新视野大学英语视听说 Unit 3-3

Task 2: Problem of Meeting People
As a foreign student, I have a number of problems, both academically and socially. The biggest one is meeting people. I feel confident about my ability to cope¹ with problems from my studies, but I’m not comfortable making friends with other students, especially local ones. Perhaps I’m worrying unnecessarily², but I find it difficult to talk to them and to make friends. The primary reasons is the language barrier³. My English is quite standard and forma, and although that helps me with my academic work, I have trouble understanding other students when they are just talking. It seems to me that in order to meet with other students I really need informal⁴, colloquial⁵ English. Besides, there’s the cultural gap⁶. That’s why it’s so difficult for overseas⁷ students and native English speaking students to really get to know each other. I really want to overcome this difficulty⁸. I guess the best way to begin is to start talking about course work that we share; and then I could suggest going for a cup of tea or coffee. Over coffee we could get to know each other. Another way would be to join a club, like a tennis club or a photo club, because that immediately gives you something in common with other people there. It gives you a starting point to build on.
1. He has both academic and social problems.
2. He fells confident about his ability to cope with his studies.
3. The language barrier is the main reason why he finds it hard to make friends with local students.
4. It is difficult for overseas students and native English speaking students to really get to know each other because there is the cultural gap.
5. Te best way for the overseas students to actually overcome the difficulty of making friends with native English speaking students is to start talking about course work.
 

1 cope   

v.(with)竞争，对抗；对付，妥善处理

参考例句：

• He had a lot of work,but he was able to cope.他的活虽多，但还能应付得来。
• They have to cope with a mountain of problems.他们得应付成堆的问题。

2 unnecessarily   

adv.不必要地，多余地，不需要地

参考例句：

• I don't want to invade your private life unnecessarily. 我不想过多地干涉你的私生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The report paints an unnecessarily bleak picture of the town. 这份报道把这个镇子描绘得过于惨淡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 barrier   

n.栅栏，障碍，壁垒，关卡

参考例句：

• You must show your ticket at the barrier.你在关卡处必须出示许可证。
• The driver jumped a horse over a barrier.骑手骑马跳过障碍。

4 informal   

adj.非正式的，不拘礼的，通俗的

参考例句：

• I got an informal reception.我受到了非正式接待。
• The leaders met over informal lunches.领袖们在非正式午餐时进行会晤。

5 colloquial   

adj.口语的，会话的

参考例句：

• It's hard to understand the colloquial idioms of a foreign language.外语里的口头习语很难懂。
• They have little acquaintance with colloquial English. 他们对英语会话几乎一窍不通。

6 gap   

n.缺口；间隔；差距；不足，缺陷

参考例句：

• We must see that there is no gap in our defence.我们必须确保我们的防御没有漏洞。
• There is a gap of five miles between towns.镇与镇之间相隔五英里。

7 overseas   

adj.海外的；adv.在海外

参考例句：

• Her man has been sent overseas by his employers.她的丈夫已被雇主派往海外。
• Many firms are focusing on increasing their markets overseas.许多商行都专注于扩大国外市场。

8 difficulty   

n.困难，费劲；难事，难题；麻烦，困境

参考例句：

• If there is any difficulty,please let us know promptly.倘有困难，请迅速通知我们。
• A little difficulty like this is nothing to us.这点困难算不了什么。