The english we speak(BBC教學)第264期:Test the water 試探

Neil is excited about launching his new website but he said that he needs to 'test the water' first. Li is confused about why he needs water for his new website. What does Neil mean? Listen and find out.

尼爾對他即將推出的新網站感到興奮，不過他說他要先“試探”一下。莉很奇怪，爲什麼他的新網站需要水？尼爾是什麼意思？請收聽本期節目並找出答案。

Li: Hello everyone, I'm Li. Welcome to the English We Speak. With me today is Neil.

莉：大家好。我是莉。歡迎收聽地道英語節目。今天和我一起主持節目的是尼爾。

Neil: Hello everyone.

尼爾：大家好。

Li: Hi Neil, you look very happy today, what are you up to?

莉：嘿，尼爾，你今天看上去非常高興，有什麼好事嗎？

Neil: I'm quite excited about my website: . I've been designing it for months and it's nearly complete.

尼爾：我對我的網站感到興奮不已。我已經設計了好幾個月了，現在馬上就要完成了。

Li: Wow, I like the sound of it. I didn't know you could design websites, Neil.

莉：哇，聽起來真不錯。尼爾，我不知道你會設計網站呢。

Neil: Well, it's for fun really. My website will be a public site where people can share ideas, you know, like-minded people. I want to launch it next week but first I must test the water.

尼爾：嗯，只是因爲好玩。我的網站是一個公用站點，人們可以在上面分享想法，尋找志同道合的人。我想下週發佈網站，不過首先我想先試水。

Li: Test the water, test what water? Does your website depend on water? I'm very confused!

莉：試水，試什麼水？你的網站要靠水運作嗎？我感到很奇怪。

Neil: No Li, to test the water means to test the idea, try it out and see if it works.

尼爾：不是，莉，這個短語的意思是測試一下這個想法，先嚐試看看能否成功。

Li: I see. 'Test the water' is the phrase for the English We Speak today. Let's hear some examples of how people use it.

莉：我明白了。Test the water就是今天地道英語節目要學習的短語。我們來聽些例句，看看這個短語如何應用。

Examples

例句

Woman A: Have you started on your new book?

女1：你開始寫新書了嗎？

Woman B: Yes, I've written three chapters and I've sent it to the publishers to test the water.

女2：開始了，我把已經完成的三章寄給出版社了，打算先試探一下。

Woman A: Oh, what perfume are you wearing? It's lovely.

女1：哦，你用的是什麼香水？真好聞。

Woman B: Oh thanks. It's just a sample a company sent me. They're testing the water to see if people like it.

女2：謝謝。這是一家公司剛剛寄給我的樣品。他們想先測試一下，看人們喜不喜歡。

Woman A: How is your Shakespeare project going?

女1：你的莎士比亞項目進行的怎麼樣了？

Woman B: It's early days; we're still testing the water.

女2：現在是初期階段，我們仍在試水。

Woman A: Well, good luck with it.

女1：祝你好運。

Woman B: Thanks.

女2：謝謝。

Li: So Neil, how much testing have you done, have you got good feedback?

莉：尼爾，你做多少試驗了？有收到好的反饋嗎？

Neil: Well, my wife loves it, but most other people say they don't understand how to use it.

尼爾：我妻子很喜歡這個網站，不過大部分人說他們不知道要怎麼用。

Li: It sounds like it's not user-friendly.

莉：聽起來這個網站不方便用戶操作。

Neil: You're right. I think I need to make a few changes and then I'll test the water again.

尼爾：你說的對。我想我要做些改動，然後再次試水。

Li: I'm happy to be your guinea pig when you're ready.

莉：你再試水的時候我很高興做你的實驗對象。

Neil: 'Guinea pig', I think that's an expression for another programme. For now, it's goodbye from both of us.

尼爾：實驗對象，我想要用另一期節目來講這個短語。現在，我們該結束今天的節目了。

Li: Bye.

莉：再見。

Neil: Goodbye.

尼爾：再見。

譯文屬僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載

重點講解：
1. test the water 試探；
例句：You should be cautious when getting involved and test the water before committing yourself.
參與其中時一定要小心謹慎，表態之前最好試探一下。
2. depend on 依靠；依賴；
例句：Nora grew accustomed to depending on her husband.
諾拉變得習慣於依賴丈夫。
3. try out 試驗；測驗；
例句：Let's try out your method. It seems very good.
我們來試試你的辦法，看來這辦法不錯。
4. start on 開始做（需要做的事）；
例句：No need for you to start on the washing-up yet.
你沒有必要現在就開始洗餐具。
5. guinea pig 實驗對象；試驗品；
例句：Nearly 500,000 pupils are to be guinea pigs in a trial run of the new 14-plus exams.
這種14歲以上學生參加的最新考試將在近50萬名學生中試行。