英文朗读文章3

http://www.englishonline.org.cn/zh-hans/listen-watch/iwta/japan

I want to talk about Japan, which is a country where I've spent a lot of time. I first went to Japan when I was 24 years old. I'd graduated a couple of years before. I was working in the UK and I was looking for an adventure... something... something different to do. And I was looking in the newspaper and it said, "Teach English in Japan". So I went for a job interview and it's quite scary coz i'd never taught before but we had to give a lesson to some Japanese students. But luckily I got the job and they sent me to a place called Toyama, which is on the west coast of Japan.

My first day in Japan... I was very excited and nervous - I didn't know what to expect. When I arrived, one of the Japanese staff met me and took me to the school and I was pretty much teaching from day one. Staff were very friendly and made me feel very welcome.

So on my first day in Japan, some of the staff took me out for a meal and I didn't really know any of the... the kind of etiquette rules about Japan but... erm... when I went to the toilet, you have to put these toilet slippers on and I forgot to take them off when I came out of the toilet. So when I went back to the table, everyone there was laughing at me for having these toilet slippers on.

So one of the things that changed the way that I think is the food. Japanese people take food very seriously and before I went to Japan, I didn't really care or think about what I ate that much.

One of the things I enjoy most about my time in Japan was travelling around. So I went to quite a few of the famous places like Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Kyoto. Kyoto is probably my favourite place in Japan. I think it's a very peaceful place. The food is very good there. And I think it's a... it's like a good mix of traditional and modern city.

So since leaving Japan, there's... er... a lot of things that I've taken with me... well I've... you know... continued to travel. Firstly the food - I still eat a lot of Japanese food and I cook a lot of Japanese food too, especially miso soup and udon and soba... things like that. Another thing which I... which I've taken is the language - so I'm still learning Japanese and I still... I watch Japanese TV in HK. Another thing that I take with me is er.... when I lived in Toyoma I really likesnowboarding and whenever I get the chance , I still go snowboarding.