중학교 영어 3 (NE능률 김성곤) 연계 글

It is a Tuesday morning in 2045. Like every student at my school, I wear a tiny earbud in my left ear. Whenever someone speaks, it repeats the words in Korean almost at once. After a full night on its charger, it runs until the last bell. My science partner, Luana, moved here from Brazil last spring. She speaks Portuguese, and I speak Korean, but we chat all day long. If we had no earbuds, we would need months to share even a simple joke.

In science class, our teacher explains how rain forms in clouds. Luana's earbud repeats his words in Portuguese so that she can follow every step. When she asks me a question, my earbud turns it into Korean so that I can answer right away.

Halfway through lunch, my earbud beeps three times and goes silent. A second later, Luana taps her ear and frowns. Last night, we talked on a video call until one in the morning, with our earbuds in. Now neither of us can understand the other. Luana says something quickly, but I catch only my own name.

Suddenly, she grabs a pen and draws a cake on her napkin. She points to herself, holds up ten fingers, and then shows five more. If I knew the Portuguese word for "birthday," I would shout it right now. Instead, I start singing "Happy Birthday" in Korean, and the whole table joins in. Luana covers her face, but she is laughing harder than anyone else.

After lunch, we leave our earbuds on the classroom charger so that they can work again by fifth period. I still love my earbud. However, if every earbud in the world stopped tomorrow, Luana and I would still talk with pens, fingers, and laughter. Tonight, I will also learn a few Portuguese words so that I can greet her in her own language.