美語情景對話 第928期:Born to Run 爲跑步而生
Todd: Well actually speaking of extreme sports, we're talking about extreme sports, have you heard about ultra marathon?
託德：說到極限運動，我們之前談過了極限運動，你聽說過超級馬拉松嗎？Julia: I'm reading a book right now that's about a tribe of ultra runners in Mexico and I think it's gonna come on to the subject of ultra marathons.
朱莉婭：我現在看的一本書裏介紹了墨西哥的一個超級跑者的部落，我想書裏馬上就要談到超級馬拉松這個話題了。Todd: Yeah, I mean what has the book talked about?
託德：對，那本書裏寫了些什麼？
Julia: The book talks about this very old tribe who can run for days.
朱莉婭：書裏介紹了一個非常古老的部落，這個部落的人可以連續跑好幾天。Todd: Days?
託德：幾天？Julia: Like days, yeah, and some of the members of this tribe are already in their eighties and nineties and they scale mountains and they have a very frugal diet. They run barefoot.
朱莉婭：對，一些部落成員已經八九十歲的高齡了，不過他們依然可以攀登高山，而且他們的飲食很節儉。他們是赤腳跑步的。Todd: Barefoot?
託德：赤腳？Julia: They run barefoot.
朱莉婭：他們赤腳跑步。Todd: In the desert, on rocks?
託德：在沙漠裏跑步還是在岩石上？Julia: In the desert yeah, yeah.
朱莉婭：在沙漠裏。Todd: Wow.
託德：哇。Julia: And they are bought, like they run from, well from they don't, as soon as they learn to walk they're running and they run their whole lives and they run like a hundred miles is just like a walk in the park to them. They just...
朱莉婭：他們從……他們剛學會走路就開始跑步了，而且他們一生都在堅持跑步，跑100英里對他們來說就像在公園裏散步一樣。他們……Todd: That's insane.
託德：那太瘋狂了。Julia: At speed, at speed, at very high speeds.
朱莉婭：而且他們跑步的速度非常快。Todd: I mean do they have some secret, some traditional secret?
託德：他們有祕密嗎，傳統祕密？Julia: Well, yeah, they do, they're a very mystical tribe and they're not that well known. This, the book is written by a journalist who investigates and he records his story of how he gets to meet, just even finding them and meeting them is a huge ordeal in itself.
朱莉婭：的確有，他們是一個非常神祕的部落，並不爲人所熟知。這本書是一名記者寫的，他對那個部落進行了調查，他記錄了他去見部落成員的故事，找到那些人、和他們見面這件事本身就很艱難。Todd: Because I mean physiologically it sounds like that's impossible. Like the human body can only run so far because it needs water, it needs food, it needs rest.
託德：從生理學上講，這聽起來根本不可能。人只能奔跑一定的距離，因爲身體需要水、食物，還需要休息。Julia: Well, I don't know. I think part of the philosophy of the book is that we're limited by our belief in that and that in fact this tribe don't have that belief, therefore they don't have those limits. They kinda surpassed those limits simply by they just do it. Nobody told them they couldn't so they...
朱莉婭：我也不清楚。我認爲這本書的哲理在於，我們被自己的信仰所束縛了，而這個部落沒有信仰，所以他們沒有被限制。他們超越了極限是因爲他們根本就沒有限制。沒有人跟他們說他們做不到，所以……Todd: They just do it.
託德：他們就去做了。Julia: Nobody told them they needed a pair of, you know, hundred dollar shoes in order to run. They just run, it's like it's a natural human thing and it's like an atavistic thing.
朱莉婭：沒有人跟他們說跑步需要一雙幾百美元的鞋。他們只是在奔跑，就像人類的自然行爲，就像返祖行爲一樣。Todd: Wow.
託德：哇。Julia: You know humans, we can run down gazelle, we can run faster than hor..., I mean we can run further than horses and these creatures, creatures that we think have a running ability.
朱莉婭：你知道，我們人類跑步的速度可以超過羚羊，奔跑的距離也可以比馬還遠，這些生物是我們認爲擁有奔跑能力的動物。Todd: Are you sure about that?
託德：你確定嗎？Julia: Absolutely, yeah, yeah.
朱莉婭：當然確定了。Todd: Really?
託德：真的嗎？Julia: Yeah.
朱莉婭：對。Todd: I've never, I've never heard that before that...
託德：我以前從沒聽過這種說法……Julia: That's why, you know people who, it's quite dangerous to run with a dog for example. People who run and take the dogs because dogs can't run as far as humans.
朱莉婭：這就是帶着狗狗一起跑步很危險的原因。那些帶着狗狗一起跑步的人很危險，因爲狗沒有人跑得快。Todd: Really?
託德：真的嗎？Julia: Yeah. And dogs can't sweat. Humans can run and run and run for days, that's how they, that's how they killed prey when we were in the cave.
朱莉婭：對。狗狗不會流汗。而人類可以跑好幾天，這就是我們人類還住在山洞裏時捕殺獵物的方法。Todd: Before we gave up?
託德：在我們放棄之前？Julia: No, you can outrun an antelope because an antelope can only have short sharp bursts of speed.
朱莉婭：不是，你可以跑得比羚羊還快，因爲羚羊爆發性的速度持續時間很快。Todd: Ah.
託德：啊。Julia: But a pack of humans can run down any animal on the planet.
朱莉婭：一些人可以跑贏地球上的任何動物。Todd: That's good to know. If I ever need to kill an antelope...
託德：我很高興知道這點。如果我要殺死一隻羚羊……Julia: Well yeah obviously you can't just, you know, stick your shoes on and set off and...
朱莉婭：顯然你不能，穿好鞋子，出發……Todd: Wow, good stuff though. So, but would you like to try it some day, try one of these ultra marathons?
託德：哇，不過也挺好的。你想嘗試一下超級馬拉松嗎？Julia: I think it's good to have a goal but I like training for these kind of things and ultra marathon, I just mentally, I don't know I have that ability to run for that far and that long. I'd like to have, yeah, I'd like to try and develop that stamina.
朱莉婭：我認爲有目標是件好事，我喜歡超級馬拉松這種訓練，從心理上說，我不知道我有沒有能力跑那麼遠的距離、那麼長的時間。我想試試，我想改善一下耐力。Todd: Yeah. I think we, maybe in my younger days but...
託德：對。也許在我年輕時可以，不過……Julia: No, I don't think you do.
朱莉婭：我不這麼覺得。Todd: Or in another life but...
託德：或者下輩子……Julia: I think.
朱莉婭：我想……。Todd: I'm gonna pass.
託德：我放棄了。Julia: I think that running actually requires a lot of maturity so the older you get the better you are at running because you give up on stuff when you are young and your brain's quite, you know, you can't concentrate. You learn concentration and discipline and they come with age and maturity so I think we get better runners as we get older. That's what I'm banking on anyway.
朱莉婭：我認爲這種跑步需要成熟度，年紀越大，在跑步時的發揮會越好，因爲你年輕的時候可能會因爲無法集中注意力而放棄。在學會專心和紀律以後，年齡和成熟度慢慢增加，我認爲我們年齡稍大一些以後會成爲更好的跑步者。我是這麼希望的。Todd: Yeah, me too. I got that on my side.
託德：我也是。我這樣認爲。
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重點講解：
1. come on to 開始討論；
例句：I'd like to come on to that question later.
我想以後再討論那個問題。
2. give up 放棄；戒除；
例句：He counselled them to give up the plan.
他建議他們放棄這項計劃。
3. set off 動身；出發；啓程；
例句：The sun was on the horizon when we set off.
我們出發時，太陽正在地平線上。
4. bank on 指望；依靠；
例句：Don't bank on others to help you out of trouble.
不要指望別人幫助你擺脫困境。
