专四每日一听 第22期

在美国家庭寄宿
我叫珍妮，我在美国家庭寄宿。当我第一次见到我要寄宿那家的母亲玛丽时，她热情地拥抱了我。我确实感到非常震惊因为我从来没有被拥抱过，我不知道该如何回应。然而到我要离开美国时，我已经非常喜欢拥抱别人和被别人拥抱了。
握手也是个挑战。我寄宿那家的父亲彼特，直视着我的眼睛，紧紧地握我的手。
玛丽和彼特都希望我对他们直呼其名，因为美国人一般比较随意。通过直呼其名，我们互相之间感到更加亲切友好

Homestay in the US

My name is Jenny and I did a homestay in America. When I first met my host mother, Mary, she gave me a big hug. I was really shocked because I had never been hugged before, and I wasn sure how to respond¹. By the time I left America, though, I came to enjoy hugging and being hugged. Shaking hands was also a challenge². My homestay father, Peter, looked at me straight in the eye and squeezed³ my hand firmly.
Both Mary and Peter wanted me to call them by their first names because they, as Americans, like informality⁴. By using first names only, we felt friendlier towards each other.
homestay 家庭寄宿
host 东道主
hug 拥抱
shock 震惊
respond 回应
challenge 挑战
straight 直接地
squeeze 挤压
firmly 紧紧地
informality 随意

 

1 respond   

vi.回答，响应

参考例句：

• I offered him a drink but he did not respond.我请他喝酒，但他未作回答。
• I greeted him but he didn't respond.我跟他打招呼，他没答理我。

2 challenge   

n.挑战；v.向...挑战

参考例句：

• The job doesn't really challenge him.这项工作不能真正地考验他。
• She looked at me with challenge.她带着挑战的目光看着我。

3 squeezed   

squeeze（挤压）的过去式与过去分词

参考例句：

• freshly squeezed orange juice 鲜榨橙汁
• They squeezed too many people into the small room. 他们把太多的人塞进这间小房间里。

4 informality   

n.非正式；不拘礼节

参考例句：

• Other groups such as the Church of God conduct their services with much more informality and a greater display of emotion. 上帝会等其他团体做礼拜时不大拘泥形式，情感也就更加外露。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A charming informality was one of the characteristics of this celebration. 没有客套，是这个晚会的特点之一。 来自辞典例句