美語情景對話 第1370期:Throwing Things Out 清理東西

Todd: I'm here with Rachel. We were talking about expiration dates. You were saying that you throw out your clothes regularly.

託德：今天我和蕾切爾來聊聊。我們今天的話題是有效期限。你之前說過你會定期清理衣服。

Rachel: Fairly regularly.

蕾切爾：嗯，經常。

Todd: Yeah. Do you donate them or just toss them?

託德：好。你是會把衣服捐出去還是直接扔掉？

Rachel: I put them in the recycling.

蕾切爾：我把衣服放在回收箱裏。

Todd: There you go.

託德：做得好。

Rachel: And hope they're going to be remade into something else.

蕾切爾：希望那些衣服能被改造成其他東西。

Todd: Yeah, I guess, yeah I always take it out on the day that they'll say that they'll pick up clothes.

託德：嗯，我想會的，我經常在他們回收衣服那天把衣服拿出去。

Rachel: Yeah. The reason for that is because I usually put, throw clothes out when they'll start to look a bit shabby, so I don't think anyone else wants to wear them.

蕾切爾：嗯。我放在回收箱的原因是，我通常會在衣服看上去有些破舊以後才把衣服扔掉，我想不會有人想穿那種衣服的。

Todd: Right.

託德：沒錯。

Rachel: By that stage.

蕾切爾：那種程度的話。

Todd: What about furniture? How often do you try to get new furniture?

託德：那傢俱呢？你經常買新傢俱嗎？

Rachel: Almost never.

蕾切爾：我幾乎從不買新傢俱。

Todd: Yeah.

託德：好。

Rachel: That's something I don't ... Yeah, I'll put up with what I've got.

蕾切爾：那是我……嗯，我可以忍受現有的傢俱。

Todd: Yeah.

託德：好。

Rachel: It seems like such a waste to throw out such large things.

蕾切爾：看起來扔掉大物件很浪費。

Todd: Yeah, but you never want to replace the couch or the chair?

託德：對，你從來沒想過換掉沙發或椅子嗎？

Rachel: The couch has been replaced three or four times.

蕾切爾：沙發已經換過三四次了。

Todd: Right.

託德：好。

Rachel: That's a big one, but we've still got the same kitchen table. We had got to get some new chairs.

蕾切爾：那個沙發很大，不過我們的廚房用桌沒有換。我們還買了幾把新椅子。

Todd: Yeah, I've never been a big furniture guy, but I just when I see something that's really cheap ... I would never buy new furniture. I'm always amazed like who buys new furniture? Because when you walk by a store and you see the furniture, it's so expensive. I'm gonna sound really cheap, but it's like I'm like, wow, why would you pay hundreds of dollars or thousands of dollars for that when you can just buy one used or whatever for ten bucks or twenty bucks?

託德：嗯，我從來不熱衷於買傢俱，只是會在看到非常便宜的傢俱時有想法……我從來不買新傢俱。我感到神奇的是，誰會買新傢俱？當你路過商店時，你會看到傢俱的價格非常貴。聽起來可能很便宜，但是我會想，哇哦，花10或20美元就能買到一件二手傢俱，你爲什麼要花幾百甚至幾千美元買新傢俱？

Rachel: I'm definitely a used furniture person now.

蕾切爾：我現在也開始買二手傢俱了。

Todd: Yeah.

託德：好。

Rachel: When we moved into our house we did go to a furniture store and bought all new furniture. It's easy. It's done. Everything looks new. It's kind of nice, but I almost exclusively buy second hand furniture now. Depending on which store you go to, you can get some really good bargains on some beautiful old antique, that look really nice in your house, and cost a fraction of something new.

蕾切爾：我們搬家時，去傢俱店把傢俱全部換新了。這很簡單。很方便。一切看上去都很新。感覺很不錯，不過我現在幾乎只買二手傢俱。這要看你去哪家店，有的店能以非常划算的價格買到漂亮的古董傢俱，擺在家裏看起來也不錯，而且只需花新傢俱價錢的一小部分。

Todd: Yeah. That's why you like anything that's made with metal or wood because you usually think it's going to age well.

託德：對。這就是人們喜歡金屬或木製東西的原因，因爲他們認爲那種比較耐用。

Rachel: Yes.

蕾切爾：對。

Todd: Plastic, not so much.

託德：塑料就不太耐用。

Rachel: No, no. I've definitely sworn off plastic. I think plastic's a fill in if you need something quickly.

蕾切爾：對，不耐用。我決心不再買塑料製品。我認爲當你急需某樣東西時，可以先用塑料代替。

Todd: Yeah.

託德：對。

Rachel: And cheaply, but definitely don't like to buy plastic now.

蕾切爾：而且塑料製品很便宜，不過現在我完全不想再買塑料製品了。

Todd: What about electronic goods, like getting a new TV, a new refrigerator, stuff like that? How often do you buy?

託德：那電子產品呢，比如電視、冰箱之類的電器呢？你多久換一次？

Rachel: We just wait until that breaks down. That's a pretty easy one.

蕾切爾：我們會等到它們壞掉再換。這很簡單。

Todd: What about the TV though? The TVs don't break down. They go on forever. How often do you think, oh I want a new TV, I want a new nicer TV?

託德：電視呢？電視基本不會壞。它們一直能用。你多久會產生“哦我想買臺新電視，我想買臺好電視”這種想法？

Rachel: Our last TV broke.

蕾切爾：我們上一臺電視就壞了。

Todd: It did?

託德：是嗎？

Rachel: Well, we had lightening hit the house, and we lost several electronic items.

蕾切爾：對，閃電擊中了我們的房子，我們損失了好幾臺電子產品。

Todd: Wow.

託德：天哪。

Rachel: We lost a keyboard, and a computer. I think we lost two out of ... We had three hard disc DV players.

蕾切爾：我們損失了一個鍵盤、一臺電腦。我們有三臺硬盤播放機，其中兩臺壞了。

Todd: It was an electrical surge that fried all the circuits?

託德：是電涌燒壞了電路嗎？

Rachel: It fried the house, yeah pretty much.

蕾切爾：燒壞了房子，非常嚴重。

Todd: Wow. I did not know that could happen.

託德：天啊。我不知道還會發生這種事。

Rachel: Yeah.

蕾切爾：嗯。

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重點講解：
1. throw out 扔掉，丟掉(廢棄物)；
I asked him not to throw out that old table, but he did it anyway.
我告訴他不要扔了那個舊桌子，但他到底還是扔了。
2. put up with 忍受；容忍；
I can put up with the house being untidy, but I hate it if it's not clean.
我能忍受房子凌亂，但我討厭它不清潔。
3. swear off 下決心不做；
I've decided to swear off smoking.
我已宣佈戒菸了。
4. break down （機器或車輛）出毛病，損壞；
He loses his way, furthermore, his car break down.
他迷了路，而且汽車壞了。