美語情景對話 第1050期:Where to work in Asia 在亞洲選擇工作地點

Todd: So, I'm here with Dan, and Dan lives in Bali, Indonesia where he runs his business operations. And we're going to talk about good cities to do business. So Dan what are your favorite cities or cities that do you think would be a good place to start up an international business?

託德：今天我們請到了丹，丹生活在印度尼西亞巴厘島，他在那裏運營生意。現在我們來談談適合做生意的城市。丹，你最喜歡哪些城市，或者說你認爲哪些城市適合開創國際企業？

Dan: Well, it really depends what kind of business you're doing, I suppose. If you are an English speaker and you like to hire other English speakers, the Philippines is a famous place for going to hire English speakers. A good city to do that would be like Cebu City in the south of the Philippines, or Davao in the south of the Philippines. You can also look at Manila but it's not such a nice city, and the workers are a little bit more expensive there. If you're looking for lifestyle like a great lifestyle, maybe you're not hiring so much or doing financial things but it's just on your laptop, say, Bangkok is a great place. Some of the best food in the entire world, you've got great night life, and you can travel anywhere from Bangkok. Bali obviously is a great place, if you're not such a city person and you like a more relax environment but it's still very developed. I mean, you can eat a hundred different nationality of food, walk down the street and you can get food from all around the world, whereas if you want something a little bit more of an adventure and secluded, sort of off the beaten track, you could select Nha Trang in South Central Vietnam.

丹：我認爲這要取決於你想做哪種生意。如果你的母語是英語，你也想僱傭會講英語的僱員，那菲律賓是個不錯的選擇，你可以在那裏僱傭到會講英語的人。菲律賓適合開創企業的城市有位於菲律賓南部的宿霧市和達沃市。你也可以考慮馬尼拉，不過馬尼拉不是太好的選擇，而且在那裏辦公司的話，付給工人的工資要略高一些。如果你追求生活方式，希望擁有舒適的生活方式，可以不僱傭太多員工或是從事金融行業，可以利用筆記本電腦完成工作，那曼谷是個不錯的選擇。曼谷擁有世界上最棒的美食，還有很不錯的夜生活，從曼谷可以去任何地方。當然，如果你不追求城市的生活方式，希望在更放鬆的環境中生活，那巴厘島是個很棒的地方，不過巴厘島也是十分發達的地區。在這裏你可以享用到100個國家的食物，在街上可以享用到世界各地的美食，但是如果你希望去更冒險更清靜的地方，去那些人煙稀少的地方，那你可以選擇越南中南部地區的芽莊。

Todd: Now, you have connections in China, could you recommend any places in China?

託德：你在中國也有生意，你能推薦一些中國的地區嗎？

Dan: Well, unfortunately for me in China is that a lot of my travel there has been super business focused. And I'm always going to the place where there's the factory or the bank or the connection. And so I haven't really gotten a great chance to explore places that you might go for lifestyle. But off the top of my head, there's two places that stick out. One is Shanghai. And really to me—you know, I've been to a lot of big cities, but Shanghai is a whole another level of big. It's like the movie Blade Runner mixed with the movie The Matrix. I mean, it is so futuristic and I just—it really blew me away to be in the city. And it also has hints of Europe. I mean, Shanghai is famous for being famous in the 1920s and '30s with ex-patriots coming there, and it's very international. And it really does have sort of a charm that a lot of places in China lack because cities in China are so new; a 10 million person city just sort of pops up overnight. Another place that sticks out for me is Shaman, and that's close to Taipei and it's one of the nicer big cities in China. There's a lot of more nature-oriented green park stuff like that. So those would be the two places, but especially Shanghai, I feel like I could live there for a few years.

丹：對我來說不幸的是，我去中國基本上都是談生意。我去的地方是工廠、銀行或者有業務關係的公司。實際上我還沒有機會去探索適合生活的地方。不過我腦海中馬上出現了兩個地方。其中一個是上海。我去過很多大城市，但是上海是另一種級別的大城市。那裏就像是把《刀鋒戰士》和《黑客帝國》的情景混合在一起。上海這座城市的未來感非常強，這令我印象深刻。而且上海有很多歐洲的影子。在上世紀20年代和30年代，有很多移居海外的人前往上海，所以上海非常國際化。這座城市的確有很多中國其他城市所欠缺的魅力，因爲中國許多城市都是新建城市，一座有1000萬人口的城市可能很快就會建立起來。我想到的另一個城市是廈門，廈門離臺北很近，是中國其中一座美麗的大城市。廈門有很多自然的綠色公園。這兩座城市是我可以生活幾年的城市，而我更喜歡上海一些。

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重點講解：
1. off the beaten track 偏僻的；人跡罕至的；荒無人煙的；
例句：Tiny secluded beaches can be found off the beaten track.
在人跡罕至的地方可以找到一些隱蔽的小海灘。
2. off the top of one's head 不加思索地；來不及思索地；
例句：It was the best I could think of off the top of my head.
這是我一時所能想到的最好的辦法。
3. stick out 顯眼；顯得突出；
例句：The things that stuck out were his cockiness and his four-letter words.
與衆不同之處在於他的驕傲自大和滿嘴髒話。
4. blow away 使印象深刻；
例句：I was blown away by the tone and the quality of the story.
這個故事的基調和內容打動了我。
5. pop up 突然出現；不意冒出；
例句：He seems to pop up in the most unlikely places.
在他似乎絕不可能到的地方，他往往就在那裏出現。