It was back in the summer in 2005.I was a junior in UniversityandI was lookingfor adventurefor myself thatsummer. Iwasvery intothisTVshowcalledSexin theCity andhadadreamofgoingto New YorkCitytovisit where Carrie gotherinspiration.I foundafriendandwebothbookedticketsto New York City. Before wehitthe road,I didalotofhomework, determiningtomakethistripveryspecialforbothof us.

那是远在2005年的夏天，我是一个大三的学生想要为我自己找一个夏天的探险活动。 那个时候，我非常喜欢电视剧欲望城市，而且一直梦想要去纽约市看看凯利是在什么地 方被启发的。我找到一个朋友然后我们一起定了票去纽约市，我在出发之前做了很多功课，决心要让这次旅行非常的特别。

First up,Imadeanappointment withBigApple Greeterandtheyresponded tome promptly.SinceIhadnofriends in America,thatcontact withBAGmade it veryspecial tome,as ifIhadafriend who was already waitingformyarrival.On thedaywe met ourgreeterAl,hetookustoGroundZero,aFiremen's Museumandalsoshowed us around lowerManhattan.Itwassuchanunforgettableexperience thatIwould never wouldhavehad, if I was justfollowingthe guidebooksI read.I was interacting witha realNew Yorker.

首先，我于约了一个纽约的当地志愿导游（也就是文中我们会讲到的 Greeter），然后他们很快的就在网上回复了我。由于我在纽约完全没有朋友，那一次的 联系对我来说非常的特别，感觉好像是已经有朋友在期待我的到来。到了与我们的 GreeterAl见面的时候了，他带我们到纽约世贸中心的遗址，消防员的纪念博物馆，还 带我们逛逛下城区。对我来说是一个非常难忘和特别的回忆，因为我们是真正和一个纽约客在交流。

Afterthat visit, Alinvitedustohave lunch with his granddaughterathis house in Queensonthe weekend.WetookthesubwaytoAl'shouse,following the instructions hehad given,tellingushowto get there.Thenwe had gyro, apopular localsnack with his granddaughterNikkiandhada wonderfultimesightseeing inQueens.Altooka lot ofphotos alongthe wayandheevenprintedthemoutforusas gifts.

在那一次访问之后，Al邀请我们一起去他皇后区家里和他的孙女吃午餐，我们按照Al的 指示坐地铁到了他家，然后我们一起吃了希腊卷饼，听说是当地非常受欢迎的食物，然后和他的孙女一起在皇后区观光，非常愉快。Al甚至把所有帮我们拍的照片列印出来给 我们做礼物。

Wementionedduringourconversationsthatwe werethinkingabout visitingtheEmpire State buildingthenext day,towhich Alsuggestedthat we usedhisseniorpass forthe entrance.Wedidn'tthinkmuch of it, butwhen we arrivedattheentranceofEmpire State building,there was alreadyahuge queue.Alshowedupandhandedus thepass and westrolledpast the line ofpeople,andarrived atthetop in15minutes.Aldidn't join us,buthehadgoneoutofhis way andtraveledalltheway fromhome, justto let ususehisspecialpass.Iwassimplytouched.

我们提到隔天想要去帝国大厦参观，Al就提议我们用他的证件进去，我们并没有想太多，但是隔天当我们抵达门票的地方，发现那里排队的队伍好长啊，Al出现之后，我们 穿越了重重人群15分钟不到就到了楼顶！Al 并没有加入我们，但是他特地从他们家跑过来就为了让我们用他的通行证，我真的好感动。

OneyearlaterAlmadeatriptoTaipeiandwemetupforlunch.To mysurprise,Alstill insistedontreatingustolunch. Alwasalwayssowonderfultous,butIthinkwekindof failedtobethebestTaipeigreeterswhilehe wasthere.

一年之后，Al到了台北我们一起吃了中餐，我很惊讶的是，Al仍然坚持要买单，他一直都对我们好好，然而我觉得我们身为台北的主人有点失职了。

BesidesAl,Ialsomet a lotofkindstrangersduringmytrips. Ithinktheonlywayto reciprocate istopassthisloveandkindness ontootherpeople.Asa result, Shanghai Greeters wasborn.Tothisday,ourgreeters have receivedmorethan1000visitors fromaroundthe worldandwekeepreceivingpositivefeedback.Thepositive energy haschangeda lotofpeopleandourvisitorsoncesaid,weareofferingthebestthings in theworld.I'malsohappy tohavefoundpeople whohavethesamemissionasme, which is tomakeyoufeel verywelcomeduringyourtrip inChina.May godblessus all. I liketo givea specialthank you tothosewhohelpedmewhenI was inthe US..;may theylive thebestlifetheycould.

除了Al以外，在这次旅行，我还遇到了好多友善的陌生人，我觉得唯一可以回报的方法就是把这份爱和温暖继续传下去，所以我就开始开办了ShanghaiGreeters，一直到今天我们已经接待了超过一千名的游客而且我们得到了许多正面的反馈。这个正能量改变了好多人。有游客甚至说道，我们在提供这个世界上最棒的东西，我也很开心遇到和我有一样目标的人，就是希望你可以在中国旅行的非常愉快。希望上帝都保佑我们。我想要 特别感谢那一次旅行在美国非常帮助我的这些人，Vincent M.,theStrombergfamily, PhoebeJ.,TimP，是你们改变了我。

我的老师Christiana给我的评语

Hi, Lily. So,myfirst correctionis with yoursentence"Hetookusto GroundZero,a firemen'smuseum."Becarefulhow you saytheword "firemen's".Whenyou say it,it sounded like you justsaidfimen's. Fimen's.So,becarefulwhenyousayfirethatit soundslike twosyllables.Fi- re.Fi-re. Fire.Do you hearthetwo syllables?"Fi" is one, "re"istwo. Fire.Fire.Afiremen's.A firemen's.Afiremen's museum.

你好Lily，所以我的修正是来自于你说到消防员的博物馆，当你说firemen‘s的时候听起来像是fimen’s，所以小心一点记得这个字是有两个音节。

Thesecondcorrection Ihave is justasmallcorrectionwithpronunciation, whenyou saidthe word granddaughteris sounded likeyousaid grand DAUGHTER, grand DAUGHTER,thesentence,Al invited ustohishousetohave lunchwith his granddaughterin his house,soyou canhearthere’s anaccentongrand,GRAND daughter, lunch withhisGRANDdaughter,it’snotgrandDAUGHTER, grandDAUGHTER, it’sGRANDdaughter,Al invitedustohishousetohave lunch with hisGRANDdaughter.

第二个要修正的是一个小小的发音，你在说孙女这个字的时候重音是错的。

Thethird correction iswhenyou saidthesentence,we arrivedattheentranceof EmpireStateBuilding,besure tosayTHEEmpireStateBuilding,because it is “the” specificEmpire StateBuilding, becausethere’sonlyoneEmpire StateBuilding,so it is THEEmpire StateBuilding.Soyou’ll wanttosay,when we arrive attheentrance of THEEmpire StateBuilding,so naturally you willsound like "when we arrive atthe entranceofTHEEmpireStateBuilding."

第三个修正是当你说到世贸中心时，别忘了要加上定冠词，因为世贸中心只有一个。

SoIjustwantto encourageyou, Lily,you dida really great job withyour pronunciation,I know you workedhardto get ittothe levelthatitis. Soverygood job,yourblogarticle was veryinterestingandIwas interestedthe wholetimehearingit,soundslikequitethe adventure.Sothankyou forsharingthat with meandI hopethatthis informationhashelpedyou.You dida greatjob.Keep upthe greatworkandlet meknow ifIcanhelpyouagain.

最后我想要给你鼓励，你的发音很不错，而且我知道你为此做了很多努力。你的文章非常的有趣，听起来像是一个非常不错的冒险经验。谢谢你和我分享，我希望我今天给你的建议对你有帮助，希望你继续保持，让我知道我是否还有能帮助到你的地方。