Our Trip to Southport

At 1:00 pm, we gathered in front of Yale Gym. Today, we would go to Southport to buy some low-price books with our respected instructor Carrie. On the school bus, Carrie told me that this kind of booksale is only once in a year in Connecticut. And she also told me that the prices of the books sold there vary just from one dollar to three dollars, and some of them are just 50 cents. She further explained that the prices of the books are so low is just because some American people donate many books to Southport Library, and the library sells some of the donated books in order to keep running the library with the money they get from selling these books. Some of the books are entirely new, but maybe some of them are second-handed and may have notes made by their original owners. Anyway, there are many good books sold there. We are so lucky since this kind of thing only happens once in a thousand years. After taking the school bus for about 40 minutes , we arrived at the destination. what we first saw were several big tents put up on a big lawn. And in those big tents, there were a lot of books displayed on many tables and a lot of people were looking for their favorite books. But before we went to buy books, Carrie suggested that if we were willing to, we might go hiking round the nearby community for 20 minutes since there are many beautiful and even luxurious houses worth appreciating. It was quite true. In the nearby community, we saw a lot beautiful houses and private gardens which belong to those extremely rich Americans who account for 10% of the richest Americans. We also saw a large golf course just across the river and a lot of yachts berthing in the dock which leads directly to sea. How lavishly these rich Americans live. In the rich and beautiful community, we also saw a beautiful church called Trinity. After about 20 minutes' hiking in the richest community, we went into those tents and found all kinds of books such as cooking books, music books, CDs, DVDs,bestsellers, children's books, teenagers' books, education books,etc. There must be thousands of them. We also found that the books there are really good, useful and cheap. But it is really hard for us to carry many books home since they are too heavy and the price for posting them back to china may be several times higher than their original price. So from many books I like I chose only five not too heavy but useful books. Altogether they cost only $6.50. In the following picture, the two books are about how to write a research paper. I chose them because they are very useful for the elective course "Academic Writing" which I will teach my students in their fourth semester. Either  of them is just $1. One has only 160 pages, and the other has only 64 pages.

The two books in the following picture are about how to make public speech. The book on the left is entitled Guide to Public Speaking, while the one on the right is entitled Preparing Effective Oral Presentations. I think both of them are quite useful for the optional course “Public Speech" which I will teach my students in their fourth semester. The first book cost me $3 and it has 552 pages. The second one cost just $1 and it has only 86 pages.

The last book I bought is entitled Ingenious Lateral Thinking Puzzles. Actually I found the book from the game books for children. But in the game book, I found there are many interesting games that we can play in Listening and Speaking classes, especially when students are tired or feel bored in classes. We can play some of the interesting games to cheer them up. So I bought it which cost only 50 cents and which has only 95 pages. Now you see, what a meaningful and interesting day I have spent!