英语口语教程(中级) UNIT 17-19

Oral Workshop   Discussion   Lesson17-19 ;
[00:16.78]Lesson 17 ;
[00:20.34]Juvenile Delinquency     Text A ;
[00:25.17]Jennifer got off the bus from the university ;
[00:28.61]and began walking towards the flat she shared with two other students. ;
[00:32.59]On her way she had to buy some food ;
[00:34.91]and stopped in one of the shops in the street.It was run by an Asian family, ;
[00:39.47]and although the prices there were a little higher than in the big supermarket ;
[00:43.07]further down the street,she did a lot of her shopping there. ;
[00:46.53]The vegetables were fresher ;
[00:48.29]and they had various things she couldn't get elsewhere. ;
[00:50.89]Mr Patel,the owner of the shop,was checking through a list, ;
[00:54.59]but smiled,as he always did,when he saw her come in. ;
[00:57.96]She picked up a wire basket and walked towards the back of the shop, ;
[01:01.78]where the rice was kept.The shop was divided by three long aisles, ;
[01:05.90]with rows of shelves crammed with all sorts of things. ;
[01:09.13]Except for her and Mr Patel,there were only two other people there. ;
[01:13.15]They were two teenage boys, ;
[01:15.24]and they were standing at the end of one of the aisles. ;
[01:18.09]She glanced at them as she passed. They were both wearing long, ;
[01:21.70]old-fashioned overcoats and they looked rather ridiculous in them ;
[01:25.01]because the coats were too big. ;
[01:27.19]But such things were popular with some teenagers at the time. ;
[01:30.46]"Watch out,stupid," she heard one of them whisper to the other. ;
[01:34.40]She walked on to the next aisle and found the rice she was looking for. ;
[01:38.14]Then she heard something else. ;
[01:40.18]It sounded like a tin dropping on the floor. ;
[01:42.79]She peered through a gap in the shelf ;
[01:44.88]and caught a glimpse of one of the boys bending down. ;
[01:47.48]She saw him pick up a tin of food. ;
[01:49.71]But instead of putting it in the shopping basket, ;
[01:52.70]he dropped it into the inside pocket of his long overcoat. ;
[01:55.97]Jennifer glanced back down the aisle. ;
[01:58.25]She could see Mr Patel at the cash till,still checking through his list. ;
[02:02.51]Then she looked through the gap in the shelf again. ;
[02:04.93]The boys still had their backs to her. ;
[02:07.30]"Come on,let's get out of here," she heard one of them say. ;
[02:10.67]At the same time, she saw one of them put another tin in his overcoat pocket. ;
[02:15.03]They moved away from her. ;
[02:16.60]She could no longer see what they were doing or hear what they were saying. ;
[02:19.96]When she got to the till,the two boys were in front of her. ;
[02:23.61]She watched them pay for the few things they had in the basket. ;
[02:26.93]They had both buttoned their coats and fastened them with their belts. ;
[02:30.77]Mr Patel did not seem suspicious at all. ;
[02:33.76]He even smiled at them as they were about to leave. ;
[02:36.46]Jennifer opened her mouth to say something. ;
[02:39.92]    Text B ;
[02:43.29]The only crime I have ever been connected with was unsuccessful. ;
[02:48.55]One summer night I went to bed. ;
[02:50.50]Leaving my bedroom door open because it was very hot. ;
[02:53.67]During the night I was woken up by the sound of a match being struck. ;
[02:57.42]For a moment I thought it must be the friend I lived with, ;
[03:00.12]but then I remembered he was away. ;
[03:02.30]I felt certain there was someone in the room. ;
[03:04.91]I saw the outline of a man standing near the door. ;
[03:08.14]I was almost certain the man was a burglar. ;
[03:10.46]Without thinking what I was doing, ;
[03:12.36]I shouted loudly and jumped out of bed to catch the man. ;
[03:15.41]As I ran across the garden, ;
[03:17.17]I suddenly realized I was doing something very foolish. ;
[03:20.44]The burglar I was chasing might be carrying a knife. ;
[03:23.47]I went straight back into the house and locked all the doors to protect myself. ;
[03:28.31]This was a very small crime which did not succeed, ;
[03:31.96]but crime is a serious problem in Britain. ;
[03:34.66]One sort of crime which particularly worries people is juvenile delinquency ;
[03:39.50]--that is,crimes committed by young people. ;
[03:42.87]For some years, juvenile delinquency has been increasing. ;
[03:46.52]There are two main sorts of juvenile crime:stealing and violence. ;
[03:51.21]Most people do not understand why young people commit these crimes. ;
[03:55.00]There are,I think, a large number of different reasons. ;
[03:58.28]These crimes are not usually committed by people who are poor or in need. ;
[04:03.59]Young people often dislike and resent the adult world. ;
[04:07.66]They will do things to show that they are rebels. ;
[04:10.37]Also in Britain today it is easier for young people to commit crimes ;
[04:14.31]because they have more freedom to go where they like ;
[04:16.65]and more money to do what they like. ;
[04:18.97]There are two other possible causes which are worth mentioning. ;
[04:22.86]More and more people in Britain live in large towns. ;
[04:26.13]In a large town no one knows who anyone else is or where they live. ;
[04:30.54]But in the village I come from crimes are rare ;
[04:33.24]because everybody knows everyone else. ;
[04:36.04]Although it is difficult to explain,I hink the last cause is very important. ;
[04:40.69]Perhaps there is something wrong with our society ;
[04:43.22]which encourages violence and crime. ;
[04:45.52]It is a fact that all the time ;
[04:47.52]children are exposed to films and reports about crime and violence. ;
[04:51.33]Many people do not agree that this influences young people, ;
[04:54.75]but I think that young people are ;
[04:56.67]very much influenced by the society they grow up in. ;
[04:59.72]I feel that the fault may be as much with our whole society ;
[05:03.59]as with these young people. ;
[05:05.63]    Additional    Information ;
[05:08.57]It's just before school starts,when they check the pupils for guns. ;
[05:14.07]By now,the 1,600 students at Chester High School in ;
[05:18.55]Philadelphia have got used to it. ;
[05:20.78]One by one,they go through a metal detector gate, ;
[05:24.00]like the ones at an airport,at the main entrance to their school. ;
[05:27.65]The beeper alarm is constantly going off, ;
[05:30.40]indicating some metal object in the pupil's pockets. ;
[05:33.48]Mostly,it is a key, or coins. ;
[05:36.80]Such searches-in some schools a regular routine,in others,a spot check ;
[05:42.54]-are part of the attempt of school authorities in the United States ;
[05:45.95]to keep students from bringing into the classroom their knives, ;
[05:48.94]revolvers and machine-guns. The metal detector checks ;
[05:53.21]have already become commonplace in schools in Philadelphia, ;
[05:56.27]Detroit,and New York. ;
[05:58.07]A school in Fairfax, on the outskirts of Washington,D.C.,will soon begin them. ;
[06:03.57]School administrators decided that something finally had to be done ;
[06:07.46]after the various shootouts ;
[06:08.71]and discoveries of weapons in schools around the country ;
[06:11.37]had made headlines for weeks running. ;
[06:13.64]On January 26,at Woodrow Wilson School in Washington ;
[06:17.91]a teenager shot and wounded four others in a fight ;
[06:20.85]over a place to sit in the school cafeteria. ;
[06:23.51]On February 9, teachers confiscated a semi-automatic pistol ;
[06:28.01]from two 13-year-old at a school in the Washington suburb of Silver Spring ;
[06:32.23]after they had threatened other students with the weapon. ;
[06:35.08]Six days later,a student at Kramer High School in Washington ;
[06:38.82]threatened a schoolmate with a sawedoff shotgun. Asked why he did it, ;
[06:43.28]the youngster said the other had "stared so stupidly" at him. ;
[06:47.50]The list of such incidents goes on and on,and in some cases they are fatal. ;
[06:53.76]According to the California-based "National School Safety Centre" ;
[06:58.40](NSSC) in a recent report, ;
[07:01.63]there were 360,000 violent incidents in American schools in 1986, ;
[07:08.08]the last year for which statistics are available. ;
[07:11.02]The incidents ranged from fist fights to shootouts, ;
[07:14.90]and 70,000 weapons were confiscated, including1,700 pistols and rifles. ;
[07:21.68]Since then,says Ronald Stephens,the director of NSSC, ;
[07:25.90]the number of incidents involving guns in schools has risen considerably. ;
[07:30.31]Teachers and security experts have a hard time explaining ;
[07:33.70]why teenagers want to bring lethal weapons with them to school. ;
[07:37.29]"Some want to impress their schoolmates, "believes Stephens. ;
[07:40.72]"They feel that a gun is a symbol of power and control. ;
[07:44.04]Others have a feeling that they need weapons to protect themselves. ;
[07:48.26]"School authorities see the rise in weapons and violence above all ;
[07:52.58]as being connected to drugs in American high schools. ;
[07:55.63]Armed youth gangs divide up the drug trade turf among themselves. ;
[07:59.90]According to the NSSC, ;
[08:01.84]the older gang members use the younger newcomers as "weapons depots." ;
[08:06.49]Lyn Siper of the National Crime Prevention Council in Washington ;
[08:10.71]believes that youths during their puberty lean towards ;
[08:13.41]fighting out their conflicts instead of talking about them. ;
[08:16.38]Such drugs as cocainge and crack add to their emotional isturbance. ;
[08:20.83]Siper and Stephens agree that the general level of ;
[08:23.58]violence on the streets of big American cities, ;
[08:26.07]and the unimpeded access to guns,play a role. ;
[08:29.68]America's citizens possess a total of 120 million firearms. ;
[08:35.13]Many of the revolvers and rifles which authorities conficated n the schools ;
[08:39.21]had been legally acquired and registered by the students' parents. ;
[09:20.98]Lesson 18 ;
[09:23.66]  How to Keep Fit     Text A ;
[09:27.97]Ten years ago I used to be very fit. ;
[09:31.20]I cycled to work and I got a lot of exercise at the weekends. ;
[09:34.90]I used to play tennis a lot and go for long walks. ;
[09:37.79]In those days I didn't earn very much.I had a job in an office. ;
[09:41.91]It wasn't a very good job ;
[09:43.33]but I had a lot of time to do the things I enjoyed doing. ;
[09:46.32]Then,about eight years ago,I got a much better job. The pay was better. ;
[09:52.13]But the hours were a lot longer,too. ;
[09:54.59]I bought a car and drove to work every day.I began to take people out to lunch. ;
[09:59.38]"Expense account" lunches.And I began to put on weight, too. ;
[10:03.94]I stopped playing tennis and going for long walks at the weekend ;
[10:07.01]because I just didn't have any time for things like that any more. ;
[10:10.22]There's a lot of stress in a job like mine. ;
[10:12.97]Perhaps that's why I started drinking more than I used to. ;
[10:15.86]For example,I used to have only half a glass of whisky when I got home, ;
[10:19.75]then I started filling the glass to the top. ;
[10:22.03]Then I had another glass,and then another.I started smoking a lot,too. ;
[10:26.77]I never used to smoke at all.Two months ago I had a heart attack. ;
[10:32.69]At first I just couldn't believe it. "I'm too young," I said. ;
[10:37.39]Luckily it wasn't very serious. ;
[10:39.57]I was in hospital a few days and they did a lot of tests. ;
[10:42.65]The doctor advised me to stop smoking and to eat less. ;
[10:45.87]He told me to do a lot of other things, too. ;
[10:48.15]But I don't see how I can do some of them and keep my job. ;
[10:51.14]For example,he advised me to work less,and get more exercise. ;
[10:54.31]But I just haven't any time! My job takes everything out of me! ;
[10:58.34]Sometimes I wonder if I should get another job. ;
[11:01.09]Perhaps I could do something like I used to do. ;
[11:03.70]But if I do that,I won't earn as much. I have a family to support. ;
[11:08.44]I have to think of them,too.I just don't know what I should do. ;
[11:12.76]What do you think? ;
[11:14.99]    Text B ;
[11:18.35]Here is one person who really believes in keeping fit. ;
[11:22.29]Her name is Mrs Laura Taylor. ;
[11:24.85]She is 45 but looks at least 10 years younger.Let's listen to her story. ;
[11:31.01]It all started about two years ago. In those days things were very different. ;
[11:37.32]I was overweight. I used to smoke a lot--about 30 cigarettes a day. ;
[11:41.54]I never got any exercise. I used to stay at home all day. ;
[11:45.90]I never went out into the fresh air, except to do the shopping. ;
[11:49.27]And even then I used to take the car. ;
[11:51.35]One day I looked at myself in the mirror."My God," I thought. ;
[11:56.57]"I look terrible!" I tried to touch my toes. ;
[11:59.70]I couldn't do it. I found an old dress. ;
[12:02.35]I couldn't put it on.It was too small. Or rather,I was too fat! ;
[12:07.76]The next day I tried to jog a little. At first it was terrible. ;
[12:12.50]I mean I just couldn't run. Not even a short distance. ;
[12:15.72]And at first people used to laugh at me. ;
[12:18.24]Why are you running? Are you in a hurry?" They shouted. ;
[12:21.65]But now I've completely changed the way I live. ;
[12:24.50]I've stopped eating meat and I've started eating far more fresh vegetables. ;
[12:28.86]My husband and daughter have started that,too. ;
[12:31.23]At first they didn't like the new food. But they've changed. ;
[12:34.74]About six months ago I sold my car and bought a bike. ;
[12:38.06]Recently I've started doing yoga exercises. ;
[12:41.14]My husband often goes cycling with me now ;
[12:43.60]and my daughter jogs with me in the evening. ;
[12:45.55]They've both lost weight and are much healthier than they used to be,too. ;
[12:49.77]    Additional     Information     YOGA ;
[12:53.99]Have you ever tried to hold your breath ;
[12:56.48]for a long time and then let it out slowly? ;
[12:58.77]This is one of the techniques of an anciet Indian discipl- ine known as Yoga. ;
[13:03.59]For thousands of years, ;
[13:05.16]people have used Yoga to help search for happiness and contentment. ;
[13:09.02]Students of Yoga often study for as long as 20 years before becom- ing masters or Yogis. ;
[13:15.80]They learn many different physical exercises. ;
[13:18.97]These exercises are designed to put the students in good physical condition. ;
[13:23.48]Then they can concentrate on deep religious thoughts ;
[13:26.71]without worrying about physical discomforts. ;
[13:29.76]Many Yoga exercises involve putting the body into difficult positions. ;
[13:35.78]Some of them are very hard to learn. ;
[13:38.30]Have you ever tried to fold your legs over one another? ;
[13:41.14]This is one of the basic Yoga positions. ;
[13:43.75]It is called the lotus position. ;
[13:46.40]Most people find it difficult to stay in that position for even a few minutes. ;
[13:50.43]But Yogis train themselves to remain in the lotus position for hours or even days ;
[13:55.60]They are taught to overcome the physical discomforts of holding hese positions. ;
[13:59.82]Other exercises and rules teach concentration. ;
[14:02.86]Yogis feel this is the key to finding inner peace. ;
[14:06.27]This kind of concentration is called meditation. ;
[14:09.83]Yogis and many other people practice meditation. ;
[14:13.76]They claim that it makes them feel relaxed and peaceful. ;
[14:16.89]Some people say that it makes them feel better-just as good exercise does. ;
[14:21.21]But other people claim ;
[14:22.58]that it is a way of achieving a strong religious feeling. ;
[14:25.81]These people say that meditation helps them feel much closer to God. ;
[14:30.64]The word Yoga itself comes from an ancient Sanskrit word meaning"union". ;
[14:36.14]What kind of union do you think the word refers to? ;
[14:39.27]Why would people want to have this kind of experience? ;
[15:19.62]Lesson 19 ;
[15:21.80] Why Go to School     Text A ;
[15:26.02]MATTHEW:Lesley,   you're a teacher. How does the English school system work? ;
[15:30.29]LESLEY:Um,well,first of all most children start school at the age of five ;
[15:35.70]and they can't leave school until the age of sixteen, ;
[15:38.78]which is just,you know,the age group has just been recently raised. ;
[15:42.90]Um...they will go to a primary school from the age of five until eleven...um, ;
[15:48.73]and previously they used to take an eleven plus examination ;
[15:52.48]which would then determine whether they would go to a grammar school ;
[15:55.80]or alternatively a secondary modern school. ;
[15:58.67]But now we have a... a new system ;
[16:01.46]where children aren't divided off at the age of eleven ;
[16:04.74]and will go into a comprehensive system of schooling, ;
[16:07.82]and...will do the things that they're best able to do at certain ages ;
[16:12.70]and if they want to take the exams they are able to at...at the age of sixteen. ;
[16:17.25]MATTHEW:Do you think   that's a... an   improvement to   the system? ;
[16:21.28]LESLEY:Well... mm,   theoretically... ;
[16:24.03]it's supposed to be much better because it gives... ;
[16:26.83]it stops separating children off at the age of eleven ;
[16:30.29]and gives them a better chance, ;
[16:32.09]and in fact what usually happens is that those children who wouldn't... ;
[16:35.56]er who would have gone to a grammar school ;
[16:38.16]tend to be at the top end of the comprehensive system, ;
[16:41.20]and those that would have gone to secondary modern school ;
[16:44.28]find themselves at the lower levels of the school. ;
[16:47.08]MATTHEW:Do you think   that the present   school system is ;
[16:49.74]an efficient way of educating children? ;
[16:51.70]LESLEY:Mm... well if   you,if you accept   that,you know, ;
[16:55.87]there have to be schools,it seems to work fairly efficiently. ;
[17:00.76]Of course one of our great problems in England ;
[17:03.98]is that we have very large classes and... um, ;
[17:08.06]it would be very nice if we could reduce that by at least half ;
[17:11.71]instead of there being forty children in a class,there are only twenty... ;
[17:16.02]mm and so that each child gets more individual attention ;
[17:20.43]so that their own particular needs just aren't passed over. ;
[17:24.04]MATTHEW:Do you think   the...the subjects   that er... ;
[17:27.31]children study today are adapted to present-day society? ;
[17:31.15]LESLEY:It would be   very good if...er,   more children at   school ;
[17:34.74]had the opportunity of learning about the society they live in... ;
[17:38.00]in economic terms and in social terms, ;
[17:40.65]so that they are much more aware of the problems that we face today. ;
[17:44.12]But I also think that education isn't only something that has to be... ;
[17:48.38]has to be relevant... um, I think education can be just a... ;
[17:53.47]a gradual extension of oneself,and I don't think it's um... ;
[17:58.70]important for subjects o be seen only in terms of how useful they are ;
[18:03.13]when you leave school... ;
[18:04.63]but how much you enjoy them and how much they mean to you. ;
[18:08.30]MATTHEW:David,what   do you do in an   average day at   school? ;
[18:12.00]DAVID:Um... it   mainly consists of   English and Maths, ;
[18:16.26]which takes up a lot of the lesson time and then... um... ;
[18:19.06]like on Mondays, for example...er, ;
[18:21.20]we would do...er,I don't know,Maths, English,Art, ;
[18:24.99]History and then Tuesdays would be some more English, probably... ;
[18:28.69]um,History, Religious studies, Physics, ;
[18:32.67]whatever I'm taking now which is "O" levels,which is... ;
[18:35.80]  is nine subjects   in all. MATTHEW:I see,so you   can choose... ;
[18:40.40]the subject you want to take for "O" level...You don't have to take... ;
[18:45.00]  every subject in   the school? DAVID:No,... no,no. ;
[18:48.55]MATTHEW:What about   games... er and   drama and things   like that? ;
[18:52.54]DAVID:We have about   an hour and a half   of games a week, ;
[18:56.04]and for about an hour a week we... do a... a thing known as er... ;
[19:00.36]social studies,which is um... it's kind of a cross-section of... ;
[19:04.77]er what life will be we... we leave school... Um... where we do drama... ;
[19:12.59]a... we study ecology,sociology etcetera... Um,it's not "O" level, ;
[19:18.04]we don't take an "O" level in it,it's just for er... experience. ;
[19:22.07]MATTHEW:Jenet,do   you... ;
[19:24.07]think that your daughters gain a tremendous amount from their education ;
[19:28.00]JANET:I think   they... they gain   a certain amount   of um... ;
[19:30.94]necessary knowledge, yes,but I wish it was broader. ;
[19:35.49]I wish that instead of being driven towards passing exams that they had, ;
[19:39.95]certainly at this stage of adolescence, ;
[19:42.46]the chance to really broaden their outlook completely ;
[19:45.59]and not feel this necessity to read towards passing an exam, ;
[19:49.58]to collecting a piece of paper at the end of it. ;
[19:52.61]MATTHEW:Er... do you   have any specific   ways in which you   think... ;
[19:56.31]time at school could be improved? ;
[19:58.44]JANET:Yes,I think   there could be   a... ;
[20:00.20]a lot more encouragement in doing things for their own sake, ;
[20:03.66]for getting the satisfaction out of them... ;
[20:05.89]um,rather than this "rat race" that everybody's forced into... um... ;
[20:10.63]for what is achieved at the end.I think a lot more should be done to encourage ;
[20:16.89]people to get the value out of it themselves. ;
[20:19.68]MATTHEW:Do you think   that er... ;
[20:21.27]education is just something that takes place inside a school building, ;
[20:25.06]or is it a... an activity which takes place not only outside ;
[20:28.98]but right the way through your life? ;
[20:31.00]JANET:I think it   starts the moment   you're born,and... ;
[20:34.24]er... that it's going on all around you. ;
[20:37.04]It's not just taking place in a school building... ;
[20:39.79]um it should be... part of your whole life. ;
[20:44.10]    Text B ;
[20:46.80]In 1967,The Observer,one of Britain's leading Sunday newspapers, ;
[20:52.78]organized a competition for secondary school-children; ;
[20:55.95]they had to write about "The School that I'd Like".This meant,of course, ;
[21:01.03]that they also had to say what was wrong with the schools they had. ;
[21:05.20]David,15 But what is the main purpose of schools to educate young people ;
[21:12.57]so that when they go out into the world they will be prepared for it? ;
[21:16.02]But are they? We learn our Mathematics,English, Physics,etc. ;
[21:20.92]but what do you learn about sex, marriage and things like this? ;
[21:25.42]These are just as important but we don't learn very much about them. ;
[21:29.97]Carol,17 Give us more variety! ;
[21:35.38]Give us the chance to visit factories more frequently,to talk with miners, ;
[21:39.84]dustmen,doctors, lawyers,jail-birds and drug addicts, too. ;
[21:44.06]Give us the chance to visit remand homes and prisons. ;
[21:47.76]We want to know more about life and less about books. ;
[21:51.79]Robin,16 What a bore school is nowadays, ;
[21:57.71]the same as it has been for hundreds of years. ;
[22:00.51]What we get is the same old thing: teacher,outdated textbooks, ;
[22:05.87]and a class fed up to the teeth with the teacher and the school. ;
[22:09.23]What we need is one great change in the educational system of the country. ;
[22:13.31]Children do not want to be taught at,but want to find things for themselves. ;
[22:17.96]If a child is interested in the way a rabbit's heart works, ;
[22:21.23]let him and find out,by cutting one up. ;
[22:25.07]Irena,15 Homework should not be given. Many of us would rather spend another ;
[22:33.11]hour at school than two hours at home doing an hour's homework, ;
[22:36.77]where we are constant- ly being distracted by elevision and such things. ;
[22:41.03]Sidney,15,The first step must surely be to aise teachers' salaries ;
[22:49.19]by at least fifty percent ;
[22:50.77]so as to attract first-class people to the profession. ;
[22:53.91]And the only means of doing this is by offering salaries ;
[22:57.54]equal to their responsibility ;
[22:59.17]in shaping the hopes of tomorrow ;
[23:00.80]and competitive with those offered by industry. ;
[23:04.73]Christopher,16 The discipline and life of the school would be ;
[23:11.39]based on freedom for the pupil. ;
[23:13.50]So freedom and a minimum of control would be important and the pupils, ;
[23:18.08]male and female, would be treated as adults ;
[23:20.73]and allowed to see if they can live together n a community like intelligent people. ;
[23:25.43]Given this responsibility and freedom, ;
[23:28.04]the pupils obviously would not always be well-behaved and sensible, ;
[23:31.26]but they would,I believe,grow up to be mature and intelligent adults ;
[23:35.62]who are socially and in all other ways,useful to the community. ;
[23:39.99]Margaret,14 ...all this (i.e. freedom in schools) ;
[23:46.29]suggests that the school would always be chaotic, ;
[23:49.18]which give all the pupils an insight into what life,after school,is like:chaos ;
[23:55.63]    Additional     Information ;
[23:58.86]I am beginning to feel the pressure of work. ;
[24:02.55]None of the courses are as simple as they appear to be. ;
[24:05.68]There are a lot of reference books to consult and you can consider yourself ;
[24:09.43]lucky if you manage to get half of them from the library. ;
[24:12.42]Most copies seem to be permanently lent out. ;
[24:15.78]The reading rooms are always crowded ;
[24:17.92]and you have to get there early in order to find a place. ;
[24:21.52]The biggest headache is our dormitory. ;
[24:24.27]Though there are desks for us to work at,nobody ever works there. ;
[24:27.78]For one thing,the room is so crowded that there is little elbow room, ;
[24:31.29]and it so dark that we need the electric light even in day time. ;
[24:35.22]The worst is the human element- ;
[24:38.12]there are always those who don't want to ;
[24:40.21]work and won't let others work either. ;
[24:42.19]They either chat, sing,play the guitar or listen to tapes. ;
[24:46.11]How I miss my little cubicle of a room at home! ;
[24:49.33]Perhaps it's only a reaction against my early excitement, ;
[24:53.12]but anyway I am often overcome by low spirits. ;
[24:57.06]Sometimes I even think  am wasting my time here and wish I had not come here at all. ;
[25:01.41]But of course I know they are only passing moods caused by my disillusionment. ;
[25:05.73]I find some of the teachers just hopeless and totally irresponsible. ;
[25:09.36]All they are interested in is to earn some extra money by moonlighting. ;
[25:13.15]In one way they are to be sympathized with because they ;
[25:16.12]do need the extra money what with their low salaries and the rising prices. ;
[25:19.86]But surely they shouldn't let us suffer as a result. ;
[25:22.99]My biggest disappointment is in my fellow students. ;
[25:26.45]Of course I am referring only to some and perhaps they are only a minority. ;
[25:30.25]They are a far cry from my old image of college students. ;
[25:33.85]They dress and behave no better than the hooligans we often see in the streets. ;
[25:37.82]I really don't know how they managed to get into the university, ;
[25:40.76]for they don't seem to be interested in their studies at all. ;
[25:43.60]All they care for is to have a good time, ;
[25:46.02]as though to enter university is an end in itself. ;
[25:48.97]They hold dances every Saturday evening ;
[25:50.84]or play cards in the dormitories deep into the night,drinking and moking heavily. ;
[25:55.36]What's more they always jump the queue ;
[25:57.61]in the dining halls and quarrel with anyone who tries to stop them. ;
[26:00.89]Once they even came to blows. What a disgrace! ;
[26:04.73]But despite all this,colleges life is opening up for me a new vista that ;
[26:09.47]brings as much excitement as enlightenment. ;
[26:12.03]Here we can talk about anything under the sun. ;
[26:14.73]I had always thought myself well-read and my classmates at school had looked ;
[26:18.12]up to me for my wide "general knowledge." ;
[26:20.59]But now I've come to realize how ignorant I really am. ;
[26:24.29]Just from casual conversations and informal discussions. ;
[26:28.03]I've learnt more about the world and society in the past two months ;
[26:31.54]than what I learned from all the formal classes at school. ;
[26:34.62]Also I found many extra-curricula lectures ;
[26:37.47]by guest speakers most stimulating. ;
[26:39.72]One in particular inspired me very much, ;
[26:42.71]a lecture on symphonic usic by a young conductor from the Central Conservatory ;
[26:47.16]Before,music used to be merely a collection f beautiful sounds to me. ;
[26:51.19]But now I am constantly discovering new and ;
[26:53.90]hidden meaning behind all these sounds. ;
[26:57.08]One thing I am sure: college life is and will be a most ;
[27:01.56]colourful and fruitful period in my whole life. ;