美語情景對話 第525期:The Irish Economy 愛爾蘭經濟

Todd: Hey, Marion, I was reading in the newspaper the other day that the economy in Ireland is doing really good.

託德：嘿，馬里昂，那天我看報紙上的新聞說愛爾蘭的經濟發展勢頭非常好。

Marion: Yeah, it has been doing really well now for quite awhile, for a number of years. We call it the Celtic tiger phenomenon. Yeah.

馬里昂：對，多年來愛爾蘭的經濟的確發展得不錯。我們稱之爲“凱爾特之虎現象”。

Todd: That's cute. The Celtic tiger in reference to the Asian tiger (yeah) which used to be the growing Asian economies.

託德：這種稱法真可愛。“凱爾特之虎”就是指亞洲虎（對），用來形容亞洲經濟的發展。

Marion: Yeah, exactly. So Ireland kind of has that place in Europe at the moment, has had like I say for quite a few years now.

馬里昂：對，沒錯。現在愛爾蘭在歐洲的情況就是這樣，經濟迅猛發展了好多年。

Todd: Like what industries are going really well in Ireland. What's making this happen?

託德：愛爾蘭有什麼優秀工業？經濟發展是如何發生的？

Marion: Above all, the computer industry. Yeah, I mean, we have lots of computer companies, companies making those computer chips.

馬里昂：最主要的是計算機業。我們有許多計算機公司，許多製造電腦芯片的公司。

Todd: Right, right.

託德：對，是的。

Marion: I think actually I read somewhere that Ireland is the number one producing country of either those computer chips or some other element of a computer, cause I was very surprised and shocked that my small country could be number one in that arena, so we also have quite a number of people who move to Ireland from other places in Europe so we have a lot of speakers of different languages in Ireland and that has been used to set up call centers so for example, if you buy a mobile phone in Italy and something goes wrong with your mobile phone, you ring up a help desk, and say, "Oh, sorry, my phone is broken, you know, can you help me?" and the person who responds to you will probably be sitting in a call center in Ireland.

馬里昂：我之前看到過報道，愛爾蘭是世界第一大電腦芯片和其他電腦配件的生產國，這令我既吃驚又震驚，因爲我們這個小國家竟然能在這個領域排名第一，所以有許多人從歐洲其他地方移民到愛爾蘭，因此愛爾蘭有很多不同的語言，也因此成立了多語言呼叫中心，舉個例子，如果你在意大利買手機，你的手機出了問題，你會給服務檯打電話說：“打擾一下，我的手機壞了，你能幫我修嗎？”接電話的人可能就坐在愛爾蘭的呼叫中心。

Todd: That's pretty cool.

託德：這太酷了。

Marion: Yeah, there's so many of them in Ireland. Actually, I've worked for three of them at different stages of my life, so we have ones for computer companies, for mobile phone companies, and what else, for some insurance companies actually, and banks. Yeah.

馬里昂：對，許多都在愛爾蘭。實際上，我之前在三個不同的行業工作過，電腦公司、手機公司還有保險公司和銀行都有呼叫中心。

Todd: That's pretty cool. Actually, I read that one of the reasons for the turn around is the good university system, or the education system in Ireland is quite top notch.

託德：太酷了。實際上，我看到報道說，愛爾蘭的經濟好轉要得益於優秀的大學體系，愛爾蘭的教育體系是首屈一指的。

Marion: Yeah, well, I mean, education has been very important all the way along in Ireland because of the fact that Irish people weren't allowed to have an education under british rule. Then once we got independence, you know, all along people were fighting to have education for their children and children used to be taught in hedge schools so the teachers were inside of a field basically, teaching kids and then if the policeman came of something, everybody would scatter, and you know, they didn't have anything, any like resources or anything, so in the minds of Irish people I think education has a a special place, and it is true that the university system is very well thought of and very well recognized througho t the rest of Europe I think.

馬里昂：對，愛爾蘭一直非常重視教育，因爲事實上之前在英國統治時，愛爾蘭不能開展教育。愛爾蘭獨立後……你知道人們一直在爲他們的子女爭取在學校接受教育的機會，所以某個領域的老師會教授孩子們知識，如果有警察過來，所有人會馬上散開，他們什麼都沒有，也沒有資源，所以在愛爾蘭人的心中，教育擁有特殊的位置，當然我認爲愛爾蘭的大學體系確實在歐洲擁有很高的聲譽，同時也獲得了廣泛的認可。

Todd: Ah, well, sounds good. Thanks Marion.

託德：聽起來真不錯。馬里昂，謝謝你。

譯文屬僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載

重點講解：
1. in reference to
關於…；
eg. I'm calling in reference to your series on prejudice.
我打電話是要談談你寫的有關“偏見”的系列文章。
eg. He spoke in reference to the cowboys.
他談了有關牛仔的事。
2. go wrong
（情況）出岔子，出差錯；
eg. When things go wrong, all of us naturally feel disappointed and frustrated.
出問題時，我們大家自然都感到失望和沮喪。
eg. I know only too well that plans can easily go wrong.
計劃很容易出岔子，我太清楚這點了。
3. turn around
（使）復甦；（使）好轉；
eg. Though the situation looks gloomy it will eventually turn around.
儘管形勢看起來不好，但最終會好轉的。
eg. It looks like the economy is turning around.
看來經濟有轉機了。
4. top notch
一流的；頂尖的；
eg. Her artistic creations are top-notch .
她的藝術創作是一流的。
eg. He has been top notch in his class.
他在班裏的學習成績一直都是冒尖的。
5. all along
一直；
eg. We knew all along but didn'thave the heart to tell her.
我們一直都知道，但卻不忍心告訴她。
eg. History will prove him to have been right all along.
歷史將證明他一直是對的。
6. well thought of
受敬重的；令人欽佩的；受喜愛的；
eg. Their family has always been well thought of around here.
他們家在這一帶一直頗受敬重。
eg. He was very well thought of all over the district.
他在整個地區評價很高。