Re-encounter with the Newly packaged toefl test

The last time I took the toefl test was more than 4 years ago and I took it only because my previous score had just expired. I put a lot of effort the first time I took the test, which was 6 years ago and since then I never took it as too big of a deal. It hadn't been for me, at least, I was able to score higher without preparation. But words from the internet community of GTers seem to indicate that's no longer the case now that ETS has updated the test to a new format. The most noticable change would be including of the speaking section, which is based on the former TSE test.

I could have cared less about the test, but my husband needs GT scores for his application for gradschool here. I would like to give him some help or suggestions as an experienced GTer, since I'd taken most of the tests ETS offered in China, including Teofl, TSE, GRE gen and GRE sub. However, my expriences seem to be out-dated for the newly formated tests that are offered. But the essense for preparation remains the same, the goal is to prepare yourself ready for an intensive learning process in the States, not merely to play tricks with dull ETS to out-score your true ability. Once you're in the program, nobody cares about how high you standard test scores have been.

Since I've stayed in the states for more than 3 years, Toefl's no longer challenging for me no matter what format it comes to be. However, with only 3 months of experience in an English speaking country, Jiaqing finds it hard for him to pick up his language skills. I helped him practicing the new integrated writing part, today. He wrote the essay and I did the correction. He didn't do poorly on his first attempt, much better than the others I'd helped in the pass several years. I wasn't and still am not strong in writing, but I can certainly feel my improvement since last time I try to do a TWE essay. Just like I've tried to tell Jiaqing, there's no shortcut to improvement of language skills but to practice. Time will do it for you.

无题

这段时间一直纵容自己把精力集中在实验方面，闲书少读，闲心思少想，雷打不动的只是每天早上去天涯追一集“鬼吹灯”，不知道是我的脑袋被“惊吓”得出现恐惧疲劳了，抑或是作者的创作终于沦为商业行为，开始凑字数了，最近的故事越来越乏味了，颇有计穷的前兆。

9月1日搬家到现在，也过去大半个月了，尘埃落定，各项后续事宜也处理得差不多了，只差卖床给我们的一对小夫妻还没有离开林肯，所以我们仍然继续在客厅里打地铺。因为有rent里面已经包含了basic cable， 我执意去walmart搬回一台20寸的小电视，仿佛放着资源不用是一种罪过。不过我和老公似乎也很少守在电视机前打发时间，每天我回家已经将近8点了，吃吃洗洗之后，我们俩通常在餐桌上架两台笔记本，面对面的上网。老公学英语，我研究化学，有时也会走神到处去看看帖子。又开始用pc之后，我终于可以用live messenger登录，从而看到众人在msn space上的更新了。看来看去还是后起之秀老爸比较有耐力，笔耕不缀，而他毕竟是写文章出身，娓娓道来，篇篇出彩，像我这样的意识流型选手，只能自叹弗如了。

老公自从搬家了之后也很久没有上来码字了，可能和最近我们的生活比较单调也有关，除了周五会例行去coffee house之外，再也没有其他的活动。甚至rec center都好久没有光顾了，想想也挺浪费的，本来给老公买了membership就是计算着去的次数多会比较合算的。（呵呵，似乎结了婚的人会比较在意理财？）

就到这里，原本也是转到这里发现再不“除草”面子上挂不下了，于是胡言乱语凑上几句，不知所云，故冠以“无题”之名。