原版英语对话1000个:178 Life Overseas

Todd: OK, Christian¹, you were just telling me that you lived in New Zealand as an exhange student!

Christian: That's right. In high school, yeah.

Todd: What was that like?

Christian: I mean, I was 17 years at the time and, you know, I was just leaving home for the first time and going abroad for a year without going home, and it was the first time to actually move out of my family and it was an intimidating² experience but at the same time it was extremely³ enjoyable. I had a great time, traveled around, met a lot of great people, got introduced into Maori culture, and yeah it was fascinating⁴, really fascinating.

Todd: What did you like the most about New Zealand?

Christian: The country itself, probably the nature and the wildlife. It's just so pure, so green. You got the big mountains, you got the fjords, the rivers. It's all such, it's a great eco-system, you can tell that it's non⁵ polluted⁶. It's just really nice. If you appreciate it, call it nature, you can walk around and soak⁷ up the atmosphere. It's really good.

Todd: What was the hardest thing about living so far from home?

Christian: The fact that I could only communicate to my family through faxes in the beginning because calling was a bit expensive. The circumstances⁸ didn't allow me to use the phone where I was living, so I had to use faxes and that is a bit strange.

Todd: Wow, so there's no e-mail or internet?

Christian: Well, at the time, e-mail wasn't used that much in New Zealand. There was one computer in my school that had an interntet connection. And I was allowed to use that because I was an exchange student, the only exchange student at my school. They said, well you can come in and use it every now and then, I used it maybe once a week, because I had never used e-mail before cause this was back in 97, so it's eight, like seven or eight years ago, and I guess, in New Zealand they didn't really have that many connections.

Todd: Wow, great story.

Christian: It was truly great, yeah.

 

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

3 extremely   

adv.极其，非常，极度

参考例句：

• The film is extremely good,I just cannot miss it.这部电影太精彩了，我非看不可。
• The old man was extremely difficult to get along with.这个老人极难相与。

4 fascinating   

adj.迷人的，吸引人的，使人神魂颠倒的

参考例句：

• Your ideas are fascinating to me.你的这些主意对我来说是有吸引力的。
• The very style of the book is fascinating.这本书的风格本身就会引人入胜。

5 non   

adv.非，不

参考例句：

• a policy of non-aggression 互不侵犯政策
• Can I have something non-alcoholic? 给我来杯软饮料好吗？

6 polluted   

adj.被污染的

参考例句：

• Polluted air hangs over the city.城市上空被污染的空气所笼罩。
• The air was polluted by factory smoke.空气被工厂冒的烟污染了。

7 soak   

n.浸，湿透，喝醉；vt.使…湿透，浸泡在液体中，浸洗，吸入，使某人喝醉，向某人敲竹杠；vi.浸入液体，渗透，感化（某人），无节制地喝酒

参考例句：

• Let the clothes soak for a few hours in soapy water.让衣服在肥皂水中泡几小时。
• The oil will soak into the wood.油会渗进木头里。

8 circumstances   

n.境况；境遇；（尤指）经济状况；命运；环境( circumstance的名词复数 )；事件；境遇；机遇

参考例句：

• The company reserves the right to cancel this agreement in certain circumstances. 本公司保留在一定条件下取消这项协议的权利。
• There were extenuating circumstances and the defendant did not receive a prison sentence. 因有可减轻罪行的情节被告未被判刑。