Online Class Notes (Alex) (S-W)

What do you think is the most precious thing in your life right now? And explain why.

Vocabulary

nationalism vs. patriotism 

nationalism is often perceived as aggressive, whereas patriotism sounds more positive

you don’t want to say you’re a nationalist, it’s better to say you are a patriot.

abroad 国外
eg. I go abroad to travel

outside 外面

precious 珍贵
eg. Pearls are very precious.
eg. Life is precious

retired 退休
eg. My mum retired last year

demanding = to demand a lot from people, to demand great efforts, to have very high expectations
eg. My mum was very demanding, she wanted to study all the time
eg. My job is very demanding, I need to work very hard and very long hours
eg. Studying English is demanding, you need to put in a lot of efforts to make progress

shortcut 捷径
eg. There is no shortcut to study English, the only way is to practice more

Can you think about a person who greatly inspired you in your life?

My mother was born in 1960. When she was a little girl most Chinese people are very poor. So they do not have enough money to learn from school, so she didn’t go to university. When I was born, we became richer than before and my mother would always told me to study hard because the chance of learning is … She wanted to go to school but she couldn’t. I think she gives me a love to learn. When I went to university she was very happy even though she didn’t know what I have learned from the university, and what problem I had met. She told me I need to be honest and study hard and always reading. She encouraged me to go outside to other cities to see another world. You cannot waste your time. Anyone has only 24hrs a day, you need to enjoy every minute.

Revised

My mother was born in 1960. When she was a little girl most Chinese people were very poor. So they didn’t have enough money to learn from school, so she didn’t go to university. When I was born, we became richer than before and my mother would always tell me to study hard because the chance of learning is precious. She wanted to go to school but she couldn’t. I think she gave me a love for learning. When I went to university she was very happy even though she didn’t know what I was learning from the university, and what problems I was facing. She told me I need to be honest and study hard and always read. She encouraged me to go abroad to other cities to see another world. You cannot waste your time. Everyone has only 24hrs a day, you need to make the best of every minute.

Grammar

I was + verb + ing

you often use this describe the context (the background) of a situation happening in the past.
eg. It was raining when I went to school.
eg. I was reading at home when suddenly I heard somebody knock on the door.
eg. I was cooking when the phone rang.
eg. We were talking with my friend about happy things when suddenly we saw a cat.

many people are patriotism – many people are patriots / are patriotic

I’m pacifism 和平主义- I’m a pacifist 和平主义者

let’s do some chat – let’s chat / let’s have a chat