英语博客：Bilingual night.

　　One of the things that I had on the calendar this month was the bilingual night at my children's school. It is held a few times a year, to inform parents about progress being made with the school's dual¹ language program. Tonight was the first meeting of the year, and there had been lots of preparation for it. My daughter, who is in kindergarten, had been practicing three songs. I had heard her singing around the house, but it took me a few days to ask her if there was something that she was practicing for. Sure enough, kindergarteners and first graders were going to perform on stage for the parents, to impress them with some bilingual songs. It was a rush to get there on time because Domini had just finished a gymnastics class, I had to drop of one of my sons at his basketball practice, and then get to the school lunch room on time, where seats had been put out in rows for all of us. Going to one of these is not a new thing for me. All four of my kids are going through the same elementary school, so I know all about the bilingual program. I'm thrilled that they can be exposed to Spanish, and, hopefully, each year pick up more and more. As I sat chatting to another parent, the students came out and lined up on the little stage. The music teacher played the guitar, and sang loudly, opening his mouth very wide, to get the children to follow him. The kids did a great job. They sang four songs, each a mix of Spanish and English. Every now and then, when they came to a difficult part, the singing trailed off and became quite quiet, and then in the easy parts, they got very loud and confident. You know what it's like with children: they fidgeted, looked at their shoes, at the ceiling, whispered to eachother, and some even picked their noses. It all added to the performance. When the singing was over, we actually sneaked² out, and didn't stay for the talk about the importance of being bilingual. I've heard the talk many times, and, besides, I'm already a believer in language learning³!
Grammar notes.
Related⁴ vocabulary: to be exposed to, to trail off, confident.
1. The miners⁵ were exposed to toxic⁶ gas; they need medical treatment.
2. He forgets what he's talking about, and his speech trails off.
3. She is confident, and speaks her mind with ease⁷.

1 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

2 sneaked   

v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状

参考例句：

• I sneaked up the stairs. 我蹑手蹑脚地上了楼。
• She sneaked a surreptitious glance at her watch. 她偷偷看了一眼手表。

3 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

4 related   

adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的

参考例句：

• I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。

5 miners   

矿工( miner的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The coal miners have come out for about two weeks. 煤矿工人已罢工约两周了。
• The roof of the cave dropped in on the miners, trapping them. 洞穴的顶部坍了下来，砸在矿工身上。

6 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

7 ease   

n. 安乐,安逸,悠闲; v. 使...安乐,使...安心,减轻,放松

参考例句：

• His mind was at ease and he felt confident in the future. 他心情舒畅,对前途很有信心。
• You should ease up on the child and stop scolding her. 你应该对那个孩子宽松些,不要再骂她了。