Basic Reading — 第8冊

🔊Nick and Larry stand at the ticket booth in the train station lobby. They are waiting to buy a ticket. They plan to take the train to Chiayi to visit a friend. The boys are running late, so they quickly tell the attendant where they’re going and slide some money under the glass. She then hands them their change and the tickets for the electric train.

🔊With the transaction complete, Nick turns to hurry for the train. He turns so quickly that he flips over the railing and lands on his back with a thud. His friend is in a hurry, too and doesn’t even notice what has happened.

🔊Larry is the first to show his ticket to the man at the gate. His paper ticket is punched on the edge to show that it has been used. He then rushes toward the platform, still oblivious that his friend isn’t with him.

🔊Nick lags behind, holding his back and wincing in pain. He walks crouched over like an old man. He gets to the gate and hands the old man his ticket to be punched, too. The old man raises his eyebrows and curiously watches the young hunchback pass.

🔊Larry waits at the platform wondering what happened to his friend. A minute later, Nick drops on the bench beside him and wipes away the tears that are streaming down his face. This time it is Larry that turns and raises his brow in bewilderment.

🔊After Nick tells him what happened, he can only chuckle in disbelief. He can’t believe what a klutz his friend is. Just wait till everyone hears about this, he thinks.

🔊Nowadays, in most public buildings that have a lot of traffic, escalators and elevators are used to move people from floor to floor. In the good old days, we used to use the stairs to get to the next floor. We climbed all the way to the top and never complained. But things have changed, technology has advanced and people will do whatever it takes to avoid walking up a flight of stairs.

🔊These inventions have allowed buildings to become taller and taller. Before mechanical lifts, buildings rarely had more than 5 floors. Now buildings stretch higher and higher toward the clouds and can reach mind-boggling heights.

🔊Escalators are basically moving sets of steps or stairs. You just step on and they take you to the next floor. They are good to have in very busy shopping malls or anywhere that a lot of people are trying to go up and down the stairs at the same time.

🔊If you walk up an escalator in the same way you would walk up regular stairs, you will get to the top even faster. It is not a good idea to run up or down them though as they are made out of metal and the stairs have sharp edges. It would hurt a lot if you fell. Hold the moving handrail just to be on the safe side.

🔊Andy moved to the United States when he was 3 months old. His father needed to go there to study for his Ph.D. The whole family went with him so that they could be together.

🔊When his father finished his degree, he decided to stay in the States for a few years to work. The money was good, the work plentiful and he wanted his son to speak fluent English. It seemed like a win-win situation.

🔊After 13 years the family moved back to Taiwan. It took some getting used to being in a non-English environment again, especially for Andy who was, for all intents and purposes, an American.

🔊Luckily, his parents continued to speak Chinese at home while they were in the US, so Andy was able to speak the language. This helped him to adapt even faster than the average foreigner, which he basically was since he was only a baby when he left Taiwan in the first place. For him, the language barrier was not an issue.

🔊Many people are very curious about how people live in other countries. Andy is often asked a lot of questions about his life in the US. He was even asked to give a special presentation at the Ming-Harng Temple about his years in a foreign country.

🔊During the presentation, the main topics he discussed were food, fashion, quality of living, and housing. He made a PowerPoint presentation to go along with each topic. The pictures he used helped to give people a better idea of what he was talking about.

🔊People at the presentation had a lot of questions: What did you eat mostly? Was it cold there? Were the people friendly? Did you see Mickey Mouse? Andy kindly responded to all of them, even those that seemed a little weird.

🔊The whole presentation was a big success. Andy was such a personable guy that all the students took to him quickly. He also promised that during his summer break he would return to the area to help students with their English. The students can't wait to see him again.

🔊Brandi is craving a something sweet. She has decided that a couple of egg tarts will do the trick, so she takes out the toaster oven and plugs it in. Instead of placing the tarts directly onto the rack, she puts them on a baking tray. Then she closes the door and sets the timer by turning the dial. About ten minutes should be enough to ensure they are heated thoroughly.

🔊The baking tray will prevent the tarts from dripping onto the elements while they cook. If they were to drip on the elements, smoke would pour out and set off the smoke detector.

🔊Ding! The timer goes off. The tarts are finished. Brandi pulls the hot tray out of the oven using a kitchen towel because she doesn’t have any oven mitts. She then sets the tarts aside for a few minutes to cool before she eats them. Otherwise, she might burn the roof of her mouth.

🔊Rhonda is preparing lunch for her family. She knows that a good lunch should always include vegetables. She also knows that it is important to make sure the vegetables are cleaned first.

🔊She puts all the veggies into a plastic tub. As she rinses leafy greens with cool water, she breaks them apart to remove any dirt that is stuck inside. She also removes any unhealthy or discolored leaves and puts them in a pail for composting. She then drains off the excess water.

🔊After cleaning them, she can start chopping them up. Ronda holds the vegetables in a bunch and then chops them using a cleaver and a round, wooden cutting board. If she didn't use a cutting board she could damage the surface of the counter.

🔊Now the cooking starts. The wok needs to be preheated before she adds the vegetables. Once it is heated, she adds a little oil and waits till it is hot. Next she tosses in the vegetables. She stirs them continuously so that nothing burns to the bottom of the wok and so that it cooks evenly. A teaspoon of salt is sprinkled over the vegetables when they are almost done; Salt adds seasoning and enhances the flavor of the vegetables. Again she stirs it, this time to mix in the salt. When the greens are ready, she spoons them into a shallow bowl for serving and turns off the stove.

🔊Ronda is a great cook. The vegetables are cooked perfectly. Cooking them too long would have made them soggy and unappealing. When cooked properly, like Rhonda has done, they are still a little crunchy. Yum.

🔊Poor Lance, his lips are sore and cracked. Dry winter air is usually the cause of chapped lips. In extremely dry climates, chapped lips are common and can be very painful. As Lance's mother knows, there isn't much you can do about chapped lips. About the only thing you can do is to apply some lip balm and avoid oranges like the plague; citrus fruit plus chapped lips equals pain!

🔊Lip balm comes in a tube something like lipstick and is applied in the same way. It can be flavored or medicated. Lip balms do not re-hydrate the lips, but they do prevent them from drying out further by coating the lips with a layer of waxy ointment.

🔊Young children are especially prone to chapped lips, but it can happen to anyone. If it happens to you, run to the local convenience store and pick up a tube of lip balm. But BEWARE as lip balms are known to be mildly addictive.

🔊When I was a child, I would get chapped lips every winter. It was very painful especially when I sneezed. Sneezing would cause my dry lips to crack open and bleed. The worst thing about having chapped lips was the uncontrollable urge to lick them. It sounds like the logical thing to do when they are dry, but in fact it made them worse even if it did make them feel better for a few minutes. My mom would scold me if she saw that I was licking them, but I was young and didn’t understand. My dad would always joke that I could rub cow poop on them. When I naively asked if it would really work, he would laugh and say, “No, but it’ll keep you from licking them.”

🔊Claudia is trying to seal an envelope. She is going to seal it with a piece of tape. She peels a long piece of scotch tape out and tears it off using the jagged edge on the end of the dispenser. Carefully, she grabs it on each end and holds it apart because she doesn't want the tape to stick to itself.

🔊She applies the tape to the envelope lengthwise along the flap. Half of it sticks to the flap and the other half sticks to the back of the envelope. To make sure that it is even, she first holds one end in place and then slower lowers the other end until it touches the envelope. She then runs her thumb down the seam, firmly pressing on the tape to ensure that the tape adheres completely.

🔊Now, she just needs to write on a mailing address, a return address and affix a stamp to the envelope. Then she can mail the envelope to wherever she desires. And because it is sealed with tape, she doesn’t have to worry about anyone tampering with it.

🔊Farmers in Taiwan can have a difficult time growing rice. This is because of the abundance of insects that like to feed on their crops. These pests can easily destroy a crop before it is time to be harvested.

🔊One way to combat insects is by spraying them with pesticides, just like the farmer in the picture. He uses a portable sprayer that he carries on his back. Because the chemical that he is applying is dangerous to his health, he wears a mask that covers his nose and mouth. This is to prevent him from breathing in the harmful fumes.

🔊The growing cycle of rice is about four months. Within these four months, the farmer will have to spray his crop up to four times or risk losing it to pests. But what about the people who have to eat the rice? Just think about all those chemicals the next time you eat a bowl of rice. Some of them may be accumulating in your body right now. Not a very pleasant thought, is it?

🔊Another problem is that farmers' fields are in close proximity to people's houses. This means that the ground water under the homes is probably contaminated from years of applying chemicals to crops to eradicate insects. It is not a wonder that the Taiwanese people purchase their drinking water from a store instead of using the ground water. It’s just another sacrifice people have to live with to feed an overpopulated world!

🔊This particular picture was taken in front of the main train station in Taipei. There is always a line of cabs waiting here for someone who needs a ride. In fact, there never seems to be a shortage of taxis at train stations anywhere in Taiwan.

🔊I often see the drivers chatting with one another while they wait between fares. Some of the drivers sit in their cars and sleep when they aren't busy. Sometimes you have to bang on the window to wake them up.

🔊Most of the cabs are the standard yellow ones that can be seen worldwide, but occasionally there are some that look more like personal vehicles than official taxis. Some of the less professional ones don't have meters either, so it is best to negotiate a price before setting off to avoid an argument later.

🔊If you are in a familiar area, pay attention to where you are going, especially if you are on the meter. You never know when a dishonest cabby might take you on a wild goose chase across the city. A couple of wrong turns here or there can easily make the driver a few extra bucks.

🔊I must admit that, until I came to Taiwan, the only washboards I had ever seen were in antique stores or being used as a musical instrument. Really, I was quite surprised to see people using them here. But don’t get me wrong; using them is a good thing because they don’t require electricity and, in an energy-driven world, any bit we can conserve helps.

🔊Now, one of our lovely models will demonstrate how to use the washboard. First, Deana puts the dirty clothes into the large red basin and fills it with water. She then adds laundry detergent and makes sure it is mixed well by agitating the clothes with her hands.

🔊Once everything is covered in soapy water, she removes an item and places it on the washboard. At this point, she lays the article of clothing flat on the washboard and scrubs it with a brush until it is clean. This process is repeated until all the clothes are scrubbed.

🔊She drains the dirty water and puts the washed clothes back into the red basin. Then she runs water from the hose over the clothes to rinse them off. After rinsing, she wrings the clothes out so that they can then be hung up to dry.

🔊I think that if I had to wash my own clothes by hand, I would be more likely to wear the same clothes for a week or two! It seems like an awfully lot of work. But I somehow think my students would not appreciate that.