原版英语对话1000个: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 French

Todd: 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 nice
village. 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。