my mother. The reading also helped my mother learn English so that she was able to pass the postal entrance exam .
[7] It has been seven years since that reading experience with my mother. She is now 43 and in her second year at college. My brother and I have a strong sense of who we are because of the strong values my mother established for herself and her children. My admiration and gratitude for her are endless. That is why my mother is truly the guiding light of my life.
一次五个新单词
1 1985年我们全家来到美国。当时，没有一个人能说一丁点英语。在学校里，我上的是作为第二语言的英语课，和我一起上课的还有其他一些在国外出生的孩子。我这个班级学生过分地多，以至于老师不可能教好英语。每天早上，我都怕去学校，害怕听不懂别人说的话，害怕别人笑话我。
2 当时，我母亲苔琪在一家中国餐馆打零工，从傍晚时分一直干到深夜。正是由于她不懂英语，她不得不在说中文的环境里工作。尽管工作使她疲惫不堪，母亲依然每天很早起床为我和我兄弟准备早餐。她就像老母鸡呵护自己的小鸡那样，从不因为自己疲惫而忽略了我们。
3 因此，毫不奇怪，我母亲很快注意到有什么事情困扰着我。我跟她说一切正常，母亲回答说：“你是我女儿，你有烦心事，我也能感觉到。”在她弯月形的眼睛里，我看到了痛苦和关心，忍了很长时间的眼泪一下子像开了闸似的。我向她解释我为什么害怕去学校。“学会英语不是不可能的，”妈妈说。她很乐意地建议我们俩一起借助书本在家学英语。妈妈的自信和决心令人钦佩，因为英语对她来说是同样陌生的。
4 那天下午，妈妈在学校的篱笆旁等我，妈妈在我的眼里和以前不一样了。尽管她是在场的妈妈们中最矮的，但是，她那友好的笑容、大大、黑黑的眼睛，使她的脸庞透露出最美好的希望。午后的阳光照在她长长的黑头发上，产生的光环和氛围使得她有别于其他的母亲。 5 我和妈妈马上开始一起读书，每天记五个新单词。妈妈用她那令人鼓舞的态度使这种常规的学习变得趣味盎然。她牺牲了工作前的休息时间让我学英语，这使我看到了她所具有的活力。我更加钦佩我的母亲了。
6 很快，我开始理解大家说的话了，别人也能明白我的意思。妈妈是唯一为我的成功和幸福负责的人。这样的读书也促进了妈妈学英语，结果她通过了邮政入行考试。
7 和妈妈一起读书至今已经七年了。她现在43岁，在大学上二年级。由于母亲为自己也为我们树立了明确的价值观，我和我兄弟对自己是怎么样的人非常明确。我对她的钦佩和感激无穷无尽。这就是为什么妈妈才真正是我生活中的引路人。
Misunderstandings
[1] He had uncombed hair, dirty clothes, and only 35 cents in his pocket. In Baltimore , Maryland , he got on a bus and headed straight for the restroom. He thought that if he hid in the restroom, he could ride to New York without paying. But a passenger at the back of the bus saw him. She tapped the person in front of her on the shoulder and said, “ There's a bum in the restroom. Tell the bus driver. ” That passenger tapped the person sitting in front of him. “ Tell the bus driver there's a bum in the restroom ” he said.
[2] The message was passed from person to person until it reached the front of the bus. But somewhere along the way, the message changed. By the time it reached the bus driver, it was not “ there's a bum in the restroom ” but “ there's a bomb in the restroom ” . The driver immediately pulled over to the side of the highway and radioed the police. When the police arrived, they told the passengers to get off the bus and move far away from it. Then they closed the highway. That soon caused a 15-mile-long traffic jam. With the help of a dog, the police searched the bus for two hours. Of course, they found no bomb.
[3] Two similar-sounding English words also caused trouble for a man who wanted to fly from Los Angeles to Oakland , California . His problem began at the airport in Los Angeles . He thought he heard his flight announced, so he walked to the gate, showed his ticket, and got on the plane. Twenty minutes after takeoff, the man began to worry. Oakland was north of Los Angeles , but the plane seemed to be heading west, and when he looked out his window all he could see was ocean. “ Is this plane going to Oakland? ” he asked the flight attendant. The flight attendant gasped. “ No, ” she said. “ We're going to Auckland — Auckland, New Zealand. ”
[4] Because so many English words sound similar, misunderstandings among English-speaking people are not uncommon. Not all misunderstandings result in highways being closed or passengers flying to the wrong continent. Most misunderstandings are much less serious. Every day people speaking English ask one another questions like these: “ Did you say seventy or seventeen? ” , “ Did you say that you can come or that you can't? ” Similar-sounding words can be especially confusing for people who speak English as a second language.
[5] When a Korean woman who lives in the United States arrived at work one morning, her boss asked her, “ Did you get a plate? ” “ No..., ” she answered, wondering what in the world he meant. She worked in an office. Why did the boss ask her about a plate? All day she wondered about her boss' strange question, but she was too
embarrassed to ask him about it. At five o'clock, when she was getting ready to go home, her boss said, “ Please be on time tomorrow. You were 15 minutes late this morning. ” “ Sorry, ” she said. “ My car wouldn't start, and... ” Suddenly she stopped talking and began to smile. Now she understood. Her boss hadn't asked her, “ Did you get a plate? ” He had asked her, “ Did you get up late? ”
[6] English is not the only language with similar-sounding words. Other languages, too, have words that can cause misunderstandings, especially for foreigners.
[7] Auckland and Oakland . “ A plate ” and “ up late ” . When similar-sounding words cause a misunderstanding, probably the best thing to do is just laugh and learn from the mistake. Of course, sometimes it's hard to laugh. The man who traveled to Auckland instead of Oakland didn't feel like laughing. But even that misunderstanding turned out all right in the end. The airline paid for the man's hotel room and meals in New Zealand and for his flight back to California. “Oh well,” the man later said, “I always wanted to see New Zealand.”
误会
1 他头发凌乱，衣衫肮脏，口袋里仅有35美分。在马里兰州的巴尔的摩，他跳上一辆巴士，直奔厕所而去。以为躲进厕所就能免费乘车去纽约了。但坐在巴士尾部的一位女乘客发现他了。女乘客拍了拍她前排乘客的肩膀，说道：“厕所里有个流浪汉，告诉司机”。该乘客又拍了拍他前面的旅客说：“告诉司机，厕所里有个流浪汉。”
2 人们一个接着一个地将这个信息传到了巴士的前部，不过在中途某个环节，意思走了样。当传到司机那里时，已不是“厕所里有个流浪汉”，而是“厕所里有颗炸弹”。司机急忙把车子开到高速公路边停下来，用无线电报警。警察赶到后，要求乘客们下车并远离现场。于是，他们关闭了高速公路。这样马上就造成了长达15英里的交通堵塞。在一条警犬的帮助下，警察将汽车搜查了两个小时。当然他们没有找到炸弹。
3 同样，两个发音相似的英语单词给一位想从洛杉矶飞往加里福尼亚奥克兰市(Oakland)的乘客带来了麻烦。他的问题始于洛杉矶机场。他以为听到自己航班的登机广播了，于是走向登机门，出示了机票，登上了飞机。起飞20分钟后，这位先生开始发愁了。奥克兰位于洛杉矶的北面，可飞机似乎在向西飞行，他朝舷窗外一看，眼下却是一片汪洋。“飞机是去奥克兰(Oakland)吗？”他向航班服务员打听道。空姐倒吸了一口冷气，答道：“不，我们正飞往奥克兰(Auckland)，新西兰的奥克兰(Auckland)。”
4 由于英语中许多词发音相近，误会对讲英语的人来说司空见惯。但这种误会并不每次都导致高速公路关闭或旅客误飞到别的大陆这样的后果。大多数误会的结果没这么严重。每天，讲英语的人之间都会问“你是说70还是17？”，“ 你是说能来还是不能来？”之类的问
题。对把英语作为第二语言的人来说，近音词特别容易混淆。
5 一天，当一位定居美国的朝鲜妇女到达办公室时，她的老板问她：“你有没有收到过一只盘子？”。“没有……”她一边回答，一边纳闷老板究竟是什么意思。她是在办公室工作的。老板为什么会问起盘子的事。整整一天，她始终解不开这个怪问题，又不好意思去问老板。下午五点当她正准备下班回家时，老板对她说：“明天请准时上班，今天早上你迟到了十五分钟”。她回答说：“对不起，我的车发动不起来了，再则，……”，她突然停住，笑起来了。这会儿她明白了，老板不是问她“是否收到过一只盘子”，而是问她“是否起床迟了。”
6 拥有近音词的语言不光是英语。其它语言中也有会引起误会的词，特别是对外国人。 7 奥克兰(Auckland)听成了奥克兰(Oakland)。“一只盘子”取代了“起床迟了”。当近音词造成误会时，也许最好的做法是一笑了之并从中吸取教训。当然有时候很难做到一笑了之。那位要去加里福尼亚的奥克兰却去了新西兰奥克兰的旅客不会有笑的雅兴。然而，即使那样的一场误会，结局还是可以的。航空公司为他免费提供了在新西兰的食宿和返回加里福尼亚的机票。“不错”，这位客人后来说道，“我也一直想看看新西兰”。
相关推荐：
杳然