Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[JohnnieGibson]

Dear teachers,
I am Johnnie Gibson and I am an English major at Chinese Culture University in Taipei City, Taiwan. Recently my instuctors gave my classmates and I some essays and poems to read and study. My instructors will test us on the details of these essays, poems and the like. I have got to say that my English is pretty bad. I have great difficulty in understanding some words, idioms, sentences and so on even if I do my best to look up every new words and the stuff in my dictionaries. This time I want to ask you some questions about one of the scientific essays of Isaac Asimov. The essay is called The Eureka Phenomenon. I am afraid I will guess the wrong meaning, so I need you to give me a hand.

The first paragraph
In the old days, when I was writing a great deal of fiction, there would come, once in a while, moments when I was stymied. Suddenly, I would find I had written myself into a hole and could see no way out. To take care of that, I developed a technique which invariably worked.

1. I guess that stymied is an adjective. Am I right?
2. I guess that I would find I had written myself into a hole and could see no way out means that the author of this essay couldn't keep on writing his fiction or something. Am I right?

The second paragraph
It was simply this--I went to the movies. Not just any movie. I had to pick a movie which was loaded with action but which made no demands on the intellect. As I watched, I did my best to avoid any conscious thinking concerning my problem, and when I came out of the movie I knew exactly what I would have to do to put the story back on the track.

1. I don't know the meaning of was loaded with...for sure. Is...which was loaded with...in the passive or loaded is merely an adjective? What about the preposition with? I mean what does with mean?
2.What is the difference between pick and chose?
3. What is the difference between thinking and thought?
4. I guess that the original form of ... any conscious thinking concerning my problem is that any conscious thinking which concerned my problem. Am I right?
5. What does I knew exactly what I would have to do to put the story back on the track mean? How to use the phrase on the track under the circumstance?
6.I guess that As I watched... means When I watched...Am I right?

I may write some Taiwanese English sentences that are a little strange to the native-born American people, but I hope you can understand my difficulty and help me solve my problem in English. Thanks!
Johnnie Gibson