美語情景對話 第226期:Japan and England 日本和英格蘭
Todd: OK, Sarah, how long have you been in Japan?
託德：薩拉，你來日本多長時間了？Sarah: I've been in Japan for two months. I came in April.
薩拉：我來日本兩個月了。我是四月份來的。Todd: Again, when did you come to Japan?
託德：再說一遍，你是什麼時候來日本的？
Sarah: Two months ago.
薩拉：兩個月以前。Todd: OK, and what do you think about Japan?
託德：好，你覺得日本怎麼樣？Sarah: It's a very interesting country. I expected a very big culture shock when I first came here because I've never been to Asia. I've always taught in Europe and I've been to America but they were all places that weren't particularly different from England, like Japan, but I didn't have any culture shock and I don't know if it's just because I was in an environment with other English speaking people and I was in a company where it's very secure and safe so there was not need to have that kind of shock but I think the differences here are just unbelievable. It's very difficult to explain it to somebody who's never been to Japan before, so talking on the phone about being here, talking to someone back in England is very difficult to explain to them how different it is here.
薩拉：日本是一個非常有意思的國家。我剛來這裏的時候，我本來以爲會遇到非常大的文化衝擊，因爲我從來沒有來過亞洲。我一直在歐洲教學，我去過美國，不過這些地方與英格蘭沒有什麼不同，不過在日本我並沒有遇到文化衝擊，不知道是不是因爲我與一些說英語的人一起工作，我所在的公司很安全，所以我沒有遇到那種衝擊，不過我認爲差異還是不可避免的。對從來沒來過日本的人解釋起來有些難度，很難打電話給在英格蘭的朋友解釋在這裏生活的困難。Todd: Yeah, what do you think about the food?
託德：嗯，那你覺得食物怎麼樣？Sarah: I like the food because I like fish so I was lucky, so the food, I've tried some different things, tried to be adventurous.
薩拉：我喜歡這裏的食物，因爲我喜歡吃魚，所以我很幸運，我嘗試了一些不同的食物，冒險嘗試了一下。Todd: And the people?
託德：那這裏的人呢？Sarah: Ah, the people are nice, very nice, first quite difficult to, when teaching, very very different than teaching Europeans, particularly the Austrian people from my experience are very loud and forthcoming, and at first they were very, very quite, and we've seen quite a difference now that they've got to know us, and they've opened up quite a lot and it's easier, but generally I find the people very kind in the streets. When we meet people they're always very helpful, very kind.
薩拉：啊，這裏的人很好，非常好，開始時教學上很困難，比教歐洲人困難，從我的經驗來看，奧地利人聲音洪亮，樂於助人，不過日本人一開始非常小心，現在我們能看到很大的不同，因爲他們瞭解我們了，他們說的話開始變多了，現在就比較容易了，不過總體來說，我認爲街上的人們都很好。我們在街上遇到的人都很樂於幫助我們，非常好。Todd: Yeah, I think Japanese people are, that's one of their best traits. Yeah, they're very, very sweet. OK, what do you think about the weather?
託德：沒錯，我認爲這是日本人最棒的優點之一。他們非常溫柔。你覺得這裏的天氣怎麼樣？Sarah: Yeah, very changeable. I was quite surprised. Most people think that in England the weather is very, very bad but here it's, the rain is just unbelievable. I've never seen rain like this before. It's just very, very changeable and it can be hot for a minute and then the next day it's quite cold.
薩拉：非常多變。我對這點感到非常驚訝。大部分人認爲英格蘭的天氣非常糟糕，但是這裏的雨水真是令人難以置信。我以前從來沒有見過這樣的雨水。這裏的天氣非常多變，可能前一分鐘還很熱，但是下一分鐘馬上就會變得很冷。Todd: And now, it's very loud. You live by the train tracks. What do you think of the trains?
託德：現在這裏非常吵。你住在鐵路沿線附近。你覺得這裏的鐵路怎麼樣？Sarah: The service, or?
薩拉：服務還是？Todd: Or just overall? Do you like the trains? Do you like living by the train?
託德：就整體來說呢？你喜歡這裏的鐵路嗎？你喜歡住在鐵路附近嗎？Sarah: I'm not, I don't think about living by the trains, but I think the trains are very, they're always on time, always very frequent, very good service but I have never seen so many people get on a train before.
薩拉：不喜歡，我不想住在鐵路附近，不過我認爲這裏的鐵路系統很好，火車一直很準時，發車也頻繁，服務非常好，不過我以前從來沒見過火車載這麼多人。Todd: Yeah, they are very crowded.
託德：對，火車總是很擁擠。
重點講解：
1. culture shock
文化衝擊，文化休克（指初到異國時的焦慮、孤獨和困惑感）；
eg. Callum, recently arrived in Glasgow, is jobless, homeless, friendless, and suffering from culture shock.
卡勒姆初到格拉斯哥，沒有工作，無家可歸，無人傾訴，在文化衝擊中掙扎。
eg. Most people feel culture shock when traveling to a foreign culture.
去海外旅行時，許多人會感覺到不同文化的衝擊。
2. open up
暢談；無拘無束地談；自由自在地談；
eg. Lorna found that people were willing to open up to her.
洛娜發現人們願意對她暢所欲言。
eg. After a few drinks he began to open up a bit.
他喝了幾杯酒話就多起來了。
3. on time
準時；按時；
eg. Don't worry, she'll be on time.
別急，她會準時到的。
eg. Their planes usually arrive on time.
他們的飛機通常都會準時抵達。
