal to get the cups and plates clean. How can I wash up at an airport? At last we did meet. Danny explained the misunderstanding: Americans say "to give someone a call", but we English say "to give somebody a ring". When we say "to wash your hands", they say "to wash up". And Englishmen start numbering from the ground floor so the first floor is the second for Americans. 小题1:The writer went to America by ______.
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