英语博客(A cup of English):Oceans of beauty

Beginners.

During the summer, my family and I took a trip to a beautiful and fascinating place. It was a zoo and an aquarium 1 at a place called Point Defiance 2, near Seattle. A friend of mine had been there, and told me that it was worth a trip. We were staying close by, on the coast, in a friend's house. It took about an hour and a half to get there by car which was fine. When we got there, it was quite a shock. The huge parking area was completely full. Infact, cars were parked on the side of the road because there were no more parking spaces available. When we got inside, I understood why it was so full. It is an incredible place. The aquarium is very large and varied 3. We saw penguins 4, seals, otters 5, walruses 6, and a huge amount of smaller sea creatures. I loved the jelly fish. They were a small, see-through species. They were in a dark tank with lights shining up. They looked like pretty little ghosts as they moved through the light. We spent a lot of time looking at the walruses. Gosh they were enormous. One swam up to the window where we were and stayed there, yawning, snorting, and looking at us. It was quite a show.

Grammar notes.

Preterite and pluperfect of : to be, to tell, to swim, to take.

Exs:

He was a very handsome man; he had been a pilot in the war.

I told you we needed new batteries. Jim had told you too.

He was tired of swimming. He had swum a mile in total, so he swam to the beach, got out, and fell asleep on the sand.

I took the car to the service station to have the oil changed. I didn't realise that you had taken it in already.

 Advanced.

 Point Defiance is on the coast right near the city of Tacoma. As we walked down the hill towards the entrance, we could see the sea. It was quite spectacular. The children were dying to sea the tigers, so we walked through the 'Asian Forest' area, through paths of bamboo, and into a cave-like area where we could look through glass into the large living area of the tigers. The adults were napping, laying on grass, barely moving. The babies, though, were right up close the glass, just relaxing, not seeming to take much notice of any of us. It was a thrill to see them. It was after the tigers that we went into the aquarium. There was so much to see. Again, we walked through a cave-like area that was dark, past windows of different fish, until we came to a huge aquarium. In it were sharks! I'm not sure what kind they were, but they certainly were intimidating 7. They circled around and came right up to the glass to check us out with their cold, black eyes. I wasn't sure who was observing who. I certainly wouldn't want to find myself swimming anywhere close to them.

Grammar notes.

Useful vocabulary: cave-like, to be dying to, barely.

I found the house cave-like; it was dark and had low ceilings.

I am dying to try that cheesecake; that bakery makes the best dairy treats.

As the child slept, he barely moved. You could just see his chest rising and falling as he breathed.