教材文本 Unit 5 Keep It up, Xie Lei

Unit 5 Travelling abroadPre-reading1 What are the advantages and disadvantages of studying in a foreign country?2 You are going to read a magazine article about a Chinese student who goes to study in England. What do you think she will find different from studying at a Chinese school / university? What do you think she might find difficult?ReadingKEEP IT UP, XIE LEIChinese student fitting in wellSix months ago Xie Lei said goodbye to her family and friends in China and boarded a plane for London. It was the first time she had ever left her home country. “I was very excited because I had dreamed of this day for so long. But I was also very nervous because I didnt know what to expect,” Xie Lei told me when I met her in the student cafeteria between lectures. Xie Lei, who is 21 years old, has come to our university to complete a business qualification. She is halfway through the preparation year which most foreign students complete before entering a degree course. Xie Lei highly recommends the course. “The preparation course is most beneficial,” she said. “Studying here is quite different from studying in China and you need some preparation first, either here or in China.”“Its not just study thats difficult. You have to get used to a whole new way of life, which can take up all your concentration in the beginning,” explained Xie Lei, who had lived in the same city in China all her life. She told me that she had had to learn almost everything again. “Sometimes I felt like a child,” she said. “I had to learn how to use the phone, how to pay on the bus, and how to ask a shopkeeper for things I didnt know the English for. When I got lost and had to ask a passer-by for directions. I didnt always understand. They dont talk like they do on our listening tapes,” she said, laughing. Xie Lei lives with a host family who give her lots of good advice. Although some foreign students live in student accommodation or apartments with other students, some choose to board with English families. Living with host families, some of which have children who are also at university, gives students the opportunity to learn more about everyday life and customs in their new country. “When I hear an expression that I dont understand or someone does something that seems strange to me, I can ask my host family for help,” explains Xie Lei. “Also, when I miss my family, its a great comfort to have a substitute family to come home to.”Xie Leis preparation course is helping her to get used to academic requirements of a Western university. “I remember the first essay I did for my tutor,” she told me. “I found an article on the Internet that seemed to have exactly the information I needed. So I made a sort of summary of the article and handed it in. I thought I would get a really good mark but I got an E. I was numb with shock! So I went to my tutor to ask the reason. First of all, he told me, I couldnt write what other people had said without acknowledging them. Besides, as far as he was concerned what other people thought was not the most important thing. He wanted to know what I thought, which confused me because I thought that the author of the article knew far more than I did. The tutor explained that I had to read lots of different texts that had different opinions and analyse what I had read. Then, in my essay, I had to give my own opinions and explain why I believed what I did by referring to other authors. At first I lacked confidence to try it, but now Im beginning to get the idea. And my marks have improved. ”Xie Lei told me she feels much more at home in England now and that things that had seemed very strange at the beginning now appear quite normal. “Ive just got one more thing to achieve and then Ill be content. I have been so occupied getting used to everything that I havent had time for social activities. I think its important to have a balance between study and a social life. Im going to join a few university clubs and hopefull