What to do when you hate your job -- This is the title of an article from Yahoo.com (http://biz.yahoo.com/usnews/070921/21_what_to_do_when_you_hate_your_job.html?.v=1&.pf=career-work ). What a most interesting and universally concerned topic! The author mentioned in the article that only 50% of people are satisfied with their job today compared to 79% in 1985 and the situation would be getting worse and worse in this global, technology-driven economy. The author gave some practical measures to deal with different common scenarios.

“当你讨厌自己的工作的时候怎么做”-- yahoo.com的一篇文章（http://biz.yahoo.com/usnews/070921/21_what_to_do_when_you_hate_your_job.html?.v=1&.pf=career-work）的题目。这是一个很有趣而且全世界的人们都很关心的题目。作者说，相对于1985年的79%，现在只有50%的人对自己的工作满意，而且在这个全球化的，技术主导的经济时代，情况会越来越糟。针对不同的情况，作者给出了不同的减缓方法。

I pondered over this subject for quite a while. What to do when we hate our jobs? To be honest, it is really stressful on the Monday morning to wake up in the ringing of alarm clock thinking of how to spend the long day and the long week ahead at work. But first of all, why do we feel that we hate jobs? The author gave some scenarios in this article, and I would like to analyze it from my own points of view base on my little working experience.

我考虑了一下这个题目。如果我们不喜欢我们的工作该怎么办呢？老实讲，星期一早上在闹钟铃声醒来想着如何度过这漫长的一天和接下来的一个星期真是很压力阿。但是首先，为什么我们会觉得不喜欢自己的工作呢？作者给了几种情况，俺想从自己过去的一点工作经验谈谈自己的看法。

Firstly, we do not like job because after some time, our previously exciting job has become routine, boring, and no new blood at all. We would suspect that our job is not technique oriented, and even high school student could handle it. We slowly lack of passion in it, and squander most of the time by day dreaming. In this case, we just “do not like” the job, and not become “hate” the job. If we are a little less aggressive and a little less self magnified, we could still endure the job for sake of the monthly payroll. However, if we could put some initiative in the daily job and take some “extra” responsibilities besides the normal job scope, things would be better. In the process, we could not only find more fun from the job but also improve our own skills in creativity, management, and even networking. Still, if the work is a little light-burdened for sometime, we could take some part-time courses to expand our horizon in the profession.

首先，我们不喜欢自己的工作是因为，过了一段时间，我们本来很令人兴奋的工作变得很日常化，枯燥，没有任何新鲜感。我们会怀疑自己的工作没有任何技术含量，高中生都可以做。我们慢慢的失去了动力，整天晃来晃去的消磨时间。在这种情况下，我们并没有“恨”工作，只是“不喜欢”。如果我们少一点进取心，少一点自我夸大，看在工资的份上，我们还是能够忍受的。但是，如果我们能在工作中加一点主观能动性，能够承担一点点“多余”的责任，那么，事情就会变好一点。我们不仅会觉得工作有趣一些，而且也提高了自己的创造能力、管理能力、和社交能力。还有啊，如果工作还是比较轻松，可以上点业余课程提高自己的专业能力。

In the past, when I found jobs became boring, I sought interesting things to do after work. For example, at first I tried some direct selling, then organized 2040 club, and then set up some small online business. I devoted all my part time to these chores and I thought I enjoyed them a lot and they are good for my character training. But little by little, I realized that I should have some focus and these chores may distract me from my main goal. So my own profession should be the main focus and it is worthwhile to take initiative and strengthen knowledge to enjoy the job. It is not recommendable to do some part-time jobs or entrepreneurial activities if our main goal is still focused on our own profession.

在过去的工作中，每当俺觉得工作无聊的时候，我就在业余找点有兴趣的事情做。比如说，俺试过作销售，组织过俱乐部，还作了点网上小生意。我把业余时间都花在上面，还乐此不疲，觉得对自己是个锻炼。但是渐渐的，俺发现自己应该有所侧重，这些乱七八糟的东东很分散注意力。所以啊，自己的专业还是根本，俺应该有点主观能动性和充实知识来享受工作。

Secondly, we do not like job because of complicated interpersonal relationship. This is true sometime, especially for those who just came out of ivory tower at university and were not used to handling interpersonal relationships. Do not worry about it. To overcome this takes time. But sooner or later we will become at ease of handling such subtle relationships. The best shortcut is to find a mentor who is willing to teach you and direct you. But that depends on luck. Not everyone is so lucky to be directed by a mentor. So the second best shortcut is to observe and imitate someone at work whom we admire most.

还有一点让我们不喜欢工作的原因就是复杂的人际关系。这个有时候会构成一个原因。特别是对于刚才学校里出来的人来说。但是别担心。处理好人际关系需要时间，但是迟早我们会学会。最好的捷径就是有人指导我们做事。但是那要靠运气，而且也不是每个人都有这种运气，所以次好的捷径就是观察并模仿那些工作中我们所敬重的人。 

Finally, to my own opinion, we do not like our job partly because we separate job from our own life clearly. We regard job as something evil that disturb our normal life, and in order to enjoy life we have to suffer from working to acquire enough salary to afford living expenses. It is painful with such kind of idea. Actually, as long as we change our mindset a little and treat working as a natural part of our ordinary life, and as long as the boundary between life and work becomes a little obscure, things would be much better. We could make friends with colleagues who are not just our work partners, and we could also make work as an interesting topic and exchange ideas with friends.

 最后还有一点，我们不喜欢工作的部分原因在于我们把生活和工作分得太清了。我们觉得工作打扰了我们的正常生活，为了享受生活，我们不得不工作来挣取生活费。有这种想法比较痛苦。其实，只要我们转变一下观念，把工作作为生活的自然而然的一部分，只要生活和工作的界限分得不要太清，情况就会好很多。我们可以和同事们做朋友，他们并非只是工作伙伴，我们也可以把工作作为有趣的话题和朋友们交流思想。

Anyway, no matter what reason caused you to dislike your job, never quit the job easily. I changed several jobs in the past few years. Although I accumulated and expanded a lot more working experience through the job hopping, it is absolutely not sensible to change job frequently, especially for those who are determined to climb along the management ladder. So stick to the professional job we like, seek fun from it, treat it as the natural part of our life, and learn from our colleagues and management, and then we will surely enjoy it.

不管怎么说，不管什么原因让我们不喜欢自己的工作，不要轻易的辞掉。在过去的几年中，俺换了好几份工作。尽管积累和扩大了些许的工作经验，但是经常的换工作是绝对不明智的，特别是对那些想进入管理层的人们。所以，好好做一份自己喜欢的工作，从中找到乐趣，把工作作为我们生活的一部分，向别人学习长处，那么我们也一定会享受工作。 

“The world bestows its big prizes both in money and honors for but one thing,” says Elbert Hubbard, “and that is initiative. And what is initiative? I’ll tell you: it is doing the right thing without being told.”

“在这个世界上，只有一样东东可以不仅带来丰厚的金钱，也带来荣誉，”Elbert Hubbard 说，“这个东东就是主动性。什么是主动性呢？我告诉你，就是在没有被指使的情况下作正确的事情。”

Several days ago, a piece of news from ABC news amused everyone: a two-year girl called 911 and saved her mom’s life by saying “Mummy owie” after her mom suddenly lost consciousness. The proud mother said in the aftermath that, several months ago, she taught her daughter how to dial the phone and the meaning of several numbers. Astoundingly, the two-year little girl remembered it and used it properly. That is really amazing. It is a perfect example of initiative.

几天前，ABC新闻报道了一件有趣的新闻：一个两岁的小女孩打急救电话救了她昏迷的妈妈。这位骄傲的妈妈事后说几个月前她曾经叫小女孩如何拨电话以及几个号码的意义，没想到小女孩竟然记住了，并且危急时刻利用了一下。真是让人惊讶。这也是原动性的一个很典型的例子。

Doubtlessly, the above two-year girl is largely born of initiative without much after-birth cultivation. But that does not mean initiative only belongs to the few geniuses. Actually, our ordinary persons take initiatives in many aspects of our lives, if not all. A student could solve a mathematics problem by a different method from the usual way from his teacher, and that is initiative thinking; an employee could propose to his boss his own idea of cost cutting or take the “extra” action to fulfill customer demands even which is beyond his routine job scope, and that is also initiative taking; even when you successfully organized a birthday party for your friend, you were taking initiative.  That is right, whenever you are doing the right thing without being told, you are taking initiative. And most of the times, the initiative comes from the “extra” thinking or action beyond the usually expected range.

毫无疑问，上述例子中的小女孩的原动性很大程度上是天生如此。但是那并不意味着主动性只是属于少数天才。实际上，我们普通人在日常生活的很多方面都在行使主动性。一个学生用了不同于老师常用的方法解决了一道数学题，那是主动型思维；一个员工向自己的老板建议降低成本的想法，或者为了满足客户而作了并非自己分内的事情，这是主动性思维所至；甚至当你成功地为朋友组织了一个生日聚会，那也是你的主动性的表现之一。对了，在你没有被指使而做任何正确的事情的时候，你都在发挥主动性。在大多数情况下，这种主动性体现在例常范围之外的一点点“多出”的行为或想法。

My former boss once told me that the most important trait of an employee is taking initiative, breaking the boundary of the daily routine job scope and doing the small “extra” for the sake of the whole company and also for the fun of the job. But this small “extra” is hardly spotted in our work. Most of us do jobs just following what we are told to do, and we are too lazy to do a little extra which again is because we do not have the stimulus to do the little extra. Once I bought bread at the shop Breadtalk. When I cashed out at the counter, I was totally surprised by the sales girl’s icy voice uttered from her mouth on her expressionless face while she was calculating the total amount:” thank you for shopping with Breadtalk…have a nice day.” Once she finished the mechanical procedure to entertain me, and I did not get enough time to take the bread away from the counter, she was immediately playing with her hand phone just as if the customer was transparent. I really feel sorry about it. Apparently, the company has a complete training procedure, and every employee was trained quite well before s/he physically starts working (we can see it from the fact that the sales girl could recite the whole paragraph.) but what is the purpose of the company’s culture without employee’s initiative? It sometimes really causes negative sense to the customers.  So what would companies do to stimulate employees’ initiative? That is a big task for companies. And we employees could wait and see what methods from the companies could motivate our initiative ;-) 

我以前的老板曾对我说一个员工最大的优点就是主动性，打破日常工作的界限，多做那么“一点点”，为了公司的利益，也是为了让自己的工作更有趣。但是这“一点点”在我们的工作中并不常见。我们很多人是照章行事，我们不愿意多做因为我们也没有积极性去多做那么“一点点”。有一次我在面包物语买东东，结帐的时候，我被销售员一边算帐一边面无表情地发出冰冷的声音惊呆了：“多谢光临面包物语。。。。。。希望你有愉快的一天！”一旦作完这套应付我的程序，还没有等我把面包从柜台上拿下来，她就在玩她的手机了，就像顾客是透明的一样。真得很遗憾。很显然，这家公司有很完善的员工培训系统，每个员工上岗之前都接受了完整的训练（着从该销售员能够完整的背诵一大段话就看得出来）。但是，没有了员工的主动性，公司文化的意义何在呢？有时候对顾客只能起到负面的作用。那么公司应该怎么样激发雇员的积极性呢？这可真是公司们的一个大任务。我们这些雇员们就看看公司们到底可以用什么方法把我们的主观能动性激发起来吧。哈哈。

There are a lot of telemarketing calls these days. Most of the time, when I picked up the phone, the person at the other side would start to talk like reading a book of her/his product description and the voice is so neutral and so emotionless that I wondered whether s/he ever think I am a HUMAN or not? Very often, I would cut her/him off at the middle of her/his long lecture and say “I have no interest in it” before hang up the phone call. I am a little curious that s/he should take a proportion from her/his sales result, how come there is not any initiative showed in his/her work at all?  I think twice about this issue. It is really easy to say than do. I myself tried to make such kind of cold calls before and I knew the uneasiness: nervousness before call making, fear of rejection, and frustration of failure. It would take some time to overcome the negative feelings before s/he could take it easy to think of initiative taking.  However, how about trying to take initiative in the daily life so that make the daily life more interesting? It is very easy by changing the mindset. Every time we do something, give it a second thought to see whether there is any other method to make it better.  Sooner or later, it becomes natural to take initiative in our daily life.

最近有很多电话推销，每次我一拿起电话，电话那边就开始用很中性，很没有感情的声音念产品说明书。很多次我都在想他没有把我作为一个“人”来看呢？很多次我都在他的长篇大论中间打断他说我没有兴趣而挂断电话。我很好奇，这些人不是拿提成的吗怎么工作中也是没有任何主动性？我考虑再三，真地说比做容易。我自己以前也试图作过这种电话推销，我知道其中不易：打电话之前紧张万分，对被拒绝的恐惧，还有失败之后的沮丧。从克服这些负面情绪到采取主动性中间需要很久的时间来磨练。但是，在我们的日常生活中发挥主观能动性如何呢？这比较容易，就是观念的转变。每一次我们做什么事情的时候，就在稍微考虑一下又没有其他的方法能够做得很好。迟早的，主观能动性就会自然而然的体现在我们的日常生活中。

In summary, it is the companies’ big task to seek efficient ways to stimulate our employees’ initiative. For us ourselves, it is fun to change our mindset and take initiative in our daily life.

总之，公司的任务就是如何想法来调动俺们的主观能动性。我们呢，就转变观念在我们的日常生活中发挥主观能动性，从而使我们的生活变得更有趣。

Judy wanted me to show her some pictures of USA’s big houses. So I wandered around the neighborhood and took the below pictures. There are no tall buildings at all, and most of the houses are stand-alone with one level only and but some of them have two floors.  Later on, when I became a little familiar with the vicinity, I got to know that the nearest tall buildings are clustered at the downtown LA, and I guess they were built in the industrial era. Many friends joked that the moon in USA looks like a little bigger than that in China. It is funny. And it is not gross flattery. The conclusion is: buildings here are very low and there are no mountains to block the view, so the moon could be seen as soon as it is above horizon. While in china, there are a lot of tall buildings, and the moon could only be spotted when it rises very high. Confucius and his pupils discussed the reason more than 2000 years ago.

Judy同学让我给她看看美国大房子的照片。我就在社区转了转，拍了以下的照片。没有高楼，大多数是独立式的一层房子，有些是两层。后来，当我逐渐对环境熟悉一点以后，才了解高楼只是聚集在洛杉矶的市中心，我猜那是工业时代的产物。很多朋友开玩笑说美国的月亮看起来大一点。哈哈，有趣。其中并没有献媚的成分。结论是：这边的建筑物很低，也没有山阻挡视线，所以月亮一升到高过地平线就被看到了；在中国，高楼很多，月亮要升到老高才会被看到。其中的奥妙孔子和他的学生们2000多年前就讨论过了。

Frankly speaking, when I first came here, I thought the houses are very similar to the ones at villages in China. Most of the buildings are stand-alone for single family. Of course, the house designs are diverse. In Singapore, there are also a lot of such houses with various designs, and even better, but one of the big differences is that there are one or more garages here for almost every house for car parking, but in Singapore, the land is scarce, and most of the cars are parked inside yards. That is why many great American companies were first launched out in garage.

坦诚地说，第一次来这里的时候，俺觉得这些房子和中国乡下的房子差不多，都是独户独院的。当然，房子的设计是多种多样的。在新加坡，也是有好多这种设计多样的房子，有些甚至设计的更好，可是其中一个比较大的区别就是这边几乎每家都有一个到多个车库，在新加坡，土地稀少，很多车只能停在院子里。这也就是说明了为什么很多美国伟大的公司在车库中诞生。

 The houses are beautiful, and the price is also very handsome. Although recently the house price is going downside, it is still beyond purchase power, especially in California which is notorious for its sky-high house price.  

“Whenever you go out of doors, draw the chin in, carry the crown of the head high and fill the lungs to the utmost; drink in the sunshine; greet your friends with a smile and put soul into every handclasp. Do not fear being misunderstood and do not waste a minute thinking about your enemies.  Try to fix firmly in your mind what you would like to do, and then, without veering the direction, you will move straight to the goal. Keep your mind on the great and splendid things you would like to do, and then, as the days go gliding by, you will find yourself unconsciously seizing upon the opportunities that are required for the fulfillment of your desires, just as the coral insect takes from the running rides the elements it needs. Picture in your mind the able, earnest, useful person you desire to be, and the thought you hold is hourly transforming you into that particular individual…Thought is supreme. Preserve a right mental attitude – the attitude of courage, frankness, and good cheer. To think rightly is to create. All things come through desire and every sincere prayer is answered. We become like that on which our hearts are fixed. Carry your chin in and the crown on your head high. We are gods in the chrysalis.”

“每次出门的时候，抬起你的下巴，高高昂起你的头，挺起胸膛；沐浴着阳光；微笑着和朋友打招呼，真诚的握手。不要担心被误解，也不要浪费哪怕一分钟的时间来考虑你的敌人。把你的心思集中在你想要做的事情上，并且坚持自己的方向，你就会发现自己直奔目标。把你的精力集中在那些你喜欢做的美好并且伟大的事情上，那么，随着时间的流逝，你就会自觉不自觉地抓住那些让你的目标得以实现的机会，就象珊瑚借力潮汐吸取养料一样。在你的头脑中刻画出那个你想成为的形象：能干、真诚、有益于社会，这样你所控制的思想就会分分钟的把你逐渐转化成那个形象。。。。。。思想是至高无上的。保持一份好的心态：勇敢、真诚、开朗。好的心态意味着创造力。任何事情都是从念想而来，每一个真诚的祈祷都会得到回应。我们最终会成为我们的心里所定的那个形象。抬起你的下巴，昂起你的头。我们是蓄势待发的神。”

The above words are very impressive.  It is powerful narration and puts guts into my heart every time I read them.  But how much persistence, grit and courage is it required to apply it into our daily life? I admit that I was a person with high ego before. I had thought I could achieve anything I would like to do as long as I prepared well and put full effort into it. How was the result? For some things, I was lucky enough to achieve them, and then I cheered up thinking I was the number one in the whole world; for other things, I never made them, and then I became despaired and abandoned the effort all of a sudden. However, as time goes on, I learned slowly the meaning of “man proposes and god disposes.” For some things, I tried very hard on them, but still failed, and then I learned to accept the result with a calm mind and move on.  No matter what, the higher level life goal is still firmly fixed in the heart. The current defeat maybe discouraged us a little temporarily, and made the road to the goal a little winded, but it was still a small episode in the progress. Like the famous writer said above: “Fix firmly in your mind what you would like to do, and then, without veering the direction, you will move straight toward the goal.”  

上面一段话让人印象深刻。有力的描述让我每次读到都增加力量。但是，把它应用到生活中要需要多少坚持、胆量和勇气呢？我承认之前自己是一个比较自负的人。曾经认为自己只要做好准备并且尽力就能达成任何的目标。结果呢，有些事情达成了，我兴高采烈找不着北；有些事情没有达成，我垂头丧气放弃努力。然而，随着时间的流逝，终于有点明白“谋事在人，成事在天”的意思了。对于有些事情，我很努力地去做了，可还是失败了，这时我就试着平静地接受失败的结果，然后继续前进。不管怎么样，生活的目标还是牢记在心。目前的挫折或许会暂时让我们失望，或许让前进的路多了些弯曲，但它终究只不过是这过程中的一个小插曲。就像上面这位著名的作家说得: “把你的心思集中在你想要做的事情上，并且坚持自己的方向，你就会发现自己直奔目标。”

I’d like to send these words above from the famous writer Elbert Hubbard to all my friends.

我想把这位著名作家的这段话送给我所有的朋友们。 

Universal Studios Hollywood is located to the north of downtown Los Angels. It takes about half an hour from Artesia to drive there without traffic jam. It’s maybe the only place of interest nearby so we went there last Saturday.

好莱坞影城位于洛杉矶市中心北边。如果不堵车的话，从阿提夏到那里大概半个小时的车程。这是附近仅有的好玩的地方了，上个周六我们去玩了一下。

We arrived there before 10am, and it was still very early because most of the shops were still closed, but it was a good time for the tour since the sunshine was still mild (by the way, California Sunshine is not as beautiful as described in the song, and it is too strong during the day and I have got too much tan already) and we had a full day to catch as many shows as possible and no need to waste time in the long queues.

我们到那里的时候不到10点，比较早，大多数店铺还没有开门，但是这是旅游的比较好的时间点，因为太阳还没有那么晒（顺便说一下，加州的阳光一点也不像歌里唱的那么好，太强烈，俺已经被晒得更黑了），而且也有充足的时间来玩并且不用排很久的队。

The park consists of two lots, the upper lot and the lower lot, which are connected by immense series of elevators. There are a lot of shows during the day (http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/) and we got through each one of them ;-) As a whole, it is worth the time. Like most of the parks, the activities, such as Jurassic Park River Adventure and ride revenge of the Mummy, are similar everywhere from Disneyland in Orlando to Ocean Park in Hong Kong, and even to the Dream World in Bangkok. In spite of the seeming triteness, the activities are still absolutely fascinating and stimulating. Maybe that is why the second trip is worthwhile. However, as a theme park, it has something special: it explains the techniques and tricks behind movie making (like special effect stages); it also offers a long studio tour to explain which house was for which movie, and which location was imitating which part of the world, etc. (to be honest, this part is a little boring).

影城分为上下两部分，中间用很长很长的电梯连接。每一天都有很多节目（http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/），我们玩了每一个节目，嘿嘿。总的来说，还是值得一玩。作为一个公园，很多节目和别的地方差不多，比如奥兰多的迪斯尼乐园，香港的海洋公园，曼谷的梦幻世界。但是这并不意味着节目不好玩。或许正是因为很好玩很刺激，所以才值得来两次吧。然而，作为一个主题公园，该影城又有所不同，它介绍了电影制作背后的花招和技术，也提供了为时很久的影城游览，介绍哪座房子是拍哪个电影用的，哪个地方又是模仿世界的其他什么地方等等（说实话，该节目有些无聊）。

When we finished all the shows, it was about 5pm already. Oh, by the way, there is no restaurants inside the park, and only several fast food shops. In the noon, we were pretty hungry, and without any other choice, we could only use chicken to fill up stomach, and that was the first time I ate junk food here. 

当我们玩得差不多的时候，已经下午5点了。对了，顺便提一下，影城里没有饭店，只有快餐。中午的时候，很饿，无奈之下，只好拿鸡腿果腹，这还是俺到这里来之后第一次吃垃圾食品。

For me, one of the basic criteria of a good housewife is excellent cooking skills. That is why I never thought I could be a good housewife before. In Singapore, there are so many food courts just within 5-10 minutes walking distance almost from anywhere and the food is so cheap and with a lot of variety, so I seldom cooked myself in Singapore. Even sometimes when I cooked, I never had the courage to share with friends my cooked food because I really lacked confidence in the food taste (of course except dumplings, which I have showed off many times ;-).

对我而言，做好家庭主妇的基准之一就是很好的烹饪技术。所以之前我从来也没认为自己能做个好的主妇。在新加坡的时候，因为有很多的小贩中心，大多数都是走5-10分钟就可以到，东东很便宜，而且花样很多，所以我基本上不做饭。即使做点东东，我也没大有勇气和别人分享，因为实在是对味道缺乏信心。（当然，饺子除外，关于这一点，我已经炫耀过多次了，嘿嘿）

Now, as a full time housewife, I have the responsibility to take care of my hubby’s daily life, and a delicious meal is the most important part of it. Surprisingly, I found that I quite enjoyed cooking.

现在，作为一个全职的家庭主妇，我有责任照顾老公，可口的美餐是其中最重要的部分。令俺吃惊的是，我竟然对做饭乐在其中。

When I first arrived here, I found that the refrigerator was full of kinds of meat, fish, and vegetables. Then I asked hubby why there were so many things inside. He said he bought some of these materials when they were on sale, but when bought them back home, he was too lazy to cook and for some of the materials, he was even not sure how to cook. Oh, that was good to some extent, and I could practice cooking based on these materials.

刚来这里的时候，我发现冰箱里堆满了各种肉，鱼和蔬菜。问老公怎么这么多东东？答曰：有些东东是在打折的时候看着便宜买的，买回来就懒得弄了，或者有些根本就不知道怎么弄。哈，从某种程度上说，这是好事。我可以拿这些材料来练习烹饪了。

Normally it is like this: in the morning, before hubby goes for work, I would ask him what he would like to eat for dinner. He would say some menu names, but most of the time, he would say “as you pleases”. In the noon, I look through the refrigerator to see what materials left inside, and I would imagine the menus for the combinations of some of them, and then go to the internet to search for cooking procedures. Primitive preparation is also done for dinner, such as de-freezing meat/fish. At 5 pm, I start to cook. Normally 2-4 dishes are prepared every day and it takes about 2 hours to finish cooking. For several times, the landlord asks me, “What are you cooking? It smells so delicious.” Haha…

通常是这样：早上老公上班之前，我会问他晚上想吃什么。他会说一些菜名，不过大多数情况下他就会说“随便”。中午，我会看一下冰箱里还剩下什么东东，然后根据这些材料的组合想象一下菜单。然后在互联网上找烹饪步骤。解冻等等的初始准备也同时进行。下午5点的时候我就开工了。通常作2-4个菜，花2个小时的时间。有好几次，房东问我，“你在做什么菜？好香啊。”哈哈。。。。。。     

For most cases, in USA, the supermarkets are quite far from dwelling places. Luckily, several Chinese supermarkets are within walking distance to our house. It is very convenient for me, who do not have a driving license here. Sometimes, when I get some innovative ideas for cooking, but found lack of some materials at home, I would walk to the supermarket nearby within 15 minutes.

大多数情况下，在美国，超市离住家很远。幸运的是，我们住的附近有几家中国超市步行可到。这对于我这个没有驾照的人来说比较方便。有时候，我对做菜有点创新的想法，可是发现少料的时候，我就会走到附近的超市，15分钟的路程。