美語情景對話 第393期:Samoan Life 薩摩亞的生活

Joel: So, a lot of Americans, we know about Hawaii, and Samoa is fairly close to Hawaii, right? So is the culture similar? Do you know about Hawaii?

喬爾：許多美國人都很瞭解夏威夷，而薩摩亞離夏威夷非常近，對吧？那這兩個地方的文化有相似點嗎？你瞭解夏威夷嗎？

Patricia: I have family in Hawaii, actually and from seeing them and hearing about their way of life, I think it's a bit different. Perhaps the traidtional life, way of life in Hawaii, like 50 years ago probably is the same as our life now but I think we're more on a cultural basis as I said earlier.

帕特麗夏：我有家人生活在夏威夷，其實從我看到的和聽到的他們的生活方式來看，還是有一點不同的。也許夏威夷50年前傳統的生活方式和我們現在的生活方式一樣，不過我認爲就像我之前說過的，我們有更多的文化基礎。

Joel: OK, and is that because Hawaii has much more tourism, and so they've advanced more?

喬爾：好，是因爲夏威夷旅遊業發達，所以那裏更先進嗎？

Patricia: I don't think it's based on the tourism. I think it's based on the multicultural ideal, idea in it, in Hawaii itself, I mean, it consists of so many cultures, so many ethnicities and Hawaii itself, like the original people are not really Hawaiians, I mean, there supposed to be from another area. If you, this has actually, this all goes back to history. It's a historical point that the migration, the original people of Hawaii. They were the last, I think they were perhaps the last settled, after them it was us and then New Zealand, so their people were also mixed so their tradition, there're different cultures that they inherited as they were navigating around the world created a certain culture that is very complex, very mutlicultural I think it's very different in Hawaii and Samoa.

帕特麗夏：我認爲那並不是以旅遊業爲基礎的。我認爲那裏的生活方式是以夏威夷自身的多元文化爲基礎的，我是說，夏威夷由多種文化組成，那裏有許多種族，其實夏威夷的原居民並不是真正的夏威夷人，因爲他們是從其他地方搬來的。如果我們回顧一下歷史，從歷史觀點來看的話，夏威夷的原居民其實是移民。我想他們可能是最後一批定居的居民，在他們之後就是我們這一代人還有新西蘭人，所以他們的傳統是混合的，那裏有不同的文化，他們在世界各地航行時繼承了不同的文化傳統，，形成了一種非常複雜和多元化的文化，我認爲夏威夷和薩摩亞在這點上很不同。

Joel: So what are the popular sports and popular hobbies and pastimes in Samoa?

喬爾：那薩摩亞最受歡迎的體育運動、愛好和消遣活動是什麼？

Patricia: Rugby.

帕特麗夏：橄欖球。

Joel: Rugby, really! What, even on the American side?

喬爾：橄欖球，真的嗎？在美國這邊叫什麼？

Patricia: Football.

帕特麗夏：橄欖球。

Joel: American football or soccer?

喬爾：美式橄欖球還是足球？

Patricia: Yeah, both.

帕特麗夏：兩者都有。

Joel: yeah, a lot of big people so maybe they are good at American football and rugby. And what about triditional dance? I know Hawaii has like hula dance. Do you guys have something distinct like that?

喬爾：嗯，那裏有許多身材健碩的人，所以他們可能很擅長美式橄欖球。那傳統舞蹈呢？我知道夏威夷喜歡草裙舞。那你們有像草裙舞這樣獨特的舞蹈嗎？

Patricia: We have the taualunga. It's called taualunga.

帕特麗夏：我們的舞蹈是taualunga，舞蹈名爲taualunga。

Joel: taualunga.

喬爾：taualunga。

Patricia: Taualunga. Hawaii is a bit different because they have, the hula is done by many people. For us, our traditional dance which is called the taualunga, is usually done by one individual. The girl is supposed to be the daughter of a cheif and she's known as a Taupo.

帕特麗夏：對，taualunga。與夏威夷的舞蹈不同，因爲夏威夷的草裙舞是許多人一起跳的。而我們的傳統舞蹈是一個人跳的。獨舞要由首領的女兒來跳，她通常被稱爲Taupo。

Joel: Taupo (Taupo) is the daughter of a chief. OK.

喬爾：Taupo是首領的女兒。

Patricia: The daughter of a chief, and she will be the only individual to be dancing and all the other people will be sitting around her cheering and singing songs while she's dancing. This individual the taupo is supposed to be, well you can consider her a princess of the village. She will hold the most highest title. she will also be the person who is most cared about. She will usually be the first person to eat. Her brothers are supposed to take care of her, sort of stuff, like all these sort of everyday life is put into the dance. (Wow) It's like appreciation value and the importance of being a female, and how culture should be respected in this way because this individual is pure, sort of.

帕特麗夏：首領的女兒，所以她是唯一跳舞的人，而其他人在她跳舞的時候會坐在她周圍歡呼、唱歌。而獨舞應該由taupo來跳，你可以把她想成是村莊裏的公主。她會得到最高稱號，她也是得到最多關心的人。一般來說她是第一個吃飯的人。她的兄弟會照顧她，她會把所有的日常生活融入舞蹈中。（哇）舞蹈會展示出一名女性的價值和重要性，以及文化應如何受到尊重，因爲跳舞的人非常純潔。

Joel: Oh, that sounds really interesting. I'm going to have to go and see that some time. It usually happens like in the evening. I imagine like tiki torches and things like that, but maybe that's a stereotype.

喬爾：哦，那聽起來真有趣。有時間我一定要去欣賞一下那種舞蹈。我認爲通常大家會在晚上跳舞，我會想象周圍有火把之類的東西，不過那也許是我的刻板印象。

Patricia: Usually it happens in the evening but nowadays with tourism and all we usually have it in the afternoon, morning, it depends on the event. If we have, say a festival or something, and important event, we usually have these taualungas

帕特麗夏：通常人們是在晚上跳舞，不過現在隨着旅遊業的發展，我們也會在下午甚至是上午跳舞，這要取決於活動的類型。如果我們舉行節日慶典等重要的活動，我們通常會跳taualungas這種舞蹈。

Joel: All right. Wow, that's fascinating.

喬爾：好。哇，那太有吸引力了。

重點講解：
1. be close to
近的；接近的；
eg. I think I'm close to your work.
我想離你上班的地方不遠。
eg. "One home was close to hiking trails, making going hiking very easy, " he said in an e-mail.
“有間房子離登山路徑很近，爬山很方便，”他在一封電子郵件裏說。
2. the same as
與…相似；與…一樣；
eg. Battery charging systems remain basically the same as those in use half a century ago.
電池充電系統和半個世紀前基本上沒什麼區別。
eg. Collectively, these actions should mitigate some of the impact of the global downturn, but mitigate is not the same as offset.
總的來說，這些行動將會減輕一部分世界經濟下滑的衝擊，但是減輕不意味着消除。
3. be based on
以…爲基礎；
eg. Based on the similarities they found, the researchers assigned each current employee a flight risk score.
在他們所發現的數據相似性基礎上，研究者們爲目前每位員工都打了一個離職風險（Flight Risk）評分。
eg. Constructive criticism can be useful if it's based on performance or behavior.
建立在個人的行爲和表現之上的建設性批評是有用的。
4. go back to
回到（過去）；回顧；
eg. It may be necessary to stop at intervals in the learning process and go back to the difficult points in the lessons.
在學習過程中時不時的停下來回顧課文中不同的知識點是必要的。
eg. Whenever she talks, she always likes to go back to her younger days.
是的，她只要一開口，就喜歡回顧她的青年時代。
5. consist of
由…組成；由…構成；
eg. Search engines consist of 3 main parts.
搜索引擎主要由三部分組成。
eg. The simplest consist of a single room with a sink in the corner and a toilet behind a partition.
最簡單的戶型只有一個單間，在角落裏有一個洗臉檯，廁所在隔牆後面。
6. be good at
擅長的；精通的；能幹的；
eg. Because I'm not good at letting go.
因爲我總是拿得起放不下。
eg. She was good at repartee.
她善於機智地應答。
7. be supposed to do sth.
（按計劃或期望）應當，應該，須；
eg. Again, this wasn't supposed to happen.
再說，這確是不應該發生的。
eg. "The law is supposed to be the bottom line of a society, " he said.
“法律應該是一個社會的底線，”他說。
8. take care of
照顧；照看；看護；
eg. He's old enough to take care of himself.
他大了，能照顧自己了。
eg. I take care of them to the best of my abilities.
我盡我所能地照顧他們。