american（1）
In China, the college entrance exam is believed to be the most cruel exam, which will decide a student’s future. Many young people complain about this educational system, they yearn for the western education, which is reported to be much eaiser. But the fact is that not all foreign students like that.在中国,高考被认为是最残酷的考试,这将决定一个学生的未来。许多年轻人抱怨这个教育体系,他们渴望西方的教育,西方教育一直被媒体报道上学轻松。但事实是,不是所有的外国学生都是这样轻松。In America, high school students also need to take the very important exam so as to enter the college. Part of students choose to study in community college or just go to work, so they don’t have much pressure. They enjoy the high school life with joining many activities and taking all kinds of parties. But for the students who want to enter the top university, high school is not easy for them. They need to spend extra hours to study after class, which is much like Chinese students.
在美国,高中学生也需要参加非常重要的考试,为了上大学。一部分学生选择在社区大学学习或者是直接工作,所以他们没有太多的压力。他们享受高中生活，加入许多活动和各种各样的派对。但是那些想进入顶尖大学的学生,高中是不容易的。他们需要花额外的时间去课后学习,就像中国学生。Actually, no matter in which country, every student needs to spend a lot of time studying in order to be competitive. If you yearn for an ease environment in high school, then you’d better prepare for the unexpected future.
其实,不管在哪个国家,每个学生都需要花大量的时间学习，才能有竞争力。如果你渴望在高中处于一个轻松的环境,那么你最好准备好迎接意想不到的未来。
american（2）
American houses usually have private kitchens, a living room and sometimes separate areas for eating and watching television. A house usually has its own mailbox, a yard with plants or perhaps a lawn, and a place to store garbage out of sight.
A bungalow is a small house with one or two bedrooms and usually one bathroom.
A mansion is a real big house with many bedrooms and several bathrooms.
A ranch house usually has three or four bedrooms. The "master bedroom" for the mother and father usually has its own bathroom.
An apartment is usually one living space within a building. Several apartment can be in the same building, with a shared yard, parking spaces, and garbage.
A town house is a two-floor apartment. The kitchen, living room and dining room are usually on the first floor and the bedrooms are on the second floor.
A studio apartment may have a separate kitchen, but the living room is also the bedroom!
A condominium, or "condo" for short, is an apartment that is owned by the occupant, not the building owners.
Most American are happy to talk about their homes. And if they've done anything special in their home, they'll let you know what it was, and maybe tell you what it cost to put in the Jacuzzi, deck or patio, etc. Most Americans live in cities, but nearly as many live in suburbs. Suburban American has shopping centers called malls and residents usually need a care to get around. Most of the houses in the suburbs are one or two stories tall, with private yards and gardens and garage. There are few tall buildings in the suburbs. Cities have neighborhoods, "warehouse" stores, and public transportation (bused, trains and taxis) is usually pretty good. Private houses might only have a back yard, and if there is a garage it probably is small. Cities have a lot of apartment buildings and some tall buildings may seem to "scrape the sky", so they are called "skyscraper".
american（3）
In China, it has been the tradition for people to save a lot of money, just in case of the emergent situation. But it is very different for American people. According to research, they don't trend to save money. The different situation has many reasons. First of all, America as the superpower, the government pays most of the bills and people don't have to worry about the emergent. While Chinese people have to pay the bill by themselves, which is a great burden. Secondly, American people are willing to spend the money to find fun, such as traveling around the world. They don't take the house as the big stuff, most whom choose to rent a house. But in China, people care about the house. They need to buy a house and then feel security. It is true that Chinese people are very responsible for the family and money brings the sense of security. Different people have different ways to live.在中国，省钱是一种传统，用来预防紧急情况。然而对于美国人来说却是不一样的，根据研究，他们不倾向于省钱。造成情况不同的原因有很多。第一，美国作为超级大国，政府支付了大部分的账单，他们不用担心发生紧急情况。然而中国人得为自己买单，这是一个很大的负担。其次，美国人喜欢花钱找乐趣，比如环游世界，他们不看重房子，大多数人选择租房。但在中国，大家都在意房子，需要买房子才有安全感。的确，中国人对家庭很负责，而金钱确实也可以带来安全感。每个人都有每个人的生活方式
american（4）
The ways of history are so intricate and the motivations of human actions so complex that it is always hazardous to attempt to represent events covering a number of years, a multiplicity of persons, and distant localities as the expression of one intellectual or social movement; yet the historical process which culminated in the ascent of Thomas Jefferson to the presidency can be regarded as the outstanding example not only of the birth of a new way of life but of nationalism as a new way of life. The American Revolution represents the link between the seventeenth century, in which modern England became conscious of itself, and the awakening of modern Europe at the end of the eighteenth century. It may seem strange that the march of history should have had to cross the Atlantic Ocean, but only in the North American colonies could a struggle for civic liberty lead also to the foundation of a new nation. Here, in the popular rising against a "tyrannical" government, the fruits were more than the securing of a freer constitution. They included the growth of a nation born in liberty by the will of the people, not from the roots of common descent, a geographic entity, or the ambitions of king or dynasty. With the American nation, for the first time, a nation was born, not in the dim past of history but before the eyes of the whole world.
american（5）
Before the 1850's, the United States had a number of small colleges, most of them dating from colonial days. They were small, church connected institutions whose primary concern was to shape the moral character of their students.
Throughout Europe, institutions of higher learning had developed, bearing the ancient name of university. In German university was concerned primarily with creating and spreading knowledge, not morals. Between mid-century and the end of the 1800's, more than nine thousand young Americans, dissatisfied with their training at home, went to Germany for advanced study. Some of them return to become presidents of venerable colleges-----Harvard, Yale, Columbia---and transform them into modern universities. The new presidents broke all ties with the churches and brought in a new kind of faculty. Professors were hired for their knowledge of a subject, not because they were of the proper faith and had a strong arm for disciplining students. The new principle was that a university was to create knowledge as well as pass it on, and this called for a faculty composed of teacher-scholars. Drilling and learning by rote were replaced by the German method of lecturing, in which the professor's own research was presented in class. Graduate training leading to the Ph.D., an ancient German degree signifying the highest level of advanced scholarly attainment, was introduced. With the establishment of the seminar system, graduate student learned to question, analyze, and conduct their own research.
At the same time, the new university greatly expanded in size and course offerings, breaking completely out of the old, constricted curriculum of mathematics, classics, rhetoric, and music. The president of Harvard pioneered the elective system, by which students were able to choose their own course of study. The notion of major fields of study emerged. The new goal was to make the university relevant to the real pursuits of the world. Paying close
american（6）
This afternoon a young American friend called Mike came to our school. He visited our lab, library and school factory. At five o'clock he had a free talk with some of my classmates. I was lucky to be one of them.
Mike spoke English slowly and carefully, so we could understand what he said. We talked about our English study for about an hour. Before he left our school, I asked him in English, "What do you think of our school?" He answered with a smile, "Oh, it's wonderful!"
This is the first time for me to talk with a foreigner in English. English is really userful.
【参考译文】
6月6日 星期四 晴
今天下午一位叫迈克的美国朋友来到了我校。他参观了我们的实验室、图书馆和校办工厂。在5点钟他和我班的一些同学座谈，我有幸称为其中的一名。
迈克的英语讲得很慢，很认真，所以我们能听懂他说的话。关于英语学习情况我们聊了大约一个小时。在他离校之前，我用英语问他：“你认为我们学校怎么样？”他面带微笑回答：“好极了！”
这是我第一次用英语同老外谈话，英语真的挺有用。
