My First Day at Karlsruhe

孙洪梅

Karlsruhe is a small town in southwest Germany. I study in the only university of the town， the University of Karlsure. Its such a special place—but I still clearly remember how frightened I was on my first day at the school.

The first letter I got from future university invited me to an orientation week before the term started. As the programme was an official one， we were told to dress up. We also had to prepare compositions on different topics.

On the first day of the orientation week， we were led to a lecture hall where several professors and the headmaster gave speeches. We were told that more than half of us would drop out before the end of the term. We were all very nervous. Then the maths professor took the microphone： “So ladies and gentlemen， it is time for your first maths paper！” Everyone was very much surprised！ A maths paper — we were not told to prepare maths. The exam turned out to be very， very difficult.

After 30 minutes of hell， the professor said： “Drop your pencils. Time is up！ And by the way we are just joking， welcome to the University of Karlsruhe.”

At the same time there was music and cheering from other students waiting outside. They had prepared a huge party for us. The orientation week turned out to be really cool and we were partying a lot. It was cool of the professors to join us， but in the end they were almost right： more than 30 percent of the students dropped out before the end of the term.

I. Answer the following questions.

1. Why was the writer and his classmates invited to school before the term started？

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2. How long did the maths exam last？

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3. What does the writer mean by saying “30 minutes of hell” in the fourth paragraph？

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4. Which sentence has the same meaning as the one given below？

The orientation week was really wonderful and we had a good time at the parties.

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5. What happened on the writers first day of school？

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II. Writing Task： My First Day at Senior High

What was your first day like when you entered your senior high？ Write down your experiences on that day and your thoughts about that day.

Write an article of about 100 words：

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（Key?p. 38）