[originaltext]M: Miki, where did you go to university?W: I went to university

M: Miki, where did you go to university?
W: I went to university in California, at a school called the University of California, Berkeley.
M: And where is that in California?
W: It’s in the Bay Area, which is in the northern half of California, right across the bay from San Francisco.
M: OK, and what did you study?
W: I studied many things, but I majored in Japanese.
M: Oh, wow. I remember that you are of Japanese ancestry (血统，祖先).
W: My mother is. My father is from Kansas.
M: Oh, really?
W: His family is from the South. My mother is from Japan. She grew up in Nagasakijind moved to Yokohama when she was young. So most of my families are there, Yokohama and the South.
M: Oh, wow! What a combo (结合物)!
W: Yeah, I guess so.
M: Now were you already fluent in Japanese before you started university?
W: I was, but it wasn’t standard Japanese. It was very familial (家庭的), and it was Japanese that was spoken within the family, between parents and child, and so it was very casual and conversational.
M: OK. Is it difficult for you to comprehend people sometimes in Japan, or is it just like at home?
W: Oh, it’s absolutely difficult because, well, first of all, there’re dialects, and then of course there are different levels of politeness and conversationalists, I guess. And especially once I get into a classroom with other professors, and other students, colleagues at my age, it’s quite difficult to follow the language. But if it’s street talk, it’s much easier.
M: Oh, really? OK, so at university, did you just learn Japanese as a language or did you study literature?
W: To be honest, I studied to get an easy degree, and frankly it was quite easy. But then I had a very good professor in classical Japanese, and that’s when my interest in literature and history actually was born and I ended up becoming a researcher in history and literature.
M: Wow, that must be really difficult though, because that’s a very old style of language. It’s an old text, like Shakespeare is difficult for me.
W: Well, that’s actually an interesting comparison. Because Shakespeare is actually just a little bit easier for us modern Americans to comprehend than classical Japanese is for a modern Japanese person to comprehend. Because the language of Shakespearean English is actually much closer to modern English than classical Japanese is to modern Japanese. But it’s not spoken, so if one has a dictionary, then one can do research.
M: Alright! Well, thanks a lot, Miki.
W: You’re welcome.
6. Which is CORRECT about the woman’s family?
7. What do we know about the woman before she started university?
8. What does the woman say about communicating with Japanese people?
9. When did the woman become interested in Japanese literature and history?
10. Why does the woman say Shakespeare is easier for modern Americans to comprehend?