Some Impressions of My Trip to Germany

Last summer， I was luckily invited by the German government to join a youth group and had a 2-week free trip [visit] （1） to Germany. The purpose of the visit was to let us get to know about Germany so as to promote understanding and friendship between the young people of our two countries.On 6 July， my companion from Chengdu and I flew to Germany. During our 2-week stay， we visited Frankfort （法兰克福）， Bonn （波恩）， München （慕尼黑）， Hamburg（汉堡）， Berlin （柏林） … nearly all the big cities in Germany. We were invited to universities， middle schools， companies， famous beautiful places， government organizations and some cultural recreation centres.

　　The most interesting thing in Germany was to meet young people. When we were in Bayern （巴代利亚州）， we visited a middle school. We were asked to attend their classes.

　　As we entered their classroom， all the students stood up and said： “Welcome！ Welcome …” When they learned the Great Wall was not far from our home town， they got excited. They asked us many questions about China. We were very pleased to tell them the great changes in China. In fact， they knew not much about China， but they were interested in getting to know about it. One of them told me that his father had travelled [been] （2） to China and he had taken back some Chinese music tapes. Their whole family enjoyed listening to the music from China. He said he would go to China for a visit one day.

　　When we left the classroom， I gave everyone [every one] （3） of them a special present： a postcard about China and some Chinese stamps. I said， “If you come to China， I'll certainly be very happy to show you around.” All of them were very pleased to have our Chinese stamps and cards. Their smiles left a deep impression on me.

　　In Hamburg， we had an evening party with some German students who were studying Chinese in Hamburg University. We sat together and had Chinese food. They were very good at using chopsticks. They tried again and again to speak Chinese. All of them were excited to meet native speakers from China. They told us that one of their subjects was how to cook Chinese food， and how to use chopsticks. After we finished our supper， we went to a bar together where we tasted German beer. They sang a Chinese song for us. It was Nan Niwan （南泥湾）。 As a matter of fact， they couldn't sing that folk song well. But that didn't matter. I asked them why they wanted to study Chinese. One of them answered：“China today is a big nation.” Another said： “I like Chinese calligraphy （书法） very much.” One of them even took out a piece of paper and wrote down a Chinese poem. He wrote it very well. I thought one day a blue-eyed and red-haired foreigner would become a Chinese-calligrapher.

　　All the German people we met were kind to us. In the streets， hotels， on buses， trains or planes， they were very friendly. They often said “Hello” to us first. Wherever we went， we could get help from strangers if we needed that.

　　Our 14-day visit passed by [passed] （4） quickly. Soon we had to fly back to China. This was an unforgettable trip. We not only got to understand something about Germany， but also felt the German people were very nice.

　　云南省大理剑川一中高97班（文科） 何录中

　　评 语

　　何录中同学是地处边远山区的白族中学生，去年夏天有幸应德国政府邀请参加青少年考察团到德国进行为期两周的访问。这篇文章是他的访德见闻之一。文字朴实，内容生动。文章中某些语言上的不足之处点评修改如下：（1）用trip会给人“旅途需要二周”的感觉，改为visit较好。

　　（2）父亲访问中国后已回德国，要用had been.比较：①He has been to Beijing.（去过北京）②He has gone to Beijing.（去了北京）

　　（3）everyone合在一起时，后面不能用of短语修饰，要将every one分开。

　　（4）pass by是指“空间”上“经过……”，如：When she passed by， everyone looked up. 时间消逝用pass就可，不必加by.