The following story uses words from GRE Word Group Set 1   Bold are corrections made by a native English speaker (Tommy).

   
    At the beginning of the school year, students receive a syllabus at the first meeting for each class.  Usually, the professor will give an abridged lecture about the class structure and the main goal for the class.  
    In English class, students will be required to read and analyze many books and have discussions during class time.  Some students give a cursory read through the book and pick up some pieces of the content while others just go online and search the popular synopsis compendiums to find information about their assigned books.  These synopses are generally very short and contain a complete collection of facts about the books.
Sometimes, students might complain about the heavy study workload.  If they are lucky, their professor might curtail some of the reading material.  If not, they might receive professor's terse reply.

ACT/AG: to go; to drive; to force; to lead

agile: 灵活的; 轻快的; 敏捷的

• quick and well coordinated in movement; active, lively

agitate: 使激动; 搅动; 使焦虑; 摇动; 鼓动; 煽动

• to move or force into violent, irregular action

litigate: 在法庭相争, 诉讼; 诉讼

• to make the subject of a lawsuit

   
Yeah!!  Tommy and I are going to London in March三月 and Dublin in April四月.  It is so exciting兴奋!!  We would like to thank our friends Zhuzhu and Laurie who are going to host招待 us in London.  It will help us a great deal since it would cost us a fortune 昂贵 with spending weak贬值 dollars美元 in Europe. 

Abdicate :正式放弃; 辞; 退; 废; 逊位, 辞职

• to give up a position, right, or power

• with the angry mob暴民 clamoring喧嚷; 大声的要求 outside the place, the king abdicated his throne王座, 君主 and fled

• Synonyms: cede; relinquish; resign; quit; yield

Biting (as in wit or Temperament) 尖锐刺人的; 辛辣的; 刺痛的; 嘲讽的

acerbic: 辛辣的; 尖酸的; 苦涩的

• criticizing someone or something in a clever but cruel way

acidulous: 微酸的; 尖刻的; 带酸味的; 带讽刺意味的

• somewhat acid or harsh in taste or manner

acrimonious: 刻薄的; 辛辣的; 严厉的; 激烈的

• an acrimonious meeting or discussion is one in which people argue a lot and get very angry

Aberrant: adj脱离正道的, 变体的, 脱离常轨的

• ex: Since he had been a steady, cheerful worker for many years, his fellow postal workers did not expect his aberrant burst of rage狂怒.
• Synonyms: abnormal; anomalous; deviant; divergent; errant; irregular
  

Hello there,  I'm Hongyun and I live in California.  I didn't always live here though.  I grew up in China and lived there until 2002 and have lived here ever since.

Life in America is certainly quite different than life in China.  Bubbanotes is where I talk about these differences.  I originally started this site to practice writing in English, but so many people have found the site to be helpful that I'm expanding it with our Bubbanotes BBS where my husband and I will try to help you with learning English.

If you'd like the tour, you might enjoy reading about how I met my husband and our life together or seeing what I find interesting about American life.  If you are more advanced in English and want to study with me for the GRE, try this. Finally, if you'd like to see some fun stuff, check out my favorite American songs.

Enjoy!

    One of my best trips旅游 was to Hawaii 夏威夷 in the summer夏天 of 2005.  The island岛 we visited was Maui毛伊 which is less touristy游客 than other islands and had an amazing惊奇 collection地方 of natural自然 wonders.  We spent 10 days in Maui, and the most exciting thing for me was diving潜海 with 150 years old sea turtles大海龟.  They were so calm平静 and peaceful平和 when I dove with them.  I felt like I was one of them and the stresses压力 of  human life生活 just faded away渐渐地淡去.  I wish I could have swam with them to the deep ocean...  
(I will post some photos照片 and videos录相 about my Hawaii trip later.)   We stayed

Bilious: 胆汁质的, 坏脾气的
•    very unpleasant


Dudgeon: 生气, 不高兴
•    in high dudgeon in an angry or offended way - often used humorously


Irascible: 易怒的; 暴躁的
•    easily becoming angry

Abase: verb 贬抑, 降低...的地位, 降低...的品格
•    To humble; disgrace
•    Ex: my intention was not to abase the comedian
•    Synonyms: demean, humiliate


Abate: verb   减轻, 减少; 废除, 撤销; 对打折扣; 减弱, 减少, 缓和
•    To reduce in amount, degree, or severity
•    Ex: As the hurricane's force abated, the winds dropped and the sea became clam.
•    Synonyms: ebb; lapse; let up; moderate; relent; slacken; subside; wane

Abbreviated Communication

Abridge: 縮短; 限制; 刪節
•    an abridged book, play etc has been made shorter but keeps its basic structure and meaning


Compendium:大要, 概略
•    a book that contains a complete collection of facts, drawings etc on a particular subject


Cursory:匆匆忙忙的, 粗略的, 草率的
•    done very quickly without much attention to details