内容来源：分享美国 地址链接：http://go.usa.gov/c8Pfx 

来自世界不同地方的六位学生在美国相遇。他们都是交换学生，到美国大学就读一个学期，学习英语，了解美国文化，同时修专业课程。英语“日常会话” (Everyday Conversations)系列围绕这六位学生在美国的经历展开。这套材料适于中级或中级以上英语水平的学生使用。

Audio: 
https://share.america.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/DEC-W4-D3.mp3?_=1 

Audio Player

Lucía: Why do you have this misshapen vase, Jana?

Jana: That’s the first vase I made in my glassblowing class.

Lee: You’re taking a glassblowing class?

Jana: Not for credit. I’m taking it because I’m interested in culture and traditional crafts. Maybe my dad is rubbing off on me after all.

Lee: Your dad?

Lucía: Jana’s dad is an anthropologist.

Lee: Oh, cool. And glassblowing is a traditional craft?

Jana: It is in many countries, including the U.S. It was one of the first crafts brought here. I like to think I am helping to preserve the cultural heritage of the country. And I study traditional crafts of my own country too, of course.

Lucía: That’s really cool. This vase seems much more beautiful now.

Lee: I think it’s fantastic. I have never learned a traditional craft.

Jana: You should try! You could always come to my glassblowing class.

让我们来学习一些词语（也可阅读英文解释）：

形容某物 misshapen是指它的形状畸形异样。

A vase：花瓶

Glassblowing：玻璃吹制

Credit：学分.

Traditional crafts： 传统工艺制品，如手工制作的艺术品，家具，陶器等

形容某人 rubs off on you是指你的行动或思维已经变得像这个人。

An anthropologist：人类学家

To preserve：保存维护

Cultural heritage：文化传统/传承。 An artifact：过去某一时代或时期的人使用的实物，如工具或装饰，往往能够反映当时的历史或文化。

有兴趣听更多英语对话吗？请浏览“英语学习”专题网页。

Six students from around the world meet. What do they have in common? They are all exchange students studying at a U.S. university for a semester. Throughout the semester, they learn more English, learn about U.S. culture, and learn more about their fields of study. This series of Everyday Conversations is about these six students and their experiences during a semester at a university in the U.S. These conversations are for intermediate-level English-language learners or higher.

Audio: 
https://share.america.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/DEC-W4-D3.mp3?_=1 

Audio PlayerUse Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.

Lucía: Why do you have this misshapen vase, Jana?

Jana: That’s the first vase I made in my glassblowing class.

Lee: You’re taking a glassblowing class?

Jana: Not for credit. I’m taking it because I’m interested in culture and traditional crafts. Maybe my dad is rubbing off on me after all.

Lee: Your dad?

Lucía: Jana’s dad is an anthropologist.

Lee: Oh, cool. And glassblowing is a traditional craft?

Jana: It is in many countries, including the U.S. It was one of the first crafts brought here. I like to think I am helping to preserve the cultural heritage of the country. And I study traditional crafts of my own country too, of course.

Lucía: That’s really cool. This vase seems much more beautiful now.

Lee: I think it’s fantastic. I have never learned a traditional craft.

Jana: You should try! You could always come to my glassblowing class.

Now let’s review the vocabulary.

Something that is misshapen has a shape that is not normal.

A vase is a container that is used to hold flowers.

Glassblowing is the art of forming hot glass into shapes by blowing air into the glass through a special tube.

Credit is a unit that measures a student’s progress toward earning a college or university degree. It is the value that a college or university course contributes to the completion of the degree.

Traditional crafts: art, furniture, pottery, etc., that is skillfully made by hand in traditional ways.

When someone rubs off on you, it means that your actions or thinking have become like his/hers.

An anthropologist is a person who studies cultures, customs, societies and the human race.

To preserve something means to keep it as it is, especially to protect it.

Cultural heritage is the collective physical artifacts and traditions of a society that are passed from one generation to the next. An artifact is an object (such as a tool or ornament) that was made and used by people in the past and that often is interesting because of its historical or cultural meaning.

Ready to learn more English? Our materials can help.