1 Learning English in a New Environment

I was a little shy about talking to people when I first
arrived in America ， but I had a strong desire to broaden my
horizons and meet new people ． Once I gathered the courage to
start conversations with people ， I found how easy it was to
make new friends ．
Every day ， I heard enough new English expressions to make my
head spin ． I found that when I was honest and asked about the
meanings of unfamiliar expressions ， Americans were very
helpful and took pains to explain them to me ．
Native speakers of English tend to speak very fast ， and at
first I was just stunned and looked at them with a dazed
expression on my face ． I solved that problem by asking people
to speak more slowly ．

broaden ? 開闊，拓寬
horizon ? 眼界，視野
courage? 勇氣
spin? 暈頭轉向
take pains to explain 煞費苦心地解釋
tend to speak 傾向于說
stunned ? 驚愕地
dazed 茫然地

在新的環境中學習英語

第一次到美國，與人說話時我總有些害羞，但是我非常渴望能夠開闊視野，結識新朋友。當我鼓起勇氣開始與人交談，我發現原來結交新朋友是多么容易的事啊。
每天耳邊出現的繁多的新英語表達法把我弄得暈頭轉向。我發現當我誠實地向美國人詢問那些不熟悉的說法的意思時，他們非常樂于助人，并煞費苦心地向我解釋。
以英語為母語的人說話一般很快，一開始我只能驚愕地一臉茫然地看著他們。我讓他們說得慢一些，這樣我就解決了這個問題