懂你英语level5文档精校版

Level 5

Unit 1

1/4

Listening

Jessica is 35 year old.

She graduated from middle school 20 years ago.

This year her middle school class has its 20 year class reunion.

All of her classmates and teachers were invited to attend.

It was going to be at a hotel near where their school used to be.

Like many other buildings, the school had been torn down.

It had been replaced by some apartment buildings.

At first, she wasn’t sure if she could go to the reunion.

One reason was that there wasn’t anyone in particular that she wanted to see (from her school days).

Another reason was that she was very busy.

She was a working mother with a boy 8 years old and a husband who is rarely at home.

Going to the union meant that she would have to arrange for someone to take care of things while she was away. That wouldn’t be easy.

She didn’t want to take her boy with her, and her husband wouldn’t take time off from work.

Then she got a message from Sharon, one of her old classmates.

Sharon was contracting

In the school reunion.

They exchange messages and Jessica said she wouldn’t make it.

Then Sharon gave her a call, and they talk for almost an hour.

Sharon real ly wanted her to come, and so did the couple of Jessica‘s’ old friends

They were all wandering how she was doing.

None of them has seen or heard from her since graduation.

They were a specially careers she hadn’t gone to the first reunion 10 years ago.

Jessica decided to arrange thing so that she could go.

Her husband finally agreed to take care of things while she was away.

He agreed to do it, because her mother had offered to come and stayed for a while, so Jessica could attend

the reunion.

Since h e and her mother didn’t get along, he decided to change his schedule and work from home for a few days. He really didn’t want his mother to come though he didn’t say so.

When she got to the reunion she was shocked.

Everyone had aged so much and many were out of shape.

Some who used to be good looking had lost their looks completely and others looked much better than before. It was strange how time had changed people in such different ways.

Anyway, she decided since she was there, she would try to enjoy it.

Vocabulary

To replace something means to put something else in its place.

When something gets old and begins to break down, it may need to be replaced.

The person who replaces someone is the person’s replacement.

To tear something down means to break it apart.

To tear a person down means to hurt them by saying negative things about them.

It may take a long time to tear down a big building.

To construct something means to build it or put it together.

Large construction projects include buildings, bridges and organizations.

The opposite of constructive is destructive.

To be constructive means to help build an idea or process by contributing something helpful, such as positive feedback.

To organize something means to arrange things in an orderly logical way.

An organization is something that has logical structure such as a well-managed company.