Improve Your English: English in Everyday Life

Impr
ov
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our Englis
h: Englis
h in Ev
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y Life
22
I have two sisters and one brother. I’m the oldest. Um, 
and they’re all in Michigan. Um, they’re also very techni-
cal, um. My brother is, has a master’s in fl uid dynam-
ics—he’s an engineer. And, um, one of my sisters was a 
math major, and, computer science, did artifi cial intel-
ligence. Uh, another sister was, or is, uh, an engineer. 
I mean she’s not—she’s at home with the kids now. So, 
very, um, technical. Although most of us like to read a 
lot, which, um, is not always—you don’t always see a very 
technical—and like-liking to read a little bit. So . . .
3. A FAMILY SABBATICAL
I had a great experience when I was a kid. Um, my par-
ents were university professors as well, and when I was a 
young boy, my father got a 
sabbatical leave
and so took 
the whole family to Europe for a year, uh, during his sab-
batical leave, and we traveled all around Western Europe, 
North Africa, the Middle East, and in the process, we 
visited, uh, not only the great cities of Europe but lots 
of the, uh, ancient sites, and so I was, I was exposed to 
archaeological sites from ancient Rome, Greece, Egypt, 
uh, throughout the Mediterranean area. And as a little 
kid, I was just fascinated by all of this and, uh, just, uh, 
drew up as much ancient history and-and culture as 
I possibly could at the time and came back fascinated 
with the study of 
antiquities
. And so when I was a kid, 
I started reading, uh, ancient history and the ancient 
authors in translation and then later on, took up ancient 
languages.

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