1. Words & phrases
1)Dad's got this idea that I'm destined to be a great swimmer...
des‧tined
adj / 'destɪnd 'destənd ; ˋdɛstɪnd
[not before noun 不用于名词前] seeming certain to happen at some time in the future 注定的；必然的
[+ for ]
She seemed destined for a successful career.
她似乎注定能够事业成功。
destined to do sth
We were destined never to meet again.
2)I actually tried to convince Dad to let me do Water Jazz instead of swim team...
convince
to persuade someone to do something 说服，劝服
convince sb to do sth
I’ve been trying to convince Jean to come with me.
我一直在设法说服琼跟我一起去。
SYN persuade
per‧suade v [T] S3 W2 / pə'sweɪd ; pɚˋswed /
英 / pə'sweɪd /
to make someone decide to do something, especially by giving them reasons why they should do it, or asking them many times to do it 说服，劝服
He was fairly easily persuaded .
他很轻易就被说服了。
persuade sb to do sth
I finally managed to persuade her to go out for a drink with me.
我终于说服她跟我出去喝一杯。
3) I had to wrap myself up...
wrap 1 v [T] S3 / ræp ; ræp /
( past tense and past participle wrapped , present participle wrapping )
( also 又作 wrap up )
to put paper or cloth over something to cover it 〔用纸或布等〕包，裹〔某物〕
I’ve still got a few Christmas presents to wrap up.
我还有一些圣诞礼物要包起来。
wrap sth in sth
The present was beautifully wrapped in gold paper.
礼物用金色包装纸包着，很漂亮。
2. Sentence
The reason we had to use two lanes was because swim practice was at the same time as the Water Jazz class.
The reason I took down notes when reading books was because I would like to improve my English as well as my teaching skills.
在日常教学中，The reason why...is that...是重点句型。我还常常强调该句子的表语从句引导词是that而不是because……所以我迷茫了……请Eric帮忙指导一下:）
3. My Diary
I just came back from the United States after finishing my one-year tenure of being a sponsored Chinese teacher of Confucius Institute at Maryland. And I am still suffering a little of jetlag while waiting for the train to Beijing to report the teaching work I did there.
It's been almost twelve years since I kept an English diary at college. At the moment, the music is making me nostalgic not only because of the familiar melody but also the Northeast accent.
Going abroad did broaden my vision. What's more important, it helps me figure out who I am and where I belong. Thanks to this experience, I have never had more confidence in our country and Daqing.
