阅读理解。
This year, about 2,300 teenagers from all over the world will spend about 10 months in US
homes. At the same time about 1,300 American teenagers will go to other countries to learn new
languages and learn the rest of the world.
Here is a 2-way student exchange in action. Fred,19, spent last year in Germany with George's
family. In turn, George's son Mike spent a year in Fred's home in America.
Fred, a lively young man, knew little German when he arrived. But after 2 months of studying,
the language became easy for him. School was completely different from what he had expected
and it was much harder. Students rose respectfully when the teacher entered the room. They took
14 subjects instead of 6 that were usually taken in the US.
Family life, too, was different. The father's word was the law. All the activities were done with
the family rather than individually. Fred found the food to be too simple at first. He also missed
having a car.
"Back home, you pick up some friends in a car and go out to have a good time.In Germany,
you walk but you soon learn to like it ."
At the same time, in America, Mike,a friendly German boy, was also forming his own ideas.
"I suppose I should criticize American schools" he says, "It is far too easy for our level but I have
to say that I like it a lot. In Germany, we do nothing but study. Here we take part in many other
activities. I think that maybe American schools are better in training their citizens. There ought to
be some middle ground between the two."
1 between American school life and German school life
