365个英语简短小故事-364. Let’s Speak English

It was the first day of class. Two of her new ESL classmates wanted to know where Tara was from. They were both from Iraq. Because Tara looked Iraqi, one of the women asked Tara, in English, if she was from Iraq. Tara replied, “No, I’m not.” Then the women took turns asking Tara if she was from Iran, or Syria, or Jordan. To each question, Tara responded¹ with a simple no. Laughing, one woman said to the other, “She's not from anywhere!” The two went to their desks, talking to each other in Arabic².

The next day, the teacher divided the students into groups of four. The students in each group asked introductory questions of each other. A student in Tara’s group asked her, “Where are you from?” Tara answered that she was from Iraq. The two women who had questioned Tara the day before were sitting only a few feet away. Both of them heard Tara’s response.

“Aha!” they both exclaimed³. “You ARE from Iraq!” Tara smiled and said yes. Then she apologized to both of them for lying the day before. She explained that she had not wanted to get into an Arabic conversation with them. It had been her experience that many ESL students continued to speak their native language in ESL class, and Tara had not come to ESL class to practice her Arabic. In her opinion, ESL students should try to speak English only.

“I agree,” said Rose.

“You’re 100 percent right,” agreed Jennifer. “Rose and I must stop speaking Arabic to each other. Right, Rose?” Rose nodded, and then said something in Arabic. All three women laughed.

Over the next four months, Tara became friendly with both women, although she never spoke⁴ a word of Arabic to them during class or break.

 

1 responded   

回答，回报，响应( respond的过去式和过去分词 )； 有反应； 有效果； 有影响

参考例句：

• Most of the staff who responded to the questionnaire were supportive. 回答了问卷的职员大多数表示支持。
• She responded to the news by bursting into tears. 她听到那个消息后眼泪夺眶而出。

2 Arabic   

n.阿拉伯语；adj.阿拉伯语的，阿拉伯人的，阿拉伯式的

参考例句：

• It is not easy to learn Arabic.学阿拉伯语不容易。
• Arabic script reads from right to left.阿拉伯文是从右至左读的。

3 exclaimed   

vt.exclaim的过去式v.呼喊，惊叫，大声说( exclaim的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "We have a good chance of winning," he exclaimed optimistically. “我们很可能获胜。”他乐观地喊道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She exclaimed in delight when she saw the presents. 她见到礼品高兴得叫了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。