Out on the town?_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Out on the town?

“You can do those things, but at the right time and place. If you’ve got a big meet coming up, you can’t. After a big meet, on the weekends, if you want to go out and have fun with the guys… We’re people also.”

So does he get recognised when he is out on the town or on campus?

“Yeah, you get stares and stuff. But it's sweet, and everyone’s been respectful about it. They don’t make you feel uncomfortable.”

Especially so when it’s attention from girls, he hints impishly.

But while he concedes that being an Olympian does give him an advantage (“I guess… yeah, it does. It does.”), the social savvy star also concludes: “You’ve got to really pay attention to what the girl is trying to get out of it.”

It turns out this is a perennial topic of discussion with his parents, Eurasian businessman Colin Schooling and accountant May Schooling, who is Chinese.

“Mum and Dad drill that into me because they know I’m horrible about that; because I like to have fun,” he chuckles. When it comes to dating, “They told me just chill, be more aware and know the world isn’t as sweet as you want it to be.”

“If a girl’s agendas are not the same as yours, that’s when it starts getting tricky,” he notes.

- Joseph Schooling on talent, tenacity and tequila, AsiaOne.com, May 20, 2018.

About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.