Why are certain people so memorable, while some fade from our memories over time? This question crosses my mind often; there are many possible answers. When you are raising children, you realize that some people become very important to them, draw them in, accept and respect them. These people change them.
Several examples come to mind with my youngest son. He was always more comfortable around his dad's friends than his own. He loved to spend time with them, fish with them, listen to their stories and just be with them.
He has experienced the loss of several really meaningful friendships over the past few years, and it has been very painful for him. One, Dr. George, was a neighbor and fishing buddy who would call to see if Ken could go fishing with him. Dr. George always said Ken was the son he never had and that it meant everything to him. He died very suddenly while fishing with all of his best buddies a few years ago. The huge hole that left in so many lives simply cannot be filled — for Ken it was immensely painful.
There was another fishing buddy of his dad's, Frank, who was always fun to be around. Ken was very young then, but he really enjoyed getting along with ＂the guy＂ when they were fishing. Frank and his family went to the Keys in the same week as we did one year ago and the memory remains to this day. Cheerful and happy, he was able to laugh at himself and accept everyone's abilities or lack of them, all qualities that impressed Ken so much.
When he became deadly ill, Ken drove from his home in North Carolina to Florida for an overnight visit with him. He died a short time later. The day after his funeral (葬礼), Frank came to Ken in a dream and asked if he would take care of his wife, Carol. To Ken this was very meaningful, and today they share a special bond that Frank somehow knew would be important for them both.
Once a group of 50 people was attending a seminar. Halfway through his talk, the speaker stopped and decided (create) a group activity. He went around the hall and gave each person a balloon. Each one was asked to write his or her name on the balloon (use) a marker pen. Then all the balloons were (collect) and put in another room.
The speaker then led the group to the room full of balloons and asked them to find the balloon had their name written on, within five minutes. Everyone was (hurried) searching for their name, bumping into each other, pushing each other around. It was chaos. At the end of the five minutes no one could find (them) own balloon.
Now each person was asked to randomly collect balloon and give it to the person whose name was written on it. Within two minutes everyone (have) their own balloon. When everyone quieted down, the speaker began to talk, saying that this is exactly what was happening in our (life)．Everyone is hurriedly looking for happiness, and not knowing where it is.
Our happiness sometimes lies in the happiness of other people. Give them happiness you will get your own happiness.
The US teenager Thomas Cheatham had planned to study Latin during his time at Hebron High School in Texas. But when he learned that the school district was going to offer a Mandarin class, he quickly changed his mind.
“I thought Mandarin would be more beneficial than Latin,” said Cheatham, who is now in his second year of studying the language. He speaks Mandarin to order food at Chinese restaurants and can read social media posts from his Chinese-speaking friends.
While it's a difficult language to master, the high school junior, who plans to study computer engineering, thinks it will be important for his career. “Chinese is a good language to know, especially with China becoming a growing power,” he said.
Many experts agree that proficiency in a language spoken by a billion people worldwide will give American students an edge in the global economy. “People are looking at China as our next economic competitor, and interest in Mandarin is growing,” said Marty Abbott, executive director of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. “We're seeing it in all parts of the country. ”
Abbott estimates that as many as 100, 000 students are now studying Mandarin throughout the US, in public and private schools. She said the US government has designated (指定) Mandarin as a “critical needs” language and provides professional development programs for teachers. “Our government wants to increase our language competency for national security and economic competitiveness,” Abbott said.
At the same time, the Chinese government is spreading knowledge of the Chinese language and culture through Confucius Institutes established in many US states. For example, the Confucius Institute at the University of Texas in Dallas has been the home of a Confucius Institute for 10 years. It sponsors Confucius Classrooms at 21 local public and private schools, where tens of thousands of students are learning Mandarin.
A student is learning to speak British English. He wonders: Can I communicate with Americans? Can they understand me? Learners of English often ask: What are the differences between British and American English? How important are these differences?
Certainly, there are some differences between British and American English. There are a few differences in grammar. For example, speakers of British English say "in hospital" and "Have you a pen?" Americans say "in the hospital" and 'Do you have a pen?' Pronunciation is sometimes different. Americans usually sound theirs in words like "bird" and "hurt". Speakers of British English do not sound theirs in these words. There are differences between British and American English in spelling and vocabulary. For example, "colour" and "honour" are British, "color" and "honor" are American.
These differences in grammar, pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary are not important, however. For the most part, British and American English are the same language.
|
A. It sounds too good to be true. B. However, nobody is "perfectly fluent" in any language. C. Quick fluency is good if you have some sort of deadline. D. But have you ever considered what fluency really means? E. But does fluency have the same meaning to other person as it does to you? F. Unlike perfect fluency, native-like fluency is a reasonable and attainable goal. G. To assist you in determining what fluency is, I'll describe a few different types of fluency. |
You might dream of fluency in this or that language, and maybe you have already achieved fluency in a foreign language.
Fluency, like all abstract terms, has no universal meaning. Each individual must determine what the term means.
Perfect fluency means knowing each word you encounter, speaking quickly, clearly and easily and having no accent. You aren't familiar with every word of your native language, and sometimes you have to search for the right word, even in your mother tongue.
Quick fluency is the type of fluency you see in advertisements, because "Master a Language in 2 Months!" sounds very catchier than "Fluency in 20 Years!" It is possible to achieve quick fluency, but the fluency achieved after such a short time frame will be a very thin, superficial fluency.
Native-like fluency means that you generally know all the same words that a native knows and can speak at the same pace with the same amount of ease as a native speaker. You will likely have an accent, but as long as your conversation partner can understand you, it doesn't matter.
Literary fluency is like graduating from native-like to educated-native-like fluency. It focuses on the more intellectual side of a language: including in literature, attending university, composing song lyrics, etc.
There are a ton of other things that fluency could potentially be, but that's up to you to figure out.
