2015개정 영어 지학(민) 4과 본문

영어 지학민 4과 본문.hwp

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4– Yuri’s Homestay Experience in Beijing

 

During the summer break, as an exchange student, I visited my school's sister school in Beijing, China.

 

Before the trip

I searched the Internet to collect as much information as possible to get to know about the country. I realized it had become very modernized. I also found out that the meanings of colors and numbers are important in Chinese culture. I practiced greetings in Chinese, hoping that I'd be able to communicate with local people when I first got to China.

 

Meeting my Chinese host family

As soon as I arrived in Beijing, I met my host family. The family had a mother, father, and daughter. Wei, the daughter, was also my classmate. Wei's family welcomed me with big smiles. Practicing Chinese before the trip paid off. A couple of my greetings in Chinese worked! In Wei's room there were a lot of pictures of various Korean singers hung all over the walls. She told me that many of her friends were interested in Korean pop culture. On the one hand, I was so proud of Korean culture, but on the other hand, I felt bad that I did not know much about Chinese culture. Wei's parents cooked a delicious meal. Wei's family ate with long chopsticks and rarely used spoons while eating rice.

 

At the sister school

In class, we had to make a traditional Chinese mask for a Chinese opera. I made a white mask because white expresses the pure and innocent spirit of Korean people. But for Chinese people, white can be considered a negative color. For them, white is associated with death. A classmate of mine used red, which symbolizes good fortune and joy in China. I realized that colors have different meanings in China and Korea.

 

On the street

After school, Wei's family took me to a restaurant nearby. According to Wei, it is very common in China to eat out. Though the smell of the spices in the restaurant was unusual to me, I quite enjoyed the food. The amount was huge. The table was very big and round, and spun around at the center, which made it easy to share the dishes. I was told that customers must take any leftover food with them.

 

After the meal, we walked along the main street. Most of the signs on the stores were red. Food stands sold very interesting food such as fried bugs. I took a bite of a bug, and surprisingly the taste was pretty good. I also bought a bottle of cola. It was 888ml, which was quite a strange quantity to me. The number 8 has long been regarded as the luckiest number in Chinese culture because the sound of it is linked to the meaning of making a fortune.

 

Leaving China

In China, I was able to learn a lot about Chinese culture and history. I was impressed when I visited the Great Wall of China, the Summer Palace, and the Forbidden City. Of all the things I did, however, the homestay gave me the best chance to experience real Chinese culture. I will never forget memories from my stay in China.

 

 

Supplementary Reading Around the World in 80 Days

 

When Phileas Fogg appeared in the large drawing room, the clock struck 8:45. He had just completed his long journey. This meant he had won his bet with his colleagues that he could travel around the world in 80 days.

But there was some confusion. He thought he had arrived in London on Saturday, December 21, but actually, it was Friday, December 20, only 79 days after his initial departure. Being an extremely precise and careful person, how had he mixed up what day it was? There is a simple reason for his confusion.

Fogg unknowingly had gained a day on his journey―simply because he had gone round the world eastwards. He would, on the contrary, have lost this day if he had gone in the opposite direction, westwards.

By heading east, Fogg had gone towards the sun, and consequently his days were four minutes shorter for each degree of longitude covered in that direction. The earth is three hundred and sixty degrees around, and he went entirely around the earth. Three hundred and sixty multiplied by four minutes is twenty-four hours, or a day. Thus, while Fogg, heading eastwards, saw the sun cross the earth 80 times, his colleagues, remaining in London, saw it cross only 79 times. And this was why, on that very same day, Saturday, and not Sunday as Fogg believed, they were waiting for him in the drawing room of the Reform Club.