F2F Class notes 7th September (Eddie)

hiatus = interruption, or pause, usually said of a show

E.g.

Last Week Tonight is on hiatus right now, but it will return in October.

Q; Have you ever been to Norway?
A: I have never been to Norway.

Q: Have you ever eaten Korean food?
A: I ate Korean food just yesterday.

1. I have done vs 2. I did

1. unspecified moment in the past
2. a specific moment in the past

Indian summer = a short period of warm weather at the end of autumn

Original:

With drizzling rain and cool breeze, today Shanghai finally got away from high heat and entered into its most pleasant, golden and crisp season. Autumn came quietly.

For students, it is not so delighting because their sweet two-month summer vacation ended in September 1st. While for office workers like me, it is definitely exciting because we have been expecting a vacation for two months, and it even comes with two festivals in a row—Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day.

So I’d like to talk about how my family celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival. Mooncakes and lanterns are significant symbols of the festival, especially for children. When I was child, I had a cute bunny lantern made of paper and wheels which could be dragged around. After dinner, my whole family used to go to Yu garden to enjoy lantern displays or stay at home eating sweet mooncakes together. Now we don’t go to Yu garden anymore because it is always filled with so many people. We prefer to eat crispy pork mooncake and give away sweet mooncakes as gifts. Despite that, we still keep the tradition of a united family dinner with a full table of delicious dishes prepared by my dad. It only matters when the whole family is together.

Edit:

With drizzling rain and cool breeze, today Shanghai finally escaped the grip of the sweltering summer heat and entered its most pleasant, golden and crisp season. Autumn came quietly.

For students, it is not exactly thrilling because their sweet two-month summer vacation ended on September 1st, but for office workers like me, it is definitely exciting because we have been expecting a vacation for two months, and it even comes with two festivals in a row— the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day.

The Mid-Autumn Festival has always been a time of celebration in my family. Mooncakes and lanterns are key symbols of the festival, especially for children. When I was a child, I had a cute bunny lantern made of paper which I would drag around on wheels. After dinner, my whole family used to go to Yu garden to enjoy the lantern displays or stay at home and eat sweet mooncakes together. Now we don’t go to Yu garden anymore because it is always packed with people. For a long time, we enjoyed both pork mooncakes and sweet mooncakes, but in the last 5 years or so, they have been getting a little too sweet, so we keep the crispy pork mooncakes for ourselves and give away the sweet ones as gifts. Sweet mooncakes or no sweet mooncakes, we’re happy to carry on the tradition of a family dinner with a full table of delicious dishes prepared by my dad. There is nothing quite like a whole family getting together to celebrate.