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UNIT 15 :My Hometown
Integrated Skills Development
Dialogues
A. The Return Visit
Mr. Hall spent his childhood in Changchun, China. However, he has lived most of his life in Newtown. He is now returning to Changchun for the first time in twenty years and is traveling by bus with his nephew.
Mr. Hall: We're nearly there. It's all coming back to me now. I used to travel along this road to school every day.
Robert: Did you really? I thought you'd lived in Newtown all your life.
Mr. Hall: No, I used to live in Changchun when I was young.
Robert: Have you ever been back since you first left Changchun?
Mr. Hall: No, but I often thought about visiting my old birthplace. In fact, I never made it because I had no time.
Robert: We're coming into the center of Changchun now, aren't we?
Mr. Hall: Er — are we? It's all changed. There didn't use to be a flyover here.
Robert: Look at those skyscrapers. Are they office buildings?
Mr. Hall: I have no idea. I don't remember any huge buildings here. There was a field — my family often had a picnic there.
B. It's All Changed!
Now, Mr. Hall and his nephew are passing through the town center. There is a swimming pool on the right.
Robert: Did you often go there when you were a boy?
Mr. Hall: I've never been there. I would have gone if there was one then.
Robert: Look at that old building. It's the town library. You must have been there.
Mr. Hall: Oh, yes, but not often. I didn't use to have time to read a lot.
Robert: Ah, we're coming into the bus station now.
Mr. Hall: What? The bus station didn't use to be here, next to the town hall.
Robert: Where was it?
Mr. Hall: I can't remember. The whole town's changed. Let's get off and look around... Can you read the date over there?
Robert: It says 1955. The bus station's been here all the time.
Mr. Hall: I never used to come here to catch the bus. I can't remember a thing. Maybe I've changed — not the town.
Passage My Hometown
John Pizarro, the director of the Commercial Development in our company, is going to travel to my hometown with me to see the great changes taking place there.
My hometown is a beautiful place. It stands beside a wide river at the foot of low green hills. It has many fine buildings and wide streets. Wherever you go, you may see trees and flowers.
But it has not always been like that. When I was in high school, it was a sad and dirty little town. Some people lived in dark, unhealthy rooms in old buildings and others in huts on narrow muddy streets. Nearly everyone was poor and many had no work.
Great changes have taken place in my hometown since 1978 when China started to put into effect the policies of reform and opening to the outside world. The people have got rid of the mud and dirt. They have put up theaters, shops and flats in the center of the town. They also have set up a hospital in the east of the town. Along the river they have built schools, hotels and a big park. Factories and businesses have sprung up. On the river, steamers and boats come and go busily day and night, carrying the products of our industries to all parts of the province. Because the economy has developed rapidly and steadily, the people's living standard has been improved greatly.
I love my hometown, and I love its people. They too have changed. If we continue to carry out the policies, I am sure that my hometown will have an even brighter future.
Words and Expressions
birthplace
n. 出生地
busily
ad. 忙碌地
childhood
n. 幼年，童年
commercial
a. 商业的
develop
v. 发展；使发达
dirt
n. 泥土；污物
