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May: I’ve been so stressed these days.
Gucci: What’s the matter? Are you OK?
May: I don’t know where to go for college, and what to major in.
Gucci: Don’t worry. You have plenty of time to decide.
May: And I also want to get scholarships to help me pay for the tuition. I want to get the burden off my family.
Gucci: You always worry too much about everything. Take it easy, honey. You are good enough. You can go to the ideal college.
May: OK, OK. I’m so sorry. By the way, for you, is it more important to make money or to enjoy your work?
Gucci: In a perfect world, I would enjoy my work if I do not have to do much, and make lots of money!
May: OK, honey, stop dreaming. You should face the reality.
Gucci: That’s only a joke. To be honest, I have to improve my English, because my English is not good enough. I still get confused about some simple grammars. Since you are quite good at it, do you have any suggestions?
May: En, first you should be concentrated on what the teacher said in class. Second, I suggest you to take an additional course in some training center.
Gucci: Is the training center helpful?
May: I think so. Because I’ve taken one to improve my oral English during summer vacation.
Gucci: So what’s the name of that training center?
May: It is called Joy Chain. The teachers there are excellent, and you’re gonna like it.
Gucci: OK, I’ll have a try. Thank you so much.
聽看學(xué)
阿美：我這幾天壓力很大。
古奇：怎么啦?你還好吧?
阿美：我不知道去哪里上大學(xué)，也不知道學(xué)什么專業(yè)。
古奇：不要擔(dān)心。你還有很多時間考慮呢。
阿美：而且我還想獲得獎學(xué)金來幫我支付學(xué)費。我希望能夠減輕家里的負擔(dān)。
古奇：你總是擔(dān)心每一件事情。放松點，親愛的。你非常優(yōu)秀，你能考上你理想的大學(xué)的。
阿美：好的，好的，非常不好意思。那我問一下，對你來說，是掙錢更重要還是做自己喜歡的工作更重要?
古奇：在理想的狀態(tài)下，如果我不用做什么就能掙很多錢，那我就會喜歡我的工作。
阿美：好的，親愛的，別做夢了。你應(yīng)該面對現(xiàn)實。
古奇：那只是個玩笑而已。說實話，我得補補我的英語了，因為我的英語還不夠好。我仍然會對一些簡單的語法感到困惑。你的英語那么好，你能給我一些建議嗎?
阿美：嗯，首先，你上課的時候要專心聽講。其次，我建議你去培訓(xùn)中心上額外的課程。
古奇：培訓(xùn)中心有用嗎?
阿美：我是這么認為的，因為我暑假的時候報了一個班提高英語口語。
古奇：那個培訓(xùn)中心叫什么啊?
阿美：叫快樂連鎖。那兒的老師非常棒，你會喜歡的。
古奇：好的，我會試試的。非常感謝你。
經(jīng)典背誦 Recitation
May: I’ve been so stressed these days. Because I don’t know where to go for college, and what to major in. Gucci said that I always worried a lot. In fact, I also want to get scholarships to help me pay for the tuition so that I can get the burden off my family.
生詞小結(jié)
stressed adj. 有壓力的
major vi. 主修
scholarship n. 獎學(xué)金
burden n. 負擔(dān)
ideal adj. 理想的
additional adj. 額外的
語素 Material
The American Education System
Formal education in the U.S. consists of elementary, secondary and higher education. Elementary and secondary education, which forms public education, is free and compulsory. In America, there are more public elementary and secondary schools than private ones, while private colleges and universities outnumber public ones. There is not a national system of education in the United States. It is the state that establishes policies for the education within its boundary, so many variations can be found in the education system of the 50 states. Elementary and secondary education in the U.S. covers 12 years for ages 6 through 18. All the states have laws that require children to go to school, generally until the age of 16, unless they are severely handicapped.
美國教育體制
美國正規(guī)的教育由初等、中等和高等教育組成。初等和中等教育屬公立教育，是免費和義務(wù)的。在美國，公立的中小學(xué)要多于私立的，而私立大學(xué)卻比公立大學(xué)多。美國沒有全國統(tǒng)一的教育體制，而是由各州為自己的轄區(qū)制定教育政策，因此50個州的教育體制相差很大。美國初等和中等教育共12年，從6歲到18歲。所有州都立法要求孩子們上學(xué)，通常要求上到16歲，除非他們嚴(yán)重殘疾。
American University Academic Scholarships
Scholarships and Prizes are donated by individuals, private organizations, professional bodies or academic departments. They are awarded to students for their:
outstanding academic performances;
outstanding achievement in non-academic field;
outstanding services to the university or the community.
The majority of scholarships and prizes are awarded based on academic performance and recipients are nominated by their respective departments.
美國大學(xué)獎學(xué)金
獎學(xué)金是由個人、私人團體、專業(yè)機構(gòu)或?qū)W術(shù)部門提供的。獎學(xué)金被頒發(fā)給符合以下條件的學(xué)生：
有杰出的學(xué)術(shù)成績;
在非學(xué)術(shù)領(lǐng)域有杰出的成就;
對學(xué)校或社團做出過杰出貢獻。
大部分獎學(xué)金都依據(jù)學(xué)術(shù)成績而發(fā)放，獲得者由各自所在的院系提名。
