美語情景對話 第468期:Exchange Student 交換學生

Todd: Kate, you said you were an exchange student when you were younger?

託德：凱特，你說過你年輕時曾做過交換學生，對吧？

Kate: That's right. When I was 15 I went to Tokyo, Japan for just 2 weeks on a high school exchange.

凱特：沒錯。我15歲時作爲高中交換生在日本東京待了兩週的時間。

Todd: So were you alone or with your school?

託德：你是自己一個人還是和學校一起去的？

Kate: Erm I was…Well you could say I was alone. I went with a group of about 7 people around about the same age and they were from the same city.

凱特：嗯，我是……可以說我是一個人。其實我和另外七個年齡相仿的同學一起去的東京，不過他們都來自一個城市。

Todd: What was it like living with a Japanese family?

託德：和日本家庭住在一起感覺怎麼樣？

Kate: Oh it was very interesting. The customs were so different. The family was really great to me, really kind and caring.

凱特：哦，非常有意思。習俗非常不同。那家人對我非常好，很友善，而且很照顧我。

Todd: What is different about the Japanese lifestyle and the lifestyle in New Zealand?

託德：日本和生活方式和新西蘭的生活方式有什麼不同？

Kate: Erm, in a way they have this togetherness, the family. The traditional way is that the mother is home all day: she is a housewife and she will wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning, make the breakfast for the whole family and then she is at the home all day cleaning. Then when the kids come home and she makes them dinner and finally the father comes home very late at night after work, and then he gets his dinner. Very very different from my family which is everybody just gets their own dinner. Everyone is independent.

凱特：嗯，從某種方面來說，日本家庭會團聚在一起。傳統的日本家庭是母親一整天都待在家裏：她是家庭主婦，她要在早上5點鐘起牀，爲家裏所有人做早飯，然後就是一整天的清潔工作。孩子們回家以後她會爲他們準備晚飯，一般父親很晚下班，是最後一個回到家裏的，這時母親會再爲父親準備晚飯。這種情況與我們家非常不同，我們家所有人都是各自準備晚飯的。所有人都是獨立的。

Todd: Wow that is a lot different. Any other differences like, for example, bathing or sleeping or eating or anything like that?

託德：哇，那真是太不同了。那其他方面，比如洗澡、睡覺或是吃飯之類的事情有什麼不同嗎？

Kate: Bathing, yeah. They share ofuro… it's like, they share a bath. I think it starts when they're children. I'm not sure, I can't quite remember but they all share the same water, they don't waste water. They are very conservative.

凱特：對，洗澡。他們會共用浴缸……共用浴缸。我想是孩子們先洗澡。我也不太確定，我不太記得了，不過他們不換水，他們不浪漫水資源。他們非常保守。

Todd: So one person gets in the bath, then the next person, then the next?

託德：意思是一個人先用浴缸洗澡，然後另一個再接着洗，接着是另一個嗎？

Kate: That's right.

凱特：沒錯。

Todd: Separately?

託德：分開洗嗎？

Kate: Separately.

凱特：分開洗。

Todd: Oh, interesting. Ok, and what about sleeping? Did you sleep on a bed or a futon?

託德：哦，有意思。好，那睡覺呢？你是睡在牀上還是睡在蒲團上？

Kate: I slept on a futon which to me… it felt like the floor. I might as well just put the futon away and slept on the floor but I got used to it.

凱特：睡在蒲團上對我來說就像睡在地板上一樣。我乾脆把蒲團拿走，睡在地板上了，不過我已經習慣了。

Todd: What do you prefer now: a futon or a bed?

託德：你現在喜歡睡在哪裏：蒲團上還是牀上？

Kate: I have a bed now but I don't mind a futon. I've really gotten used to it.

凱特：我家裏現在有牀，不過我不介意睡在蒲團上。我已經非常習慣了。

Todd: So you obviously have really good memories having an exchange… or being an exchange student. Would you like to have an exchange student some day?

託德：顯然你做交換生期間有很美好的回憶。你將來想接待交換生嗎？

Kate: Yes, of course. I've had 3 already actually in my house.

凱特：當然了。我家裏已經住過三個交換生了。

Todd: Really?

託德：真的嗎？

Kate: Yes, because when you go to Japan you're expected to have a host sister or host brother come back to New Zealand the next year, the following year.

凱特：是啊，因爲你去了日本，所以第二年會有接待家庭裏的姐姐或是哥哥來到新西蘭。

Todd: Ah, I see.

託德：哦，我明白了。

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重點講解：
1. be different from
異於；和…不同；
eg. Young people want something totally different from the old ways.
年輕人想要與以往截然不同的東西。
eg. The worker of today is different from the worker of yesterday.
如今的工人和以往的不同了。
2. might as well
只好（做）；（做…）也無妨；
eg. Anyway, you're here; you might as well stay.
反正你已經在這兒了，那就留下來吧。
eg. There's nothing I can do about the problem, so I might as well go with the flow.
關於這個問題我無能爲力，所以我不如就順其自然好了。
3. get used to do sth./doing sth.
開始習慣於；
eg. This is how we do things here. You'll soon get used to it.
我們這裏就是這麼做事的。你很快就會習慣的。
eg. You quickly get used to using the brakes.
你很快就會習慣使用剎車的。