5 Homestay in the US

My name is Jenny and I did a homestay in America. When I first met my host mother, Mary, she gave me a big hug. I was really shocked because I had never been hugged before, and I wasn sure how to respond. By the time I left America, though, I came to enjoy hugging and being hugged. Shaking hands was also a challenge. My homestay father, Peter, looked at me straight in the eye and squeezed my hand firmly.
Both Mary and Peter wanted me to call them by their first names because they, as Americans, like informality. By using first names only, we felt friendlier towards each other.

homestay 家庭寄宿
host 东道主
hug 拥抱
shock 震惊
respond 回应
challenge 挑战
straight 直接地
squeeze 挤压
firmly 紧紧地
informality 随意

在美国家庭寄宿
我叫珍妮，我在美国家庭寄宿。当我第一次见到我要寄宿那家的母亲玛丽时，她热情地拥抱了我。我确实感到非常震惊因为我从来没有被拥抱过，我不知道该如何回应。然而到我要离开美国时，我已经非常喜欢拥抱别人和被别人拥抱了。
握手也是个挑战。我寄宿那家的父亲彼特，直视着我的眼睛，紧紧地握我的手。
玛丽和彼特都希望我对他们直呼其名，因为美国人一般比较随意。通过直呼其名，我们互相之间感到更加亲切友好