英语练习短文2.doc

Unit 2 My Teacher, My Salvation??? 1.??? I stepped off the ship on a gray March day in 1949, a small boy with a new American visa shoved in his pocket, a boy who had lost his mother and was emigrating to America to live with a father he did not know. I was very suspicious of the heavy, bald man who embraced my sisters and me at the dock. Still, he was the very image of American people in his gleaming black shoes, gray overcoat, and new hat. 2??? After several years in an elementary school class for those with low IQ — there were no classes for non-English-speaking children — I made it to junior high school.? The first week of classes we were told to select a hobby to pursue during club houron Fridays. I decided to follow the prettiest girl in my class, who led me through a door marked Newspaper Club. And there was a sharp-tongued, no-nonsense English teacher named Marilyn Burd. Were going to put out a newspaper, she yelled, rapping her desk with a ruler, so if any of you dont want to work, I suggest you go across the hall to the Theater Club rehearsal now, because youre going to work your tails off here! ?3 ?? I was soon under the spell of this formidable and eloquent woman. She drilled us on grammar and made me fall in love with literature. I was fascinated by the way she could read a story or a piece of verse, then open it up like a fan, displaying its various facets, colors, and meanings. I had considered stories to be simple adventures, but she showed me they could express feelings as well: pain, frustration, anger, and loss. And she taught me that my motherland was the foundation of Western civilization. I began to be proud of my origins. ?4 ?? One day she assigned us to compose a concise essay from our own experience. Fixing me with a stern look, she added, Nick, I want you to write about what happened to your family in your homeland. ?5 ?? That was the last thing I wanted to write about, and so I left the assignment until the last moment. Then,