[00:00.00] Unit 15 My Hometown
[00:30.90]Integrated Skills Development
[00:37.07]Dialogues
[00:40.12]A. The Return Visit
[00:46.00]Mr.Hall spent his childhood in Changchun,China.
[00:53.45]However,he has lived most of his life in Newtown.
[01:00.00]He is now returning to Changchun for the first time in twenty years
[01:07.47]and is traveling by bus with his nephew.
[01:12.72]Mr.Hall: We're nearly there. It's all coming back to me now.
[01:19.39]I used to travel along this road to school every day.
[01:24.56]Robert: Did you really? I thought you'd lived in Newtown all your life.
[01:31.64]Mr.Hall: No,I used to live in Changchun when I was young.
[01:36.97]Robert: Have you ever been back since you first left Changchun?
[01:43.13]Mr.Hall: No,but I often thought about visiting my old birthplace.
[01:48.88]In fact,I never made it because I had no time.
[01:54.16]Robert: We're coming into the center of Changchun now,aren't we?
[02:00.22]Mr.Hall: Er—are we? It's all changed. There didn't use to be a flyover here.
[02:07.97]Robert: Look at those skyscrapers.Are they office build-ings?
[02:14.45]Mr.Hall: I have no idea. I don't remember any huge buildings here.
[02:20.70]There was a field—my family often had a picnic there.
[02:26.65]B. It's All Changed!
[02:33.81]Now,Mr.Hall and his nephew are passing through the town center.
[02:42.17]There is a swimming pool on the right.
[02:47.42]Robert: Did you often go there when you were a boy?
[02:53.27]Mr.Hall: I've never been there. I would have gone if there was one then.
[02:59.33]Robert:Look at that old building. It's the town library.
[03:05.10]You must have been there.
[03:08.94]Mr.Hall: Oh,yes,but not often.I didn't use to have time to read a lot.
[03:16.10]Robert: Ah,we're coming into the bus station now.
[03:21.14]Mr. Hall: What? The bus station didn't use to be here,
[03:27.02]next to the town hall.
[03:30.18]Robert: Where was it?
[03:33.55]Mr.Hall: I an't remenber. The whole town's changed.
[03:39.01]Let's get off and look around... Can you read the date over there?
[03:44.97]Robert: It says 1955.The bus stations's been here all the time.
[03:53.72]Mr.Hall: I never used to come here to catch the bus.
[03:58.68]I can't remember a thing.
[04:02.44]Maybe I've changed—not the town.
[04:06.80]Passage My Hometwon
[04:13.75]John Pizarro,the director of the Commercial Development in our company,
[04:21.20]is going to travel to my hometown with me
[04:26.06]to see the great changes taking place there.
[04:31.02]My hometown is a beautiful place.
[04:35.98]It stands beside a wide river at the foot of low green hills.
[04:42.46]It has many fine buildings and wide streets.
[04:48.10]Wherever you go,you may see trees and flowers.
[04:54.35]But it has not always been like that.
[04:59.49]When I was in high school,
[05:03.36]it was a sad and dirty little town.
[05:08.22]Some people lived in dark,
[05:12.66]unhealthy rooms in old buildings and others in huts on narrow muddy streets.
[05:20.42]Nearly everyone was poor and many had no work.
[05:26.58]Great changes have taken place in my hometown since 1978
[05:33.95]when China started to put into effect the policies of reform
[05:40.61]and opening to the outside world.
[05:45.16]The people have got rid of the mud and dirt.
[05:51.03]They have put up theaters,shops and flats in the center of the town.
[05:58.58]They also have set up a hospital in the east of the town.
[06:04.46]Along the river they have built schools,hotels and a big park.
[06:11.83]Factories and businesses have sprung up.
[06:17.70]On the river,steamers and boats come and go busily day and night,
[06:24.68]carrying the products of our industries to all parts of the province.
[06:30.92]Because the economy has developed rapidly and steadily,
[06:36.98]the people's living stan-dard has been improved greatly.
[06:42.55]I love my hometown,and I love its people.
[06:48.42]They too have changed. If we continue to carry out the policies,
[06:55.69]I am sure that my hometown will have an even brighter future.
