新视野大学英语读写教程听力 第一册 unit1a_new

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[00:-1.00]Unit 1 Learning a Foreign Language
[00:-2.00]Passage A
[00:-3.00]Learning a foreign language was one of the most difficult
[00:-4.00]yet most rewarding experiences of my life.
[00:-5.00]Although at times, learning a language was frustrating,
[00:-6.00]it was well worth the effort.
[00:-7.00]My experience with a foreign language began in junior middle school,
[00:-8.00]when I took my first English class.
[00:-9.00]I had a kind and patient teacher who often praised all of the students.
[00:10.00]Because of this positive method,
[00:11.00]I eagerly answered all the questions I could,
[00:12.00]never worrying much about making mistakes.
[00:13.00]I was at the top of my class for two years.
[00:14.00]When I went to senior middle school,
[00:15.00]I was eager to continue studying English;
[00:16.00]however, my experience in senior school was very different from before.
[00:17.00]While my former teacher had been patient with all the students,
[00:18.00]my new teacher quickly punished those who gave incorrect answers.
[00:19.00]Whenever we answered incorrectly,
[00:20.00]she pointed a long stick at us and,
[00:21.00]shaking it up and down, shouted, "No! No! No!"
[00:22.00]It didn't take me long to lose my eagerness to answer questions.
[00:23.00]Not only did I lose my joy in answering questions,
[00:24.00]but also I totally lost my desire to say anything at all in English.
[00:25.00]However, that state didn't last long.
[00:26.00]When I went to college,
[00:27.00]I learned that all students were required to take an English course.
[00:28.00]Unlike my senior middle school teacher,
[00:29.00]my college English teachers were patient and kind,
[00:30.00]and none of them carried long, pointed sticks!
[00:31.00]However, the situation was far from perfect.
[00:32.00]As our classes were very large,
[00:33.00]I was only able to answer a couple of questions in each class period.
[00:34.00]Also, after a few weeks of classes,
[00:35.00]I noticed there were many students
[00:36.00]who spoke much better than I did.
[00:37.00]I began to feel intimidated.
[00:38.00]So, once again, although for different reasons,
[00:39.00]I was afraid to speak.
[00:40.00]It seemed my English was going to stay at the same level forever.
[00:41.00]That was the situation until a couple of years later,
[00:42.00]when I was offered an opportunity to study English through an online course.
[00:43.00]The communication medium was a computer, phone line, and modem.
[00:44.00]I soon got access to the necessary equipment,
[00:45.00]learned the technology from a friend
[00:46.00]and participated in the virtual classroom 5 to 7 days a week.
[00:47.00]Online learning is not easier than regular classroom study;
[00:48.00]it requires much time,
[00:49.00]commitment and discipline to keep up with the flow of the course.
[00:50.00]I worked hard to meet the minimum standards
[00:51.00]set by the course and to complete assignments on time.
[00:52.00]I practiced all the time.
[00:53.00]I carried a little dictionary with me everywhere I went,
[00:54.00]as well as a notebook in which I listed any new words I heard.
[00:55.00]I made many, sometimes embarrassing, mistakes.
[00:56.00]Once in a while I cried with frustration,
[00:57.00]and sometimes I felt like giving up.
[00:58.00]But I didn't feel intimidated by students
[00:59.00]who spoke faster than I did
[-1:00.00]because I took all the time I needed to think out my ideas
[-1:-1.00]and wrote a reply before posting it on the screen.
[-1:-2.00]Then, one day I realized
[-1:-3.00]I could understand just about everything I came across,
[-1:-4.00]and most importantly, I could "say" anything I wanted to in English.
[-1:-5.00]Although I still made many mistakes and was continually learning,
[-1:-6.00]I had finally reaped the benefits of all that hard work.
[-1:-7.00]Learning a foreign language has been a most trying experience for me,
[-1:-8.00]but one that I wouldn't trade for anything.
[-1:-9.00]Not only did learning another language teach me