A Special Dinner

I had a special dinner today， because our family had dinner with two American friends. Though I had learned English for many years， I had had few chances to speak English with foreigners. These two Americans got to know my parents when they were in the US in 1994. When I heard that they would come， I was very delighted. What a good chance to practise my spoken English！

　　I heard the door bell ring and went to open the door. I was a little surprised when I saw them. They were very tall. My father was 1.77m， but they were a head taller than my father. They were a couple. The wife's name was Brenda and her husband's was Mark. I said hello and let them in. We began to talk both in English and in Chinese. Luckily they knew a little Chinese， so we could understand each other except for some difficult words. My father sat beside me and often（1） was ready to explain something I could not understand. I was nervous at first， but after a while， I could speak English better. They praised me for my good English.

　　We talked a lot， about things such as the weather， customs， school life. When we talked about my father， they said my father [he]（2） was the best among the Chinese speakers of English. When I heard this， I was very proud of my father. I thought I must improve my English. I should study [learn] （3） to speak English as well as my father.

　　After the talk， we went out for dinner. We went to the restaurant of the International Trade Center in our city. Seen from the twenty-sixth floor， Changchun was so beautiful. There were many high buildings and colourful lights. We had a special dinner， the main course of which was self-serving [self-service] （4） chafing dish（火鍋）。 There were hundreds of kinds of food to choose. I could hardly tell all of their Chinese names， let alone tell them in English. I felt my English was so poor at that moment. And I also found many differences between English and Chinese. For example， they called lean meat“white meat”， but when they said that， I thought it referred to“fat”。 If my father had not explained it to me， I would have been puzzled. They were very excited when they were having the dinner.

　　I enjoyed myself very much today because I learned a lot. I really opened my mouth and spoke English to foreigners and we really understood each other. I was excited. But from this experience， I have come to understand how important it is to learn a foreign language well. It will let you know a different world. “Language is a bridge to knowledge.”It is true.

　　長春市東北師大附中高三（5）班 楊穎莉

　　評 語

　　文章以第一人稱口吻，按照時間順序，完整地記敘了與外國朋友共進的那頓晚餐。行文較爲流暢，句型變化也較多，竝能霛活準確地使用所學過的詞組，如：after a while， let alone， refer to 等等。但遺憾的是，全文沒有一句對話，缺少了記敘文應有的活潑。文章中某些語言上的不足之処點評脩改如下：

　　（1）這裡often讀起來有些別扭，後麪something已把意思表達清楚了，不如去掉often.

　　（2）前文剛提到my father，不如改爲he.

　　（3）speak English是一種技能，用learn爲好。說“學乾某事”，一般不能用study to do sth.，而要說learn to do sth.。

　　（4）self-serving意爲“爲自己利益的”、“自私的”，表示“自助的”可用self-service， self-service既可作名詞，也可作形容詞。