初中長篇英語閱讀

Ⅰ 英語四級長篇閱讀技巧

首先應該把全文大致地快速地瀏覽一遍，留下初步印象，知道是什麼文體，某段大概是在講什麼就可以了。

不理解的句子和詞語先放一邊，觀察選擇題選項，將明顯不符合文章意思和態度的選項排除。

之後再仔細瀏覽選項，將對應的文章句子查找出來並標好記號，方便之後檢查，因為之前大致瀏覽過一邊，所以找起來不會很難。找到後，注意結合上下文來理解，不然可能會誤選。

(1)初中長篇英語閱讀擴展閱讀

英語四級翻譯技巧

技巧一：增詞法

在翻譯段落時，為了能充分的表達原文含義，以求達意，翻譯時有必要增加詞語來使英文的表達更加順暢。

技巧二：詞類轉換

英語語言的一個很重要的特點，就是詞類變形和詞性轉換，尤其是名詞、動詞、形容詞之間的轉換。

技巧三：語態轉換

語態分為被動語態和主動語態，漢語中主動語態出現頻率較高，而與之相反，英語中被動語態的使用率較高。因此考生在翻譯時，要注意語態之間的轉換。

Ⅱ 英語長篇閱讀和短篇閱讀的區別

長篇要泛讀，短篇要精讀。長篇一般題比較容易找答案，但是篇幅長導致漏掉信息、時間不夠、單詞量過大。

Ⅲ 英語長篇閱讀有哪些技巧啊！

看每段的第一句，抓重點

Ⅳ 一篇長篇英語閱讀

c
a
d
a

a
36 有問題，因該是colors

c
d
c
b
b
d
d
a
d

Ⅳ 英語長篇閱讀理解題

Around the World in 20 Days

Bertrand: In many people』 eyes, a round-the-world balloon flight was the last great challenge in aviation. The winter of 1998-99 was time of high anxiety. Five other teams were preparing to launch in various parts of the world. This would be my third, and last, attempt underwritten by the Breitling watch company. The weather was terrible, and February was drawing to a close. Normally the end of the month marked the end of the season for ballooning attempts. I was in despair. But early on February 24, 1999, the telephone rang. It was Luc Trullemans, one of our meteorologists.
「Bertrand, there』s a really good slot coming on the first of March!」 he exclaimed. Trullemans and fellow meteorologist Pierre Eckert felt sure we could swing the balloon around the edge of a big depression forming over the Mediterranean by flying counterclockwise—going down over France and Spain. Then we would be carried eastward over Africa.
Brian Jones, my British co-pilot, and I knew if the weather turned, we would fail. But if we waited for next year, somebody else might succeed in the interim.
A balloon piloted by British tycoon Richard Branson hand gone down in the Pacific, but one sponsored by Britain』s Cable & Wireless and piloted by Andy Elson and Colin Prescot had already been aloft for seven days. On Sunday, February 28, we struggled to make the crucial decision: carry on or not? Brian and I knew this was our last chance for 1999. Alan Noble, our flight director, and Don Cameron, head of the firm that built the balloon, were far from being positive. 「From the weather maps,」 they said, 「we don』t see how you can get around the world.」
「You get them up there,」 argued Luc, 「and I』ll get them around.」
Following meteorological assurances, Alan said, 「I think we can go.」 We put it to a vote of the whole team, and the show of hands to take off was unanimous. By five the next morning, Brian and I were both wide awake. After years of preparation and dashed hopes, the moment was upon us.
The launch teams had started inflation at 3 a.m. on March 1. The balloon was designed to function with a combination of hot air and helium. During the day the sun heats the helium, causing it to expand and make the balloon climb. At night propane is burned to heat the gas, maintaining the balloon』s lift.
Our meteorologists would work out the trajectories, then we would travel along with the moving weather all the way around the world.
As down broke, the wind began to blow and gust. Since any strong wind might damage the envelope and dash the gondola against the ground, we knew we had to take off soon.
At 8 a.m., Brian and I climbed in and closed the rear hatch. High above us the Mylar envelope was crackling. Hair-raising noises started to emanate from the gondola. Supplies and equipment kept tumbling onto the floor.
Unable to risk disaster any longer, Alan waited for one more big bounce and severed the restraining rope with his Swiss Army knife.
As we rose into the sky, he thousands who had assembled were screaming. Church bells were ringing. A fire engine』s siren was wailing. This enthusiasm seemed to propel us into the sky.
Brian: My first task was to be carried out atop the gondola, so before takeoff I climbed out through the top hatch and sat. a heavy double railing ringed the area, and we took off with such a jerk, I hat to cling tight to it.
Bertrand and I were both amazed by the speed at which we went up. The balloon finally stopped climbing at 1,000 feet when we hit an inversion layer—the level at which cold air close to the ground meets warmer air above. It acts like an invisible barrier.
Bertrand called out, 「One bag of sand!」 I started pouring 33 pounds of ballast down a tube that sent the sand clear of the capsule.
A moment later he shouted, 「Look out, I』m going to burn!」 The propane jets and blue flames roared six feet up, warming the helium. We started to climb again. I scrambled back into the gondola, and we sealed the hatch. We were on our way.
Bertrand: By sunset our first problems set in. the pilot lights on the burners began to act erratically, and every few seconds we had to manually ignite the burners.
More worrisome was the fact that we thought we were using far too much propane to maintain our height. It looked as though our chances of making it were perilously slim. But the first pair of fuel tanks held out until the evening of day two, exceeding our expectations. And that was a huge encouragement.
As we entered Moroccan airspace, I was rewarded by one of the most magnificent sights. I had ever seen: an absolutely incredible view of the Atlas Mountains with a full moon. We had been told how boring it would be to fly over the Sahara, but on the next day the views that unfolded were fabulous. For me, the desert was alive. The light was alive, and the sand was alive, full of different colors, different shapes, like the bottom of the sea. I spent hours staring at the desert, feeling its strangeness.
Brian: Early in the morning of March 4 the plan called for releasing our four empty auxiliary tanks. That meant an EVA—extravehicular activity—to cut them free. We also wanted to get rid of the ice that had formed from riding in the freezing high altitudes. As we descended to 10,000 feet, our adrenaline was flowing.
When we opened the hatch and climbed out, we found icicles that were ten feet long dangling from the envelope』s skirt. While I concentrated on fixing the faulty ignition system, Bertrand went about attacking the icicles with a fire ax. He commented that it was probably the first time that ice had rained on the Sahara in several thousand years.
With Bertrand holding one of my ankles, I reached out and freed one of the empty tanks. We watched it tumbling all the way to the ground. A puff of sand marked where it slammed into the desert. If it buried itself, I thought, it might lie there for a couple of millennia before some archeologist g it up.
By then we had finished our counterclockwise swing and were at last heading east, just as our meteorologists had predicted. The air was warm; the sky cloudless. Below us stretched sand and rock as far as the eye could see.
Bertrand: We were over Yemen and two days from the Indian subcontinent when an astonishing message came in from our ground crew: 「The cable & Wireless control room says their balloon is landing 70 miles off the coast of Japan. The balloon iced up. Search and rescue are with them.」 Now we were the only ones in the race.
I was desperate to pass on the news to Brian, and when he finally stuck his head out of the sleeping bunk hours later, I said, 「I』ve got the most incredible news.」
He instantly said, 「Andy』s down.」
Meanwhile I spoke to Luc, who confirmed that our position was perfect for enter China at the right point. We had guaranteed them we would keep south of 26 degrees latitude. If we found ourselves straying north of the limit, we would come down.
Brian: Heading for Myanmar (formerly Burma), we found we were graally creeping north toward the 26th parallel. This kept us on tenterhooks. But back in Geneva our weathermen were telling us we had to go right up almost to the boundary. Once there, the wind would take us e east.
On the way we had the following exchange with a Myanmar air controller.
Tower: 「What is your departure point and destination?」
Me: 「Departure point, Switzerland. Destination, northern Africa.」
Tower: (after several seconds of silence) 「If you』re going from Switzerland to northern Africa, what in hell are you doing in Myanmar?」
Shortly before down on the morning of March 10 we arrived at the Chinese border. The Chinese had seen us coming and sent the message: 「Your balloon』s heading for the prohibited zone. It must land.」
Bertrand: It was amazing. We skimmed across a 1,300-mile-long corridor straight as an arrow, with the 26th parallel never more than 30 miles away. Our meteorologists had sent us on a swirling trajectory of 8,100 miles, then through the eye of a needle.
By March 11 we were heading out over the Pacific. Faced by 8,000 miles of water, I felt as if I had stepped onto the edge of the abyss.
I picked up my pen and wrote: 「This is exactly my definition of adventure, a point at which you hat to dig inside yourself to find the courage to deal with what may lie ahead.」
On Saturday, March 13, we were still over the Pacific. Our meteorologists said our speed would improve from our miserable 35 knots to 100 knots once we climbed into the jet stream. By Tuesday it would increase to 120.
Our propane reserves seemed perilously small. We had already burned two-thirds of our fuel and yet covered only half our course. everything depended on our weathermen: If they were right, we had a chance. If they were wrong, we were doomed.
Brian: Like Bertrand, I was thoroughly on edge over the Pacific. After seven days above the water, we at last made the coast of Mexico. Later that night, lying there, I found it had to breath. And it was not until I got up that I realized something was seriously wrong. I found Bertrand in the pilot』s seat, slumped against the bulkhead, gasping. He crawled into the bunk wearing an oxygen mask.
Our symptoms were not those of hypoxia, and the instruments monitoring the CO2 levels had not signaled any alarm. But despite this, we felt that we were slowing being asphyxiated. People on the ground started telephoning doctors in a frantic search for clues to what could be wrong with us. I was also wearing my oxygen mask, and after a few minutes of breathing pure oxygen, my head cleared. I thought, I Screw the instruments, and changed both the CO2 and the carbon filters. The symptoms graally began to disappear.
We crossed Mexico in a day and were soon out over the Caribbean. Reporting to air-traffic control in Kingston, Jamaica, I heard a female controller with a delicious voice ask what we were doing.
「We took off from Switzerland,」 I answered. 「We』re hoping to get around the world.」
「You guys sure are taking a chance!」 she said.
She was right. Our fuel was critically short, and nobody was sure if we had enough to get across the Atlantic. Alan Nobel suggested we make our decision over Puerto Rico.
Bertrand: By March 18 it was time to decide. With cameras from all over the world focused on him, Alan got on the phone with us. When we had run through the agreed-upon formalities, Alan said, 「I think you can go for it.」
「Bertrand!」 cried Brian. 「Tell him we』re going.」
「We』re not going to quit,」 I told Alan. 「Even if we ditch in mid-Atlantic, we go for it.」
Our weathermen guided us into the middle of the jet stream, and our speed increased as we shot out over the Atlantic. But cursing at 15,000 feet, the cold was intense and our heaters had failed. The temperature inside was 28.4 F, and our water supply froze.
On March 20 came good news. Our navigation computer told us we had made landfall. We had crossed the Atlantic, and at 6:15 GMT, or Greenwich Mean Time, when the sun came over the horizon, I again saw the desert I had loved so much 20 days earlier. Now the finish line was only 300 miles away, about three hours』 time.
When we crossed the line at 9:54 GMT, Brian and I stood up and embraced, slapping each other on the back and shouting, 「We』ve done it! We』ve done it.」
The next morning, after the longest flight in distance and ration ever made by a free balloon, we landed in the Egyptian desert. Brian sent this fax: 「The Eagle has landed. All okay. Bloody good.」 Our trip round the world, and into history, was done.

1. To Bertrand and Brian, the winter of 1998-99 was a time of high anxiety because ______.
A. they were awaiting their last attempt of the season to launch the balloon.
B. another balloon sponsored by Britain』s Cable & Wireless had been aloft for 7 days
C. a balloon piloted by British tycoon Richard Branson had gone down.
D. the Breitling watch company sponsored their activities.

2. The decision to take off was made unanimously ______.
A. on February 28, 1999
B. at 3 a.m. March 1
C. on February 24, 1999
D. in the winter of 1998-1999

3. When deciding to launch, the meteorologists were confident that the balloon could ______.
A. fly over Moroccan airspace
B. fly counterclockwise to the Atlantic Ocean.
C. float over France and Spain first, then be carried eastward over Africa
D. travel along with the big depression over the Mediterranean

4. When the balloon hit an inversion layer at 1,000 feet, the pilots made it rise by ______.
A. pouring one bag of sand into the capsule
B. sending the ballast into the sky
C. dropping 33 pounds of sand and heating the helium
D. clearing the capsule of 33 pounds of sand and burning the helium

5. By the evening of the first day, it looked as though it wouldn』t be quite possible for them to complete the journey around the world because ________.
A. they were worried that the fuel they carried might not last long
B. they were using too much fuel to maintain their height
C. the balloon hit an inversion layer at 1,000 feet
D. pilot lights on he burner began to act abnormally

6. After hearing about the balloon』s departure point and destination, the Myanmar air controller said to them, 「What in hell are you doing in Myanmar?」 This showed that he was ______.
A. angry
B. surprised
C. mistaken
D. ignorant

7. If the balloon moved north of the 26th parallel, Bertrand and Brian would be quite worried because they might ______.
A. be shot down by the enemy
B. lose their way in China
C. be forced to land
D. be carried e east by a gust of wind

8. When the balloon flew over the Pacific, Bertrand felt ______.
A. it would be a long and challenging journey
B. the balloon was flying slowly
C. something might go seriously wrong
D. they would use up their propane reserve

9. Brian solved their breathing problem by ______.
A. telephone doctors on the ground for clues
B. tightening the instruments and changing the filters
C. breathing in pure oxygen for a few minutes
D. looking at the instruments and changing the air

10. The balloon flew across the Atlantic by ______.
A. burning more propane
B. flying in jet stream at 15,000 feet
C. monitoring the weather closely
D. recing the temperature to 28.4 F

Ⅵ 長篇英語閱讀

http://www.tczj.net/wyx/show.asp?id=272有很多
Astronomers have witnessed the biggest bang since the big bang— moment about 15 billion years ago when the universe was created in a massive explosion. The huge burst of energy from the edge of the universe is estimated to be second only to the moment of creation in its explosive force, releasing more energy in two seconds than the sun will give out in it lifetime. Scientists hope the explosion—known as a gamma-ray burst because it emits energy in the form of gamma radiation—will shed light on the earliest stages in the evolution of the stars and galaxies. Gamma-ray bursts cannot be seen by the human eye, but if they could the sky would light up like a camera flash each time they occurred. They are by far the most energetic events in the universe and, until now, have remained largely a mystery.
The latest gamma-ray burst to be detected accurately occurred last December. Using a network of telescopes and satellites, the astronomers were able to calculate its distance from Earth at about 15 billion light years. This means it must have happened soon after the big bang itself, while the intensity of the radiation revealed it to be the biggest bang recorded by man. Scientists from the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the California Institute of Technology are to announce details of their analysis this week. The huge distance between the source of the explosion and the Earth suggests gamma-ray bursts are up to 10 times larger than previously thought, said Jonathan Katz, professor of physics at Washington University in St Louis.
「Gamma-ray bursts may be the most distant things we will ever see and as such will act as beacons to probe into the very distant regions of the universe when stars and galaxies were first formed.」
American spy satellites looking for the radiation released from Soviet nuclear tests first detected gamma-ray bursts in 1967 but the details were kept classified until 1973. For nearly 25 years scientists were hampered in their efforts to find an explanation for the huge explosions because they lasted no longer than a few seconds. The inability to explain them led to speculation that gamma-ray bursts were the remnants of nuclear battles between alien civilizations, or even the exhaust energy of extraterrestrial spaceships going into warp drive. Two satellites, the American Compton gamma-ray observatory and the Italian-Dutch Bepposax satellite, have now been able to locate the precise direction of gamma-ray bursts within seconds of them occurring. John Quenby, professor of physics at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London, said the most likely explanation for gamma-ray burst is that they result from the enormous energy released when two very dense objects—called neutron stars—collide

Ⅶ 英語長篇閱讀the male minority翻譯

梅格·德隆（Meg
Delong）在喬治亞州北部城鎮蓋恩斯維爾（Gainesville）讀高中時，是一名認真的學生，著眼於大學。她的許多女友都朝著同一目標努力。但是她的弟弟和大多數男性朋友似乎更喜歡像福斯塔夫那樣，而不是學習莎士比亞。
「很多人都認為學習是針對女孩的，」現在雅典喬治亞大學攻讀法語專業的德隆說。 「他們真的很聰明，但是他們會變得愚蠢，而且似乎被老師接受了。」
以DeLong的經驗為例，在全州的學校中將其乘以數千次，今年在她的校園里，新生班的女生比例接近61％也就不足為奇了。在大一英語教程中，一小群男人靜靜地坐著，而女性則主導著課堂討論。但是在課外，校園的氣氛顯然是男性友好的。
Sigma Nu兄弟會的社交主席Tyler Willingham指出，在聚會上，即使沒有約會的男人也可以從「許多漂亮的女人」中進行選擇。
這種性別差距在美國各地的校園中日益明顯。直到1979年，男子佔大學生的大多數。隨著婦女在社會上其他地方贏得越來越多的平等，很自然並且期望她們能夠在大學里達到平等，這是她們在1980年代初期所做的。但是令人驚訝的是，自1992年以來，男子的高等教育入學率有所下降。目前，男子只佔全國本科生的44％。聯邦的預測顯示，到2010年，他們所佔的比例將縮小到僅42％。這種趨勢是大學招生人員中最熱門的辯論話題之一。一些私立文科學院已經悄悄地開始了特別的招募工作，包括招收男性。
為什麼短缺？很少有事實，但是有很多理論。軼事證據表明，在不需要學士學位的高科技工作的誘惑下，男人比女人多。有人稱這是比爾·蓋茨綜合症，是微軟大學畢業生退學後的結果。但是高科技行業僅僱用了美國約9％的勞動力。近年來，在經濟火爆的情況下，一大批男性，尤其是來自低收入家庭的男性，可能正從高中直接進入飛機維修，電話和電力線維修等領域，平均每周支付850美元而不是承擔大量的大學債務。一些社會評論家指責在學校教師中缺乏男性榜樣，並且是一種在男孩中提倡反智主義的文化。而且，尤其是在城市中心地區，犯罪和團伙誘使男孩多於女孩而不是女孩。
性別差距有多普遍？據愛荷華州奧斯卡洛薩市的教育分析師托馬斯·莫滕森（Thomas
Mortenson）稱，幾十年來，男性所獲得的大學學位的比例一直在下降。美國政府的數據顯示，從1970年到1996年，隨著女性所獲得的學士學位數量增加了77％，男性所獲得的數量卻增長了19％。並非所有的學校都感到失衡。許多精英學院和大學的男女申請都在飆升。莫滕森說，但是總體數字應該使我們「醒來，看看男孩有麻煩了」。
傑奎琳·金（Jacqueline
King）是大學近期性別差距研究的作者，他強調指出，這種差距在黑人（最新數字為63％的女性到37％的男性），西班牙裔（57％到43％）中最為廣泛，在她的分析中，低收入白人（54％至46％）。她說：「不是要上大學的中產階級白人年輕人。」而且，老年婦女的入學人數激增，使人數進一步增加。
不過，莫滕森（Mortenson）引用了美國人口普查數據，該數據表明種族和收入群體之間的差距有所縮小。此外，他和其他人認為，男孩作為一個整體，在K-12成績的許多階段都落後於女孩：男孩往往會獲得較低的成績，並且不太可能獲得高中文憑。他們在SAT上的分數略高，但只有65％的男生考上了大學，而女生則只有69％。
保守派教育分析師克里斯蒂娜·霍夫·索默斯（Christina Hoff
Sommers）在她最近的《反對男孩的戰爭》一書中寫道，男生「通常被視為存在著性別不平等的原始存在者，潛在的騷擾者和永恆者」，並且「生活在譴責的陰影中」。索默斯（Sommers）引用的研究表明，男孩上學的准備要比女孩少，做功課少，被停職的頻率更高。衛斯理大學招生副院長克利福德·桑頓說：「對於男性來說，成為一名純朴的學生沒有任何社會意義。」盡管最新數據顯示，大學畢業生的平均收入幾乎是沒有大學的人的兩倍，但「社會上許多男孩都認為上大學是一件麻煩事，」社會學家和作家邁克爾·金梅爾（Michael
Kimmel）說。 「當時的想法是，'沒有這份工作我就可以得到一份工作。'」
考慮賈斯汀·斯帕格諾利（Justin
Spagnoli）。高中畢業後，他在社區大學上課，然後辭去父親在喬治亞州羅伊斯頓的內閣商店工作。如今，25歲的Spagnoli的年薪為50,000美元，而他的夥伴剛剛完成大學學業，以較低的薪水工作。他說：「您不需要再急，」如果您有才華的話。
一些私立文理學院正在使男人更容易進入。在賓夕法尼亞州卡萊爾的狄金森學院，今年的新生班男生為43％，高於去年的36％，部分原因是該校偏向「合格男性候選人」，招生和學生生活副總裁羅伯特·馬薩（Robert
Massa）說。這個想法在狄金森的學生中受到了不同的評價。物理學專業的米歇爾·愛德華茲（Michelle
Edwards）說：「它具有平權作用。」但是馬薩強調說：「我們承認的男人和女人一樣有資格。」
去年七月，喬治亞大學敗訴了女學生提起的訴訟，這些女學生由於採取有利於男性的平等權利政策而被拒絕錄取。 20歲的尚娜·諾里斯（Shanna
Norris）大三說：「男生比女生的體重增加（錄取指數）是不公平的，但是如果校園里有更多的男生會更好。」
那如何招募更多的人呢？在北卡羅來納大學教堂山分校，招聘人員大肆宣傳數學和科學課程-傳統上在男性應聘者中很受歡迎。芝加哥的德保羅大學（女性佔59％）向男孩寄出了額外的郵件。
但是，如果公立大學試圖招募更多男性，可能會面臨法律挑戰。在加利福尼亞州，嚴格的反肯定行動法規有效地阻止了基於性別的宣傳。在得克薩斯州和佛羅里達州-都在很大程度上廢除了招生政策中的優惠-州官員說，沒有特別的計劃來引誘更多的男人。許多學校仍在通過向代表性不足的學生提供空缺來平衡過去由一種性別主導的課程（如工程學和社會工作）。但這並不一定會增加西班牙裔男性的人數。這導致一些教育工作者放棄了招聘規則。在舊金山州立大學，種族研究教授羅伯托·哈羅（Roberto
Haro）經常在市中心地區的男孩俱樂部和中學招募少數男性。結果，他說：「在過去的一年中，我們看到已申請的少數民族男性人數略有增加。」
黑色兄弟會也參與其中。在馬里蘭州，阿爾法·皮皮·阿爾法（Alpha Phi
Alpha）的霍華德縣校友分會為高中男性提供指導計劃，幫助他們提高成績並激發他們申請大學。計劃負責人大衛·巴雷特（David
Barrett）說：「我們的許多男孩都在監獄中。在校男孩–他們承受著來自同齡人的巨大壓力，無法在學業上取得卓越。我們想向他們展示學習是可以的。」
邁克爾·金梅爾（Michael
Kimmel）相信，一旦我們開始改變文化中的反智主義潮流，市場力量將有助於彌合性別差距。他說：「最終，人們將開始重返大學，以滿足對受過良好教育的勞動力的需求。」意識到他們將被聰明有魅力的女性所包圍，並且他們的收入前景很好，因此肯定還會吸引更多的男性進入校園。

Ⅷ 英語長篇閱讀範文

Dear friend,
My name is Sally. I am from China. I want a pen pal in Australia. I am 14 years old. I have no brothers or sisters in my family. MY favorite subject in school is science, because I think it』s very interesting. I like playing the piano and playing basketball on weekends. How about you? Can you write and tell me something about yourself?
Yours,
Sally

Ⅸ 英語長篇閱讀Teaching My Grandmother to Read全文翻譯

當我十四歲的時候，我被我的年齡段身份所吸引（期待能得到年齡所能帶來的好處）我給自己定了個很特別的目標——把我和我所不信任的朋友區別開。
作為一個老師，別人會認為我有一些深沉的，但需要和朋友分享的秘密。我的秘密就是連續幾個月進行每天放學後的計劃，計劃開始於我一直想要進入當地小學——我看到過的最可怕不過的景象。現在我在初中，我把自己定位於一個從小學畢業出來，並處在我所喜愛的五年級老師照顧之下的學生， 有人從閉鎖倉庫中取出來的一小捆錢然後給了我——我把這一捆錢快速的放入袋子中，很害怕有人看到我拿著「小孩子」學校的東西回家。 我把這一捆錢拿回了家——我很驕傲，在我家的管束之中，我對我的計劃深感自豪。我走進客廳，一個接一個的，把錢全都夾在基礎讀物書中，這些薄薄的書有著彩色的封面和大大的字體，單詞是單音節並且反復重復的。我就坐在手邊那秘密任務之旁.。「好吧」我威嚴的對著我那七十歲的祖母說「今天，我們開始我們第一節閱讀課」 之後的幾個周，我的祖母和我耐心的坐在一起，然後她帶著一點艱難，聽懂每一個單詞，然後再一點點的讀出來，直到她能完全理解這些簡短的句子。當她緩慢的重復一個完整的句子，我們都會示以微笑和掌聲——我感覺如此的自豪。
我的祖母出生在希臘卡拉馬塔一個寸草不生的小山地農場村莊，她從沒有時間和機會去學校學習。作為年齡最大的長女，她被期待能夠照顧其他的弟弟和妹妹，照顧家庭和家畜。