20090905 -- The American School Environment (2)

The American School Enviroment

Conversation A

Jack: Hi, Laura, I'm home!
I just dropped off Amelia at my sister's house.
Laura: It was nice of you to pick your niece up from school and take her home.
That's what uncles are for!
But I had to take Zelda too.
Jack: Who's Zelda?
Laura: Zelda is the class guinea pig.
Since Mondy's a holidy, someone had to take Zelda home.
Jack: And Amelia volunteered.
Laura: Naturally.
Jack: You know how much she loves animals!
Laura: I think it great that her class has a pet.
It teaches the kids about responsibility.
Jack: Yes. I know my sister is glad.
Laura: She's glad that guinea pig goes back to school on Tuesday!


Conversation B

Laura: I had an interesting day.
Jack: What did you do?

Laura: At lunchtime, I went to the high school to talk to one of the teachers.
Jack: It must have been hard to get into the parking lot!
Laura: It was. Kids were piling into cars and heading out for lunch.
Jack: So the school has an open campus.
Laura: I guess so. But the cafeteria was also full of kids eating.
And some kids were also eating in the halls in front of their lockers.
Jack: Was anyone studying?
Laura: Yes. The library was full of kids.
Jack: Good. Then high school is still a place to get an education!



volunteer v. 自願去做
volunteer for N
volunteer to V
eg: Kenda volunteered to wash all the dishes after our family dinner.
eg: Carl volunteered for the army during the World War II.
eg: Gina volunteered to accompany her classmate to school nurse.

naturally adv. 自然地/天生地
eg: I love chocolates, so naturally, I ate two pieces of that chocoloate cake!
eg: Molly is naturally blonde.
eg: Singing comes naturally for Jasmine.

naturally adv. (本課課文指)當然地/不用說
eg: Naturally we want our employees to work in a comfortable enviroment.

campus n. 校園
eg: Our school is on a beautiful campus with lots of modern buildings.

locker n. 儲物櫃
eg: Janice keeps all her books and notebooks in her locker at school.
eg: We put our luggage in a locker at the train station before we started our city tour.

locker room (體育館/三溫暖/游泳池)更衣室

open campus 開放校園
close campus 封閉校園

niece n. 姪女/外甥女

guinea pig 天竺鼠
天竺鼠外觀像「豬」叫聲又近似小豬，但為何叫做「幾內亞」? 有此一說是，天竺鼠剛剛引入英國時價格非常貴，要一個金幣之譜，而英國之金幣則稱為（guinea ），所以天竺鼠是一個金幣之豬


//== Chat room ==//

extracurricular activities 放學後的課外活動
=> outside the curricular of the school

curriculum n. 課業/課程
extracurricular adj. 超越課業的

try out 徵選
varsity team 校隊




//== Grammer on the go ==//

That's what uncles are for!
=> usually said after someone or something's duty/responsibility is mentioned

eg: That's what neighbors are for!
eg: You should go to talk to one of the teachers at the counseling center. That's what they're for!