英语访谈对话 243 European Life

 　　Todd: Now Norman, you've lived in Japan for awhile. Have you lived in any other countries?

　　Norman: Yes, I've lived in Germany as well.

　　Todd: Germany!

　　Norman: Yes, I lived for five years. I had two contracts in Germany. The first one in the seventies, for three years. I was an immersion¹ teacher, which means that they're English students at the elementary level who take all their courses in French, so with a particular second language approach I would teach them not only French, but I would teach them mathematics in French, science in French, visual arts in French, physical education in FrenchTodd: Wow, in Germany.

　　Norman: In Germany, yes! This was for the Canadian Armed forces. The, usually it's the man the father, who's there as a soldier, but sometimes it's the woman. But they have, they do have children and there was a need for some Canadian schooling². They hire teachers to teach the children of military personnel³.

　　Todd: Wow! What a cool job! What did you think about Germany?

　　Norman: Germany is very interesting in that it's a very lively country, I find. I enjoyed certainly the nature part. Every weekend, Susan and I tried to go on what they call volksmarch, which means, it's, "volks" means popular, popular walk. You have a choice of five kilometers, ten kilometers, or fifteen kilometers walk and at the end, once you complete the walk, you get a metal, and the walk is always in some nicevillage. You go up the hills, up the mountains, you have beautiful sights, and every now and then they have some kind of a food stand with a Bavarian band playing, and then you have those Bavarian sausages and it's just a whole lot of fun so we would take our children along with us and it would be quite an event.

　　Todd: That's nice. How long did you live in Germany?

　　Norman: I lived there five years total. 75 to 78,for a three year contract, and then 85 to 87, a two year contract.

　　Todd: Wow, so you speak German as well.

　　Norman: I do, I do, but now I have not spoken it for quite a long time so it would take a little bit of, let's say, review.

　　Todd: Wow! tri-lingual. That's cool!

1 immersion   

n.沉浸；专心

参考例句：

• The dirt on the bottom of the bath didn't encourage total immersion.浴缸底有污垢，不宜全身浸泡于其中。
• The wood had become swollen from prolonged immersion.因长时间浸泡，木头发胀了。

2 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

3 personnel   

n.[总称]人员，员工，人事部门

参考例句：

• The personnel are not happy to change these rules.全体工作人员对改变这些规定很不高兴。
• Personnel has lost my tax forms.人事部门把我的税收表格给弄丢了。