When I was sixteen years old, I made my first visit to the United States. It wasn't the first time I had been abroad. Like most English children, I learned French at school. And I had often been to France, so I was used to speaking a foreign language to people who didn't understand English. But when I went to America, I was really looking forward to having a nice easy holiday without any language problems.
How wrong I was! The misunderstanding began at the airport. I was looking for a public telephone to give my American friend Danny a call and tell her that I had arrived. A friendly old man saw me looking lost and asked if he could help me.
"Yes," I said, "I want to give my friend a ring."
"Well, that's nice," he said, "Are you getting married？But aren't you a bit young?"
"Who is talking about marriage?" I replied. "I only want to give my friend a ring to tell her I've arrived. Can you tell me where there is a phone box?"
"Oh!" he said, "There is a phone downstairs."
When at last we met, Danny explained the misunderstanding to me.
"Don't worry," she said to me, "I had so many difficulties at first. There are lots of words which the Americans use differently in meaning from British. You'll soon get used to all the funny things they say. Most of the time, British and American people understand each other!"
Americans use many expressions with the word "dog". People in the United States love their dogs and treat them well. However, dogs without owners to care for them lead a different kind of life. The expression, to lead a dog's life, describes a person who has an unhappy existence.
Some people say we live in a dog-eat-dog world. They say that to be successful, a person has to work like a dog. This means they have to work very, very hard. Such hard work can make people dog-tired. And, the situation would be even worse if they became sick as a dog.
This means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do things.
People who are unkind or uncaring can be described as meaner than a junkyard dog. Junkyard dogs live in places where people throw away things they do not want. Mean dogs are often used to guard this property. They bark or attack people who try to enter the property. However, sometimes a person who appears to be mean and threatening is really not so bad. We say his bark is worse than his bite.
Dog expressions are also used to describe the weather. The dog days of summer are the hottest days of the year. A rainstorm may cool the weather. But we do not want it to rain too hard.
A. Some people are compared to dogs in bad ways.
B. Dogs are people's loyal friends all the time.
C. Still, people say every dog has its day.
D. They take their dogs for walks, let them play outside and give them nice meals.
E. That means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs.
F. Sometimes, morning rain can light up the day.
G. We do not want it to rain cats and dogs.
1）你在英语学习上曾遇到的困难；
2）John对你的帮助和建议：
①多听多读；
②多看英语电影、多听英文歌曲；
③自由发挥；
3）你的收获及对John的感谢和祝福。
注意：1）词数100左右；
2）可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3）开头结尾已为你写好，不计入总词数。
Dear John，
How time flies! It's time for us to say goodbye.
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
