美語情景對話 第373期:Newspapers 報紙

Todd: Oh, Simon, I see you have today's paper.

託德：西蒙，我看到你有今天的報紙。

Simon: Yes, I read the paper every day.

西蒙：對，我每天都看報紙。

Todd: So today do we have good news or bad news?

託德：那今天是有好消息還是壞消息呢？

Simon: Well, world news is always bad, and for me sports is always good, sports news, but I felt an earthquake yesterday and so, I've basically looked at the headlines today first and just to see if the earthquake was in the paper, and it was.

西蒙：嗯，世界新聞總是有壞消息，對我來說，體育新聞總是好的，不過昨天我感覺到了地震，所以我今天首先瀏覽了頭條新聞，想看看報紙上是否有地震的消息，果然報紙上的確報道了。

Todd: Nobody died did they?

託德：沒有人死亡吧？

Simon: I don't think so, but for me it felt quite strong.

西蒙：我想沒有，不過就我的感覺來說，地震很強烈。

Todd: Actually, speaking of papers, I love the paper, and I read it every day, but there is one thing that I hate about the newspaper, and that's you read all the stories on the front page and then they stop, they're cut in half, and then you have to go to the middle of the paper to finish, and it just drives me nuts because I take the train to work every day and the train is so crowded sometimes I can't actually turn the paper, fold the paper to get to story on the inside, so I have to wait until I get to work, so I read six stories, seven stories half way and I have to wait till later to find out the ending.

託德：實際上，說到報紙，我非常喜歡報紙，我每天都會看報，不過我很討厭報紙的一點，那就是你閱讀了首頁的所有故事，之後故事就中斷了，故事只講到一半，所以你不得不去報紙的中間繼續讀那些故事，那快把我逼瘋了，因爲我每天要坐火車去上班，火車裏有時非常擁擠，我無法翻報紙去找裏面的那個故事，所以我只能等到下班以後再找，等於我看了六七個故事，都只看了一半，而我之後不得不再去找結局。

Simon: Yeah, that's terrible. I do something similar. I, when I, I take also, I also take a busy train in the morning, and I just read the front page, and the back page. The front page has the headlines, the back page has the sports, and then when I get to work, if I have free time I just open up and finish the story that I read. (Yeah) I have a question, what do you prefer, do you prefer the tabloid style paper, which opens up like a book and you read each page, like a book, or do you prefer the traditional paper where, which is all folded neatly and into sections, like A B C D.

西蒙：對，那很糟糕。我也是這樣的情況。我早上也要坐擁擠的火車，而我只看首頁和尾頁。首頁有頭條新聞，而尾頁是體育新聞，之後我上班的時候要是有空閒時間，我就會翻開報紙接着看完新聞。（是啊）我有個問題，你更喜歡什麼，是那種打開像書一樣的小報，你看報的時候也像看書一樣每頁都讀，還是那種傳統報紙，摺疊的整整齊齊，以A、B、C、D各版面分類清楚的報紙？

Todd: Um, that's a good point, I guess, or a good question, uh, I guess I'm used to the old traditional style but I have to admit, the tabloid style is a lot more convenient, um, so I wouldn't mind if my paper changed to that style. (OK) What do you prefer?

託德：嗯，這點說的很好，我覺得這是個好問題，嗯，我想我比較習慣傳統報紙，不過我必須要承認，小報要更方便得多，嗯，如果我看的報紙換成那種風格我是不介意的。（好的）那你更喜歡哪種？

Simon: Yeah, I prefer the tabloid, just because it's easier to read.

西蒙：嗯，我喜歡小報，因爲更容易閱讀。

Todd: The only thing I don't like about some tabloids is that they put a lot of colors on the paper and it's not as easy to read as the more traditional papers I think.

託德：我唯一不喜歡小報的一點就是它們在報紙上印了太多的顏色，我認爲那並不像傳統報紙一樣便於閱讀。

Simon: Well, the other meaning of tabloid is the kind of newspaper that prints just glossy stories with pictures and usually celebrity news, that's not really world news, or sports or anything but about Micheal Jackon's trial or what celebrity got which hair cut, so that's a different kind of tabloid, but yeah.

西蒙：嗯，還有一種小報，是那種只報道八卦消息的報紙，通常都是明星的消息，而且會配上圖片，上面沒有世界新聞，也沒有體育新聞或是其他新聞，而是會報道邁克爾·傑克遜的官司或是明星換的髮型，這是另一種小報。

Todd: So do you subscribe to the newspaper or just buy one every day?

託德：那你是訂閱報紙還是每天去買報紙？

Simon: I buy one every day because I sometimes buy a different papers.

西蒙：我每天去買，因爲有時我會買不同的報紙。

重點講解：
1. speaking of
（接過話頭引入新話題）說到…，談到…；
eg. There's plenty of time to drop hints for Christmas presents! And speaking of presents, we have 100 exclusive fragrance collections to give away.
還有足夠的時間去暗示自己想要的聖誕禮物！說到禮物，我們有 100 份限量版香水要贈送。
eg. Speaking of our birthdays, we have turned them into a recreational activity.
提到我們的生日, 我們已經把它變成一種娛樂活動了。
2. drive sb. nuts
把某人逼瘋；
eg. She used to drive you nuts before, remember?
以前她快把你逼瘋了，記得嗎？
eg. So here are the ways people ask me questions that drive me nuts:
這裏就有一些使我抓狂的問問題的方式。
3. subscribe to
訂閱，訂購（雜誌或報紙）；
eg. My main reason for subscribing to New Scientist is to keep abreast of advances in science.
我訂閱《新科學家》主要是爲了瞭解科學的最新進展。
eg. If you subscribe to the newspaper, it'll be delivered to your door.
如果你訂閱報紙，它會直接給你送到門上的。
4. be used to sth./doing sth.
習慣於做某事；
eg. I'm used to having my sleep interrupted.
我習慣了睡覺時被吵醒。
eg. It doesn't frighten them. They're used to it.
這可嚇不倒他們。他們已經習慣了。