VIP Class Notes (Nick) [S]

Homework

Where do you want to find a new place? How do you look for a new apartment? What do you want to find?

Vocabulary

Password – a special word, letters, symbols, numbers that you need to get into a website or to open something
Code – when you write something in a way so that it is hard for other people to read
e.g. I forgot my password, so I couldn’t get into my SmartEnglish account; I lost my password, so I couldn’t open the door.
e.g. I wrote a letter to my friend using a special code so that our other friends wouldn’t be able to steal it and read it.

搬不动 – it’s too heavy / I can’t move it

Move vs. Change – to go to a new place or make a place different (and hopefully better)
e.g. I would like to move to a new apartment.
e.g. We have to change the way this kitchen is arranged.

Exhausting – very very tiring 精疲力尽

Character – one sound in Chinese 字
Idiom / Idiomatic Expression / Phrase – 成语

忍受 – Stand / Bear / Endure

Disgusting – usually something that makes your stomach feel sick, that makes you not want to eat; something you think is very bad and makes you feel very uncomfortable
e.g. This food is disgusting! I can’t eat any more.
e.g. I can’t believe he treated her that way, especially in front of all of her friends! It was disgusting!

Grammar

Near vs. Nearby – use “near” to show that two things are close, and use nearby only at the end of a sentence to show that something is close to where you are now
e.g. My house is near Xujiahui (these two things are close to each other)
e.g. The restaurant is nearby (it is near where we are now)

But it is so worse – but it is much worse than I imagined

I looked at the new houses before come here – coming / I came

Dormitory (dorm) – a place where many students live 宿舍

Thesis – the long final paper you have to write to graduate with a Master’s degree (you might also write an “undergraduate thesis” or a “senior thesis” in some undergraduate programs)
Dissertation – the even longer paper you have to write to graduate with a doctoral degree (Ph.D)

Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior – the four years of high school and college (in order from 1-4)

Speaking exercise

I was really tired because I didn’t sleep very well this week. I moved my house but new house is nearby a subway. It’s very noisy and I can’t sleep in the night because of the noise, so I want to change. I want to move the house again. I think it’s the hard work. It takes much time to find a new house and moving is takes much time. This place it belongs to my sister and my brother. They choose the place and I just live with them for a few months in the planning, but I change my plan. This place is too noisy. I can’t accept this, so I want to move out. It’s a first time I am living nearby line 3 or 4. I didn’t know it’s so disgusting.


I was really tired this week because I didn’t sleep very well this week.** I moved my house (to a new apartment) but my new house / apartment is nearby a subway line. It’s very noisy and I can’t sleep in the at night because of the noise, so I want to change. I want to move the house again. I think it’s the hard work. It takes much a lot of time to find a new house and moving is takes much time stressful / difficult / exhausting. This place it belongs to my sister and my brother. They chose the place and I just planned to live with them for a few months while I look for a new place / before I get my own place in the planning, but I changed my plan. This place is too noisy. I can’t accept / stand / bear / endure this, so I want to move out as soon as possible! It’s a the first time I am living nearby line 3 or 4. I didn’t know it’s so disgusting unbearable / intolerable.

** a: I am really tired because I didn’t sleep well this week
** b: I am really tired because I haven’t slept well this week.
— The one above puts both things in the past in the same period of time and so it’s better to put the time with the first verb so that we know it right away.
— The second (** a) tells us that you are tired right now, so we don’t need to add anything about time at the beginning, but at the end of the sentence it tells us when you had trouble sleeping (was it just one day? was it all week?)
— The third (** b) tells us that you are tired right now, the time period that you have been sleeping poorly is all week, and you are still sleeping poorly now (the reason that you aren’t sleeping well hasn’t ended yet).

Pronunciation

Endure – en – doo (er); en – jyoor
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/endure (you can listen to it at this link)