篇一：Fighting against Chinglish
In Beijing, a campaign was recently launched, which focused on incorrect English usage. As a result, 1,000 mistakes were turned up by the locals. For example, “Welcome” was mistakenly used as “Welcome to come”.
Campaign organizers asked residents to look out for incorrect English in their local areas and send in examples. In one month about 400 residents spotted errors and reported them to the campaign organized by a local newspaper and Olympic worldwide partner Kodak.
“The activity was a good opportunity for locals to contribute to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games,” said Beijing resident Liu Jian, who pointed out 101 mistakes to the organizing committee. “At the same time, it also encouraged us to learn more and improve our English. I hope through our efforts Beijing will be a real metropolis (大都市) to receive foreigners during the 2008 Olympic Games.”
In fact, foreigners, living and working in Beijing, showed strong interest in the event. “There are many signs with English expressions all around the city, which show the city’s warm welcome to people all over the world,” said Josh Gordon, an American in Beijing.
According to the organizers, the errors found during the campaign will be sorted and submitted to the government departments concerned, which have been considering standardizing Chinese-English translations in the city. “We have gathered a group of experts from home and abroad to work on standardizing English expressions in almost all fields, including tourism, transportation and business,” said Liu Yang, director of the Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program Office.
Besides English expressions on road signs, broadcast announcements in taxis and the subway will also be improved and standardized. The standard of Beijing taxi drivers’ oral English is also being tackled through English programs on the radio and other training courses.
Help:
launch v. to start something, usually something big or important 发起
submit v. to give or offer something for a decision to be made by others 提交
True(T)or False (F):
1. Locals played a positive role in finding incorrect English usage.
2. Local newspapers and Kodak company started the campaign.
3. Beijing taxi drivers are spending most of their time learning English.
(Key: 1-3 TFF)
篇二：Barcelona wins Championship
History was made on May 17 in France when Barcelona, whose only previous Champions title came in 1992, won their first European Soccer Championship in 14 years. Barcelona defeated Arsenal 2-1 in the UEFA Champions League final.
Barcelona played with a man-advantage after the referee (裁判) ejecting the Arsenal goalkeeper early on in the game. Jens Lehmann was given a red card in the 18th minute of play for tripping Barcelona striker, Samuel Eto’o. Lehmann became the first player in the Champions League history to be sent out of a final championship game.
Referee Terje Hauge is not 100% behind his decision here. ESPN.com reporters wrote that he (Hauge) “may have acted too quickly (on the subject of the red card during the game).” Hauge told a Norwegian newspaper, Dagbladet, “The match started well, then obviously there was the incident with the sending-off (被罚出场). At this point I would have liked to have taken a few more seconds before I made my decision.”
Despite all of this, Arsenal played with ten for the remaining 72 minutes of the game. They were even able to score the first goal in the 37th minute.
Eto’o struck again and the two teams tied in the 76th minute. Then Juliano Belletti of Barcelona scored the game-winning goal with just 10 minutes left to play.
“There are not enough words to describe how I feel,” Eto’o said. “But you can’t say it was my night ― it was Barcelona’s night.”
Eto’o, a Cameroon star who has won Africa’s player of the year award for three straight years, said Barcelona remembered how Liverpool overcame a three-goal deficit (落后) to win last year’s final against AC Milan. “Having seen what Liverpool did, we adopted the Liverpool spirit. We know you can’t accept anything until the final whistle has blown,” he said.
Help:
eject v. to force somebody to leave a place 驱逐
tie v. to have the same number of points打成平局
adopt v. to start to deal with or think about something in a particular way采纳
True (T) or False (F):
1. Barcelona defeated Arsenal and won their first European Soccer Championship in history.
2. Jens Lehmann triped Samuel Et’o because he was not 100% behind his decision then.
3. Eto’o has won Africa’s player of the year award for three straight years when he served Liverpool.
Key:1-3 FFF
篇三：Little girl’s gift
The story goes that some time ago, a man had a very lovely little daughter. One day the man punished his three-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper.
Money was tight and he became angry when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, “This is for you, Daddy.”
The man was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found out the box was empty. He yelled at her, “Don’t you know, when you give someone a present, there is supposed to be something inside?” The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried, “Oh, Daddy, it’s not empty at all.
I blew kisses into the box. They are all for you, Daddy.”
The father was crushed. He put his arm around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.
Only a short time later, an accident took the life of the child. It is also told that her father kept the gold box by his bed for many years and whenever he was discouraged,he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put itthere.
In a very real sense, each of us, as human beings, has been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses ... from our children, family members, friends and God. There is simply no other possession anyone could hold, more precious than this.
Help:
embarrassed adj. shy, awkward or ashamed especially in a social situation尴尬的
flare v. to suddenly start or become stronger加剧
crush v. to make someone feel extremely upset or shocked 击垮
