【正文】 ecti ons, I di dn’t al ways understand. They don’t tal k li ke they do on our l i steni ng tapes,” she sai d, l aughing. Xi e Lei li ves with a host fam il y who gi ve her l ots of good advi ce. Al though some forei gn students li ve i n student am odati on or apartm ents, som e choose to board wi th Engl i sh fam il i es. Livi ng wi th host fami l y, i n whi ch there m any be other col ege students, gi ves her the chance to l earn m ore about the new cul ture. “When I hear an i diom that I don’t understand, I can ask m y host famil y for hel p, ” expl ai ns Xi e Lei. “Al so, when I mi ss my fami l y, i t’s a great fort to have a substitute fam il y to be wi th. ” Xi e Lei’s preparati on course i s hel pi ng her to get used to the academi c requi rem ents of a Western uni versi ty. “I rem em ber the fi rst essay I di d for m y tutor,” She tol d m e. “I found an arti cl e on the Inter that seem ed to have exactl y the i nform ation I needed. So I m ade a sum m ary of the arti cl e, revi sed my draft and handed the essay i n. I thought I woul d get a real y good m ark but I got an E. I was num b with shock! So I went to m y tutor to ask the reason for hi s revi sion. Fi rst of al l, he tol d m e, I coul dn’t wri te what other peopl e had sai d wi thout acknowl edgi ng them . Besi des, as far as he was concerned, what other peopl e thought was not the m ost im portant thi ng. H e wanted to know what I thought, whi ch confused m e because I thought that the author of the arti cle knew far more than I did. My tutor expl ained that I shoul d read l ots of different texts that contain di fferent opi ni ons and analyze what I read. Then, i n my essay, I should give m y own opi nion and expl ain i t by referring to other authors. Fi nal ly he even encouraged m e to contradi ct the authors I’d read! At first I lacked confidence, but now I’m beginni ng to get the i dea and my marks have im proved. More importantl y, I am now a m ore autonomous l earner.” Xi e Lei told me that she feel s much m ore at home i n Engl and now, and what had seemed very strange before now appears qui te normal. “I’ve just got one more thi ng to achieve. I have been so occupied with work that I haven’t had ti me for social activiti es. I think i t’s i mportant to have a balance between study and a social l ife, so I’m going to joi n a few clubs. Hopeful ly I’l m ake some new fri ends. ” We wi l fol ow Xi e Lei ’s progress i n l ater edi tions of thi s newspaper but for now, we wi sh Xi e Lei al the best i n her new enterprise. She deserves to succeed. Peru Peru i s a country on the Paci fi c coast of South Am eri ca. It has three m ai n geographi cal areas: a narrow coastal bel t。 the Andes Mountai ns runni ng paral el to the coast。 xx 屬亞熱帶向暖溫過渡地帶，四季分明，雨量充沛，光照充足，無霜期長，年平均氣溫 ℃，平均降水量 1000mm，適宜多種農(nóng)作物和牧草生長及各種畜禽的飼養(yǎng)、繁殖。畜牧交易市場活躍，目前，建有大牲畜交易所 28a bush school the cl asroom s are m ade of bam boo and the roofs of grass. It takes m e onl y a few m inutes to wal k to school down a m uddy track. When I reach the school grounds there are l ots of “good m orni ngs” for m e from the boys. Many of them have walked a l ong way, sometim es up to two hours, to get to school . There’s no el ectri ci ty or water and even no textbooks either! I’m sti l tryi ng to adapt to these conditi ons. However, one thi ng i s for sure, I’ve be e m ore i magi nati ve i n m y teachi ng. Sci ence i s m y m ost chal l engi ng subject as m y students have no concept of doi ng experim ents. In fact there i s no equipm ent, and i f I need water I have to carry i t from m y house i n a bucket! The other day I was showi ng the boys the weekl y chem i stry experim ent when, before I knew i t, the mi xture was bubbli ng over everywhere! The boys who had never e across anythi ng li ke this before started jum pi ng out of the windows. Som etim es I wonder how rel evant chemi stry is to these students, m ost of whom wi l be goi ng back to thei r vi l ages after Year 8 anyway. To be honest, I doubt whether I’m maki ng any difference to these boys’ li ves at al . You asked whether I’m getti ng to know any local peopl e. Wel , that’s actual ly qui te di fi cul t as I don’t speak m uch of the l ocal Engl ish di al ect yet. But l ast weekend another teacher, Jenny, and I di d vi si t a vi l age whi ch is the hom e of one of the boys, Tom be. It was m y fi rst visi t to a rem ote vil l age. We wal ked for two and a hal f hours to get there fi rst up a mountai n to a ri dge from where we had fantasti c vi ews and then down a steep path to the val ey below. When we arri ved at the vil l age, Tom be’s m other, Ki ak, who had ben pul li ng weeds i n her garden, started cryi ng”i eee i ee”. We shook hands with al l the vil lagers. Everyone seem ed to be a rel ati ve of Tom be’s. Tom be’s father, Mukap, l ed us to hi s house, a l ow bam boo but wi th grass sti cki ng out of the roof thi s shows it i s a m an’s house. The huts were round, not rectangul ar li ke the school buil di ngs. There were no wi ndows and the doorway was just bi g enough to get through. The hut was dark i nsi de so i t took ti m e for our eyes to adjust. Fresh grass had been l ai d on the fl oor and there was a newl y m ade platform for Jenny and m e to sl eep on. Usual ly Ki ak woul d sl eep i n her own hut, but that ni ght she was goi ng to share the pl atform wi th us. Mukap and Tom be were to sl eep on sm al l beds i n another part of the hut,. There was a fi repl ace i n the centre of the hut near the doorway. The onl y possessi ons I coul d see were one broom, a few ti n pl ates and cups and a coupl e of jars. Outsi de Mukap was bui ldi ng a fi re. O nce the fi re was goi ng, he l ai d stones on i t. When hot, he pl aced them i n an empty oil drum wi th kau kau (sweet potato) corn and greens. H e then covered the vegetables wi th banana l eaves and l eft them to steam. I sni ffed the fo