一大早就被震耳欲聋的雷声所惊醒，外面哗哗的下着大雨，估计也就是早上三四点钟，继续睡。昨晚GF和我说她们寝室要看世界杯决赛，我想那时那刻她们正在电脑前'朦胧地'欣赏着意大利和法国队的表演呢。早上7点闹钟把我们都叫醒了，可是外面的雨依旧那样的大。

我们趟着积水来到教室，中教口语老师依旧不见踪影，我们猜测是雨太大了，堵车或者是叫不到Taxi，大约等了半个多小时，我们的中教口语老师Susan才气喘吁吁的跑了进来，原来真的是因为雨太大了导致积水堵车，还好还有不少时间。按照原计划今天仍然是Read-Retell课程，只是这次复述的短文篇幅更长罢了。其中我复述的故事是这样的(可能很多的人都听过这个故事，挺有意思的)：

There was a farmer living in a smallvillage/who lived in a smallvillage. He suffered from a serious/severe pain in the chest/there was something wrong with his chest. This illness/disease didn't seem to get any better. The farmer finally/eventually decided to consult/see a doctor in the town. But he was too poor to pay the doctor. He was told that a patient had to pay 3 pounds for the first visit and 1 pound for the second visit. He thought about it for a long time, and then he decided to see the doctor.

When he came into the doctor's consulting room, he said naturally/casually to doctor that he came here again. With a little surprise, the doctor asked him some questions, examined his chest and then took the pound which the farmer insisted on giving him. Then the doctor said with a smile:"Well, sir. There is nothing new. Please continue to take the same medicine I gave you the first time you came to see me".

在复述的过程中，时态、人称和恰当的用词是很重要的，另外适当的用一些复杂的句子可以给你的复述增色不少，不要把retell和商务写作的原则弄混哟。

今天我们的外教Alex给我们带来的话题是'Education'，比较中西方教育的不同，话题诸如
1) your education experience；
2) good teacher & bad teacher；
3) why do you want to study；
4) if you are a parent, what do you want to teach your child?
5) what do you think of the TV's effect on children?

热烈的讨论之后，Alex教给我们几条idioms:
1) up to one's ears = very busy
[Ex.]
I'm up to my ears these days and I have little time to share with my girlfriend.

2) Hit the books/road/join
[Ex.]
If you want to learn something, You have to hit the books. = read the books

[Ex.]
I don't want to stop right after we hit the road. (出发，上路)

Hit the join = go to the toilet.

3) rub salt into the wound
[Ex.]
Tom failed the final exam. pls don't rub salt into the wound.

这是自从大学毕业以来第一次连续上五天课，第一感觉就是疲倦，甚至比上班还要累。也许会有人说我"身在福中不知福"，也许吧。看着大连软件园周围那些匆匆忙忙的年轻人的身影，也许我的确该感到'幸福'。

今天是商务英语写作课的第一节，老师也安排从最基础的Business Letter开始。其实说到英语信函，很多人会记得在初中英语教材中就有涉及，只是当时老师不会讲的如此之细，侧重点也不同罢了。如何能写出'good business letter'呢？这里老师介绍了七个关键点，也叫'7C'原则。哪'7C'呢？
. Clearness
. Conciseness
. Courtesy
. Consideration
. Concreteness
. Correctness
. Completence

记得在以前的一次商务英语写作中也谈到过这'7C'原则了。至于这'7C'原则的具体细节，有些烦琐，不说也罢，总而言之，言而总之，在写Business Letter的时候，尽量用短句清晰的表达你的想法，注意谦恭礼貌，尽量从对方的角度考虑问题，多用'You' Attitude，少用'I/We' Attitude。

现在使用的商业信函的style有两种，一种叫'Semi-Indented Style'，一种叫'Blocked Letter Style'；前一种的格式如下：
Dear xxx,

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
                   
                    Yours sincerely
                    your_name
                    your_position
                    your_company

后一种Blocked Style的格式更为被现代人接受，其样式如下：

Dear xxx,

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Yours sincerely
your_name
your_position
your company

同样商业Email的书写与此相同。当然传统信函的书写原不止这么简单，我们还要考虑到letter-head, Date等等在称呼前面的内容，因为平时基本不会用到这种信函(大多数都用Email)，所以这里不再介绍了。学习商务信函写作的一个很好的办法就是学习你的外国客户写给你的信函，模仿它们，准保没错。

三四节的口语，Alex给我们带来了Salvador Dali的一些surealism的名画，让我们其中一个人描述画中的事物，其他两个人在黑板上根据听到的内容Draw the picture. 我们玩的不亦乐乎！当然再这个活动结束后，Alex给我们解释了要这么做的原因：当你和客户沟通的时候，你怎样来有效的describe一种事物才能让你的客户理解的和你描述的吻合得更好而不是'张冠李戴'呢，从你describe一幅画给别人的过程中，你就可以总结出来。Take a shot!