Yesterday, I watched a video on YouTube about life. The speaker was a doctor, and he talked about his experiences working in a hospital. He faced many situations that required him to make decisions about life. I can imagine the pressure was very high. When it comes to death, the only thing we can do is cherish every moment and love the people around us.

Last night, my co-worker asked me to send her a copy of a document, but I was out of town then, and the document was at home. Hence, I promised that I would do that once I got home the next day. I got home early this evening and rummaged through chests and boxes for the document. I still hadn’t found it by 8 p.m., and I thought of giving up, but I found it even harder to tell my co-worker that I couldn’t find the document. She has been a respectable colleague, and I didn’t want to let her down. So I kept searching for it. Finally, I found it in a box late at night. I was tired, but it was worth it.

It sounds like the audience is from Detroit. So by saying “Detroit’s own”, they are emphasizing that this person is from Detroit, too. Not necessarily born in Detroit, just grew up there or lived there for some time.

You know, I am living in a large county that has almost all kinds of landforms. From west to east, deserts, grasslands and oceans [this doesn't make sense - oceans are in water, not land? I would choose another word] spread across different provinces. When I grew up and began to visit other provinces, I saw a variety of differences among the local cultures. But there were a few cultural differences that gave me some big shocks. For example, in winter, some people from subtropical provinces like to go skiing in the furthest northern province. Among them, I saw some who were visiting a freezing area for the first time, so they just wore shorts and T-shirt as usual. When they got off the plane, it was as if they suddenly woke up from the excitement of seeing snow the first time in their lives. They opened their mouths as wide as they could. As for me, I once faced a big culture shock in my twenties, when I worked in Jiangsu, a southeast province known for its rivers and traditional culture. My hometown, by contrast, is located in the northwest of China and features big open spaces. Different environments created different cultures which became embodied in people's habits. So, once, I invited my local friends to have a party at my home. I prepared some my hometown dishes for them, and when they saw the noodles as wide as their belt, they screamed out and told me that they have never seen that kind of noodles [LOL! that is so funny]. They didn't think that their mouths were big enough to eat such big noodles. They told me that all their ingredients would be made as tiny as they could; for example, they could cut a piece of tofu into the size of a hair. But they finally enjoyed my dish and asked me to teach them how to make it.

Ok, I am going to share some interesting things that happened during my last trip. Before starting the trip, I was very excited and prepared a lot, including booking hotels and choosing trains which were convenient for me. Then I started my trip. For the first few days, I was so energetic, checking all the popular sights on my phone and choosing the ones with the most positive views to visit [I’m not sure about this one - it depends on the app you used!]. On the way, I would stop at any time to enjoy some tasty food, especially the delicious street food. This was one of the most important parts of my trip. Of course, buying souvenirs was another interesting thing that was worth doing. Maybe showing the souvenirs to my friends can prove that I have been there after I am back? But there are still some details which need more attention - for example, if you can't manage your time and energy well, you will be tired in the last few days of your trip. Luckily, I've never had these troubles. For me, although all my trips have seemed too short, I have always had endless scenery [scenery cannot be plural] and food to enjoy. Now, I am really eager to have my next trip soon.

These days, I like listening to Western music. I wasn’t interested in it until I was in my last year of high school. However, I’ve become fond of English songs since I started taking English lessons last year. My English teacher introduced wonderful Western music to us during lessons. The first time I listened to that music, I was very impressed by the brilliance of it. It makes me happy and relaxed at all times. I’m happy to have been made aware of the fun of Western music. I’ll study English hard so that I can understand the meanings of English lyrics by myself. Also, I’d like to translate English lyrics into Japanese. I love Western music and I want to enjoy listening to music.

This sounds like it’s from a book or TV show. The answer may depend on that context, but I’ll give you my best guess: 1. Tin is a metal. It’s atomic number 50, symbol Sn. 2. “Up to our armor plates” sounds like the speaker is wearing armor plates. It seems to be combined with the phrase “to be up to one’s neck in something” which means “to be deeply involved in something”. Hope that helps! Let me know if you need any further explanation 😊

Honestly, I think for English one of the best ways is to make fun of how we talk 😂 the more accurate you can make your pronunciation when you imitate us, the more your accent will change. Another way is to listen to how English speakers speak your language. Our accents will give you a clue to how we pronounce things differently. That being said, I don’t believe there is a way to “improve” your accent - as long as people can understand you, it’s fine. The way you talk is the way you talk, and people should accept that without judgement :)