美語情景對話 第336期:Train Ride 坐火車

Adrienne: I understand you.recently rode a train from Milwaukee to Minneapolis. Was this the first time you ever rode a train?

埃德里安娜：我知道你剛剛乘火車從密爾沃基去了明尼阿波利斯。這是你第一次坐火車嗎？

Vivian: No, I have been on a train many times as a young person but recently in the past 3 or 4 years I have ridden a train again several times. There was a period of time in my life that I did not ride the train, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

薇薇安：不是，我年輕的時候坐過很多次火車，最近3、4年我也坐過幾次火車。我有一段時間沒有坐火車，不過我非常享受坐火車的時間。

Adrienne: How is it different riding the train now then it was back when you were younger?

埃德里安娜：現在坐火車和你年輕時坐火車有什麼不一樣嗎？

Vivian: When I was younger they had a different set of train people. Back then, you weren't served meals at your seat. You had, if they had a dining car, if they had a dining car, you could go into the dining car and eat but some trains, especially on short distances, like when I lived in Jaffy, Missouri, it was halfway between Memphis and St. Louis. Those were short routes and they did not have dining cars. On this trip that we just got back from yesterday, we had our, we were in the lower car because it's a handicap car. My sister is handicapped, and they brought us a menu, and they brought us a full dinner, including salad and dessert and coffee or tea, whatever we would like to drink.

薇薇安：我年輕的時候，有許多不同的列車員。那時坐火車飯菜不是送到座位上。如果火車上有餐車，如果有餐車的話，你可以去餐車吃東西，但是有些火車，尤其是那些短途火車，就像我住在密蘇里州的嘉菲，那裏位於孟菲斯市和聖路易斯市中間，那些短途火車就沒有餐車。而昨天我們剛剛坐火車回來，我們坐在了下層車廂，那裏是殘疾人車廂。我妹妹是殘疾人，列車員給我們拿了菜單，他們給我們送來了晚餐，包括沙拉、甜點、咖啡和茶，有我們想喝的任何飲料。

Adrienne: How was the food on the train? Was it better than plain food?

埃德里安娜：火車上的食物怎麼樣？比家常菜好嗎？

Vivian: Oh, much better. Much better. It was fixed. The chef's did a fantastic job and I understand that it is cooked on the train. It may not be all cooked on the train but it certainly is prepared and the salads are prepared on the train so that you don't get these package food tastes.

薇薇安：好多了。好很多。火車上的食物是固定的。廚師做得非常棒，我知道那是在火車上烹飪的食物。可能不是全部都在火車上烹飪完成，不過那些沙拉肯定是在火車上準備的，所以沒有那種包裝食品的味道。

Adrienne: That sounds fun though.

埃德里安娜：聽起來很有樂趣。

Vivian: Oh, it was great fun! We enjoyed every minute of it.

薇薇安：非常有意思！我非常享受坐火車時的每分每秒。

重點講解：
1. a period of time
一段時間；
eg. It is said that he writhed under insults for a period of time.
據說有一段時間他因受辱而極爲痛苦。
eg. We lived in Beijing for a period of time.
我們曾在北京住過一段時間。
2. would like to do sth.
（表示願意）想要；
eg. I would like to have a word with you.
我想同你說句話。
eg. Ideally, we would like to start at the beginning.
要是有可能，我們真想從頭開始。
3. so that
（用於引出結果）因此，所以；
eg. There was snow everywhere, so that the shape of things was difficult to identify.
到處是雪，所以萬物的形狀都難以辨認。
eg. Shelly had prepared carefully for her biology examination so that she could be sure of passing it on her first attempt.
雪莉對生物考試準備得很認真，因此她有信心一次就通過。