I was a little shy about talking to people when I first
arrived in America , but I had a strong desire to broaden my
horizons and meet new people . Once I gathered the courage to
start conversations with people , I found how easy it was to
make new friends .
Every day , I heard enough new English expressions to make my
head spin . I found that when I was honest and asked about the
meanings of unfamiliar expressions , Americans were very
helpful and took pains to explain them to me .
Native speakers of English tend to speak very fast , and at
first I was just stunned and looked at them with a dazed
expression on my face . I solved that problem by asking people
to speak more slowly .
broaden ? 开阔,拓宽
horizon ? 眼界,视野
courage? 勇气
spin? 晕头转向
take pains to explain 煞费苦心地解释
tend to speak 倾向于说
stunned ? 惊愕地
dazed 茫然地