美語情景對話 第229期:Life in England 英格蘭的生活

Todd: OK, hello!

託德：你好！

Sarah: Hello!

薩拉：你好！

Todd: Hi, what's your name?

託德：嗨，你叫什麼名字？

Sarah: My name is Sarah.

薩拉：我的名字是薩拉。

Todd: OK, and Sarah where are you from?

託德：好的，薩拉，你來自哪裏？

Sarah: I'm from the north of England, Newcastle.

薩拉：我來自英格蘭北部的紐卡斯爾。

Todd: OK, so Newcastle, how far is that from London?

託德：好，那紐卡斯爾離倫敦有多遠？

Sarah: Um, it's about 300 miles.

薩拉：嗯，大約300英里。

Todd: Uh-huh, do you go to London a lot or have you been to London before?

託德：啊，你經常去倫敦嗎，或者說你以前去過倫敦嗎？

Sarah: I live in London. I've lived in London for the past seven years.

薩拉：我住在倫敦。我過去七年一直住在倫敦。

Todd: Oh, really?

託德：哦，這樣啊？

Sarah: Almost seven years, yeah.

薩拉：差不多七年的時間了，對。

Todd: OK. Which do you prefer, London or Newcastle?

託德：好的。那你更喜歡哪裏，倫敦還是紐卡斯爾？

Sarah: Um, like them both. I prefer Newcastle because it's smaller, so it's easier to get around and it's also cheaper. London is very expensive.

薩拉：嗯，兩個地方我都喜歡。我喜歡紐卡斯爾是因爲那裏很小，所以很容易四處遊玩，而且物價也相對便宜。倫敦物價非常貴。

Todd: So all your family is in Newcastle?

託德：那你家人還在紐卡斯爾嗎？

Sarah: Um, pretty much yeah.

薩拉：嗯，差不多是這樣。

Todd: So are they always trying to get you to go back and move back to Newcastle?

託德：那他們會勸你搬回紐卡斯爾住嗎？

Sarah: Ah, no, no, because most of the jobs are in the south, anyway for younger people so it's quite difficult to get a job in the north in teaching.

薩拉：嗯，不會，不會，因爲大部分適合年輕人的工作機會都在南方，在北方找到一份與教育相關的工作非常難。

Todd: OK. Um, what do you like about London?

託德：好的。嗯，你喜歡倫敦的什麼地方？

Sarah: Ah, it's a very busy place, there's lots of things going on all the time. There's also lots of things I don't like about London, but all my friends live there lots of job opportunities.

薩拉：嗯，倫敦是一個非常忙碌的城市，有許多事情同時在進行。當然倫敦也有許多我不喜歡的地方，但是我所有的朋友都在那邊，而且那裏工作機會也多。

Todd: OK, what were you doing before you came to Japan in London?

託德：好，你來日本之前，在倫敦是做什麼工作的？

Sarah: Ah, I was in Austria for a year. I was teaching in Austria, and then I was in London teaching, in London for a few years.

薩拉：哦，我在奧地利待了一年。我在奧地利教課，之後我回倫敦繼續教課，在倫敦工作了幾年的時間。

Todd: What were you teaching in London?

託德：你在倫敦教什麼？

Sarah: I was teaching primary school. I was a primary school teacher.

薩拉：我在小學教課。我是一名小學老師。

Todd: Kids!

託德：孩子！

Sarah: Yeah.

薩拉：對。

Todd: So what's it like teaching kids?

託德：教孩子的感覺怎麼樣？

Sarah: Um, tiring. Very tiring. I prefer teaching adults. That's my preference. I've mainly taught adults in TEFL, but in the state system in England it's only been children. It's fun. It's just very tiring.

薩拉：嗯，累，非常累。我喜歡教成年人。我更偏好教成年人。我主要是用英語教授成年人，不過在英格蘭的體系中，那隻適用於兒童。不過這很有意思。只是會很累。

重點講解：
1. get around
到處旅行；遊歷；
eg. He claimed to be a journalist, and he got around.
他自稱是一名記者，經常四處遊歷。
eg. " It is rather large to get around in a week, " answered Ames, pleasantly.
“這麼大個城市，一星期恐怕逛不完吧，"艾姆斯愉快地答道。
2. pretty much
幾乎；近乎；差不多；
eg. His new government looks pretty much like the old one.
他的新政府看起來和舊政府沒什麼兩樣。
eg. The result of the ballot is pretty much what we expected.
投票的結果和我們預料的差不多。
3. prefer doing sth.
喜歡做某事；樂意做某事；
eg. I prefer reading non-fiction.
我喜歡看紀實作品。
eg. I prefer doing some writing in my spare time.
我更喜歡業餘時間寫點什麼。