高中一年级 · 阅读系列
Lesson 52 · A Letter Across Time Zones
文体：跨国书信故事 · 朗读音轨 52
先听一遍
听听主人公为何不该用自己的作息来衡量对方的回复速度。
展开英文短文，再悬停查词
I joined an international writing project and exchanged letters with a student named Lina. After I sent my first long email, I checked for a reply every few hours. Two days passed. I began to wonder whether my questions had sounded strange.
Then I looked at the project calendar. Lina lived in a different time zone and had exams that week. My message had arrived in the middle of her night. I had measured her response time using only my own day.
When she replied, she had answered carefully and asked about the river near my school. I wrote back with a photograph and a shorter question. We agreed to expect a reply within several days rather than immediately.
Our letters moved slowly, but that gave each of us time to notice details. A delay was not always a message about our friendship. Sometimes it was simply the shape of two different schedules crossing the world.
逐句跟读
点击任意一句听 Dicvo 的 Jenny 英语语音；开始连续播放前可选择每句播放次数。同一句的每遍之间、切换到下一句之前，都会留出约一遍句子时长供你跟读。原有整篇朗读仍可在上方播放。
请选择一句开始。
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I joined an international writing project and exchanged letters with a student named Lina.
-
After I sent my first long email, I checked for a reply every few hours.
-
Two days passed.
-
I began to wonder whether my questions had sounded strange.
-
Then I looked at the project calendar.
-
Lina lived in a different time zone and had exams that week.
-
My message had arrived in the middle of her night.
-
I had measured her response time using only my own day.
-
When she replied, she had answered carefully and asked about the river near my school.
-
I wrote back with a photograph and a shorter question.
-
We agreed to expect a reply within several days rather than immediately.
-
Our letters moved slowly, but that gave each of us time to notice details.
-
A delay was not always a message about our friendship.
-
Sometimes it was simply the shape of two different schedules crossing the world.
读懂了什么？
读完后，试着用一句话说出本文的主要意思，并从原文找出支持它的一句话。
查看中文译文
我参加一个国际写作项目，和名叫莉娜的学生通信。发出第一封长邮件后，我每隔几小时就查看一次回信。两天过去，我开始担心自己的问题是不是听起来很奇怪。
后来，我看了项目日历。莉娜住在另一个时区，那周还要考试。我的邮件到达时，正是她那里的深夜。我只用自己的一天去衡量她回复的快慢。
回信来了，她认真回答了问题，还问起学校附近的河。我附上一张照片回信，并把新问题写得短一些。我们约好，几天内回复就好，不必马上作答。
书信来往缓慢，却让我们都有时间留意细节。延迟不一定在表达对友谊的看法，有时只是相隔遥远的两份日程表恰好交错的样子。
本课重点词语
以下是本课重点词语的中文讲解；英文正文中有虚线的单词可悬停查看词义和发音。
- exchange letters
- 通信；国际项目中的书信往来。
- reply
- 回复；主人公不停查看。
- every few hours
- 每隔几小时；查看邮箱的频率。
- wonder whether
- 怀疑是否；担心问题显得奇怪。
- time zone
- 时区；两人当地时间不同。
- measure
- 衡量；不宜只按自己的日程判断。
- respond
- 作答；莉娜后来认真回信。
- expect
- 预期；约好几天内回复。
- delay
- 延迟；并不一定带有关系上的暗示。
- cross
- 跨越、交错；两份日程相隔世界。
背景知识
跨时区交流中，发信人的白天可能是收信人的深夜。再加上考试安排，回信慢未必代表冷淡；双方商定合理的回复时间后更容易相处。