Dialogues /monologues:
1 、 we lived with a cousin in Dallas for 2 years.
lived with ：与……同住（寄宿在 … 家）
2 、 I have to do a load of laundry today.
我今天还得洗完一筐衣服。
3 、 I think my parents would have liked to live overseas for at least 20 more years.
我想（要不是这样） , 父母可能还要在海外生活至少 20 年。（虚拟语气，实际上父母已经
回国了）
4 、 A lot of proposals floating around state legislatures are aimed at throwing the children of illegal immigrants out of public schools. Do you find such ideas helpful?
许多旨在从公立学校驱逐非法移民子女的提议日日涌向州立法团体，您认为这些办法有益吗？（ floating 是 “ 未决定的 ” ）

Passage:
     I got a chance to actually meet an online friend in real life when I went on vacation to San Francisco . I‘d left a note in my live Journal telling everyone where I'd be going. When I went online at the hotel, I found a comment from my friend Kim telling me that she lived nearby in Palo Alto, and asking if I wanted to get together. 
     After checking with my parents, I rushed back to the computer to let her know that I cloud meet her on my way back too Los Angeles . We exchanged cell phone numbers and set up a meeting place and time. After hanging up, though, I began to get nervous. I had known her for a few months, but meeting someone in person is a lot different than chatting over the internet, and I was worried it wouldn't turn out well. 
     We both brought people with us for safety reasons — I brought my parents and she brought a friend — and met in front of a bookstore. I got there a few minutes early, and instructed my parents to please try not to embarrass me. I didn't see her at first, but after a few minutes, we both recognized each other. 
     Even though I'd never met her before, I felt like I knew her from all the times we'd talked online. We talked about graphic design, the classes we were taking, clubs we were in and college, which we were both stressed out about since California schools are so competitive and it's becoming harder to get accepted into good universities. My parents seemed to have a good time too — my dad got into some incredibly involved science conversation with Kim's friend Derrick. 
     The meeting lasted less than an hour, since I had to get home. At the end, we hurried outside to take photos with each other, them said goodbye. Even though the meeting was short, it was a lot of fun, and we made plans to get together again if I came up north or she visited near Los Angeles . Now, we talk online several times a week. Before we had only a few conversations a month. 
     Meeting Kim helped my parents and I get more used to the idea of online and offline life intersecting. I'm glad to have found friends whom I never would have discovered otherwise.