美語情景對話 第1193期:Media Then and Now 媒體 那時和現在

Meg: Hey Todd, so continuing talking about then and now, I was thinking we could switch to talking about just life in general.

梅格：嘿，託德，我們繼續來討論“那時和現在”，我想我們可以把話題轉向日常生活。

Todd: Sounds good.

託德：聽上去不錯。

Meg: So my first question for you is are movies today more interesting than before?

梅格：我第一個問題是，你認爲現在的電影比以前的電影更有意思嗎？

Todd: Well. I'm gonna sound like an old guy, but I would say no, movies are not more interesting today. Movies were much better, twenty, thirty years ago. The stories were better. They were more interesting. These days movies just have too much special effects, and there's too many movies about superheroes. I hate movies about superheroes. So yeah, I think movies used to be more interesting. What do you think?

託德：嗯。聽起來我可能像上了年紀的人，不過我的回答是不是，現在的電影並不比以前的電影有意思。二三十年前的電影更好。以前的電影劇情更好，也更有意思。現在的電影加了太多特效，而且超級英雄類的電影太多了。我討厭超級英雄的電影。所以我認爲以前的電影更有意思。你怎麼看？

Meg: I have the opposite opinion of you. I think movies today are more interesting than before. Maybe I'm too used to a lot of special effects, so when I watch some older movies, the story might be interesting, but I get a little bored watching it and actually I love superhero movies.

梅格：我和你的看法不同。我認爲現在的電影比以前的有意思。也許我已經很習慣大量特效場面了，所以我在看老電影時，雖然電影情節很有意思，不過在觀看時我覺得有些無聊，實際上我很喜歡超級英雄電影。

Todd: Oh really?

託德：哦，真的嗎？

Meg: So I would say that yes, any superhero movies - Spiderman or Batman especially is my favorite so those movies for me are more interesting than in the past.

梅格：所以……對，我喜歡所有超級英雄電影……我的最愛是《蜘蛛俠》或《蝙蝠俠》，所以我認爲這些電影比以前的電影更有意思。

Todd: OK, well we're talking about comparatives, so who's cooler Batman or Spiderman?

託德：好，我們來比較一下，蝙蝠俠和蝙蝠俠誰更酷？

Meg: Oh, Batman. Hands down.

梅格：哦，當然是蝙蝠俠。

Todd: I'm sorry. I think Spiderman's really lame. I've never liked Spiderman.

託德：抱歉，我認爲蜘蛛俠很差勁。我從來沒喜歡過蜘蛛俠。

Meg: He kind of whines a lot.

梅格：他經常發牢騷。

Todd: He looks like a kid in his pajamas.

託德：他看起來像穿着睡衣的孩子。

Meg: He is a kid in his pajamas.

梅格：他是穿着睡衣的孩子。

Todd: Maybe that's it.

託德：也許就是這樣。

Meg: Whereas Batman has a lot of skills that he's developed himself, so.

梅格：相反，蝙蝠俠有很多技能，而且還會開發新能力。

Todd: True, true. OK, well how about Batman, so like who is better?

託德：對，沒錯。那就扮演蝙蝠俠的演員來說，你覺得誰演得更好？

Meg: Who is the best Batman?

梅格：誰是蝙蝠俠最佳扮演者？

Todd: Yeah, so who is better? Who was the last one? It was ...

託德：對，誰演的更好？上次扮演蝙蝠俠的演員是誰來着？

Meg: Well, the most recent Batman was Ben Affleck, but I didn't watch that one.

梅格：在最新一部系列電影中扮演蝙蝠俠的是本·阿弗萊克，不過我沒看過那部電影。

Todd: OK.

託德：好。

Meg: So before that, there was Christian Bale.

梅格：在他之前，扮演者是克里斯蒂安·貝爾。

Todd: Oh, that's right.

託德：哦，沒錯。

Meg: So without having seen Ben Affleck, I would still say that Christian Bale was a better Batman.

梅格：我沒看過本·阿弗萊克版的蝙蝠俠，我認爲克里斯蒂安·貝爾的演繹更好。

Todd: Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. OK, so let's talk about other things. How about the news? With news are you more knowledgable these days than before, say five ten years ago?

託德：對，我也是，我也這麼認爲。我們來談談其他事情吧。新聞呢？就新聞來說，你現在比以前瞭解的新聞範圍更廣、更全面嗎，比如和5年前相比？

Meg: Actually, I think I am less knowledgable than before. There's a lot of news out there, and it's easy to access the news but there's so much news coming from so many sources, I'm not sure which news service is more trustworthy, so I think it's more difficult now to find the correct news. The true news. What do you think?

梅格：實際上，我認爲我現在比以前瞭解的更少了。現在有很多新聞，很容易獲取新聞，但是新聞的來源太多，我不知道哪個來源更可信，所以我認爲現在很難找到準確的、真實的新聞。你怎麼看？

Todd: I agree. Sadly I think I am less knowledgable because before I would read the newspaper, or I would read magazine articles or I would listen to better news stories on the news. These days I just look at a Facebook headline and I don't even read the article, so I don't even know what's going on sometimes. Which is terrible for a man my age.

託德：我同意。不幸的是，我認爲我現在也比以前接觸的新聞少了，因爲以前我會看報紙，或是看雜誌文章、收聽新聞。而現在我只是看臉譜網頭條，但是不會點進去看文章，有時我甚至不知道發生了什麼事。對一個我這麼大年紀的人來說，這太糟糕了。

Meg: Terrible for anyone I think.

梅格：我認爲對所有人來說都很糟糕。

Todd: Yeah, I think it's because I think the news was more honest than before, than now, sorry. I think the news is less honest these days. It used to be more honest. I just don't trust the news anymore.

託德：對，我認爲以前的新聞比現在更真實。我認爲現在的新聞不太真實。以前更真實一些。我只是不再相信新聞了。

Meg: Yeah, I don't really trust it either.

梅格：對，我也不相信新聞了。

Todd: Yeah, less trustworthy.

託德：對，可信性小了。

Meg: So along those lines, would you say social media makes life better or worse for people?

梅格：從這方面來說，你認爲社交媒體是使人們的生活更好了還是更糟了？

Todd: I think it's both, like I think it's you know, three points better, two points worse, so it's a negative. It's better because you can keep track of so many family members, especially if you're far away, so I like how it connects people, yeah, it just makes people sad sometimes, or makes them frustrated about their life maybe, so yeah, I don't think it makes life better. But I'm an old guy, so...

託德：我認爲兩者都有，有些方面更好了，有些方面更糟了，我認爲是負面影響。社交媒體使人們的生活更好了，是因爲你可以和很多家庭成員保持聯繫，尤其是你在遠方的時候，用社交媒體和家人聯繫非常方便，我很喜歡這點，但是有時社交媒體會讓人感到傷心，或者是讓人們對生活感到失望，所以我認爲社交媒體並沒有使生活變得更好。不過也許可能因爲我年紀大了，所以……

Meg: Yeah, I think it's true. I think there are scientific studies to show that because of social media, people compare themselves too much so it's quite appropriate that we are talking about comparison because people will see other people's lives on social media that look quite good and they will compare themselves and feel bad about themselves, or for some people I think it has made it worse, but like you, I agree that some points are better like seeing pictures from my family.

梅格：對，我認爲你說的沒錯。有科學研究表明，由於社交媒體的出現，人們進行了過多的比較，比較這個詞非常貼切，因爲人們可以在社交媒體上看到其他人的生活，別人的生活看起來非常好，他們會拿自己去比較，然後會覺得自己的生活很糟糕，對有些人來說社交媒體使他們的生活變得更糟了，和你一樣，我同意的確在有些方面使人們的生活更好了，比如可以通過社交媒體看到家人的照片。

Todd: Yeah, so true.

託德：對，沒錯。

譯文屬僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載

重點講解：
1. switch to 轉換；改變；轉變；
例句：It'll be all talking heads. I'll go to sleep or switch to the other channel.
電視上盡是講話的人頭，我要去睡覺了，要麼就換個頻道。
2. be used to sth./doing sth. 習慣於；
例句：He is used to taking notes of everything he did.
他習慣把他所做的一切事情都記下來。
3. go on 進行；發生；
例句：The revelries went on all the night.
狂歡活動通宵達旦。
4. keep track of 跟上…的進展；掌握…的最新消息；
例句：It is important to budget your income so you can keep track of how your money is being spent.
對自己的收入進行預算是很重要的，這樣你就可以清楚把錢花在哪了。