商務禮節美語第1期:大城市的比較
美國總公司代表Pete來北京視察，由中國僱員Jack接待。
Jack: Good evening, Pete. I trust you had a nice siesta. 皮特，晚上好。我相信你午休得很好。
Pete: Yes. It was just what the doctor ordered. 是的。這是醫生要求的。
J: I'd like you to meet Henry Johnson. Mr. Johnson has been working at our Beijing office for over a year now. I think you two are from the same city. 我希望你去見亨利·約翰遜。約翰遜先生在北京工作超過一年了。我想你們兩個來自同一個城市。
P: Hey there, Henry. Call me Pete. A New Yorker, eh? 嘿，亨利，叫我皮特吧。是紐約人吧？
Henry: Born and raised in Brooklyn. Good to meet you, Pete. 在布魯克林出生和長大的。皮特，很高興見到你。
Jack問Pete休息得怎麼樣，siesta is spelled s-i-e-s-t-a, siesta指午飯後的短暫休息。Pete的回答，it was just what the doctor ordered. 說一件事情is just what the doctor ordered，意思是這正是最需要的。Jack給Pete引見Henry, Henry在北京辦事處工作。Pete和Henry都是紐約人，New Yorker. Henry說自己是born and raised in Brooklyn，土生土長的紐約布魯克林區的人。
P: 's a great neighborhood. I'm originally from Queens but moved down to Manhattan a while back. 're an expat in 's life over here working out for you? 布魯克林，真是個不錯的鄰居。我很來住在皇后區後來搬到曼哈頓。所以你在中國是個老外……你在這兒的工作怎麼樣？
H: You know—I really love it. There are frustrations of course, such as traffic, pollution and the language barrier, but all in all, I give China a big thumbs up. 你知道的，我很喜歡這裏。當然也有些不如意的地方。比如，交通，污染，語言障礙，但是我還是要給中國豎大拇指。
J: Before you two get carried away in conversation, let's finalize our plans for the evening. I was thinking of dining at a well-known dumpling restaurant and then hitting a Karaoke bar for some fun! 在你們得意忘形地交談之前，讓我們把晚上的計劃定下來吧。我在考慮在非常知名的餃子店裏面吃飯，然後去卡拉OK消遣一下！
Henry說，在中國生活，all in all, 總的說來非常棒，I give China a big thumbs up. give something a thumbs up，意思是高度評價。Jack建議晚上先吃餃子，然後去K歌。
P: Everything sounded good until I heard the word "Karaoke." If there's one thing you don't want to hear, it's me singing. 在說卡拉OK之前我覺得都還不錯。如果說你有什麼是不願意聽到的話，我想那就是我唱歌了。
H: (Chuckle) I sound like a frog that's suffering from a bad cold! But Karaoke is so popular in Asia that I've been dragged to at least two dozen of them so far. I've even learned a Chinese song or two. （咯咯笑）我唱歌聽起來像是感冒的青蛙！但是卡拉OK在亞洲很受歡迎，我到目前爲止，我已經被邀請去二十多次了。也學會了一兩首歌了。
Pete和Henry都不是K歌高手，不過，Henry入鄉隨俗，已經被拽着去唱過很多次歌了，甚至學會了幾首中文歌曲。
J: problem! We're here to have fun and if singing isn't forget it! I assume you like beer. 嘿……卡拉OK……沒有問題！我們到這兒唱着玩的，如果覺得不好玩就別玩了唄！我猜你喜歡啤酒。
P: Beer is quite possibly my very favorite liquid. 啤酒是我很喜歡的飲料之一。
H: Chinese beer is actually pretty good. I've sampled all of them so I should know! 中國的啤酒確實不錯。我差不多都嘗過。
J: Great! So we'll have dinner and then we'll go down to the bar district. In Beijing there are literally thousands of bars. 很好！我們先去吃飯然後去酒吧吧。在北京不誇張地說有上千個酒吧。
P: Sounds like a plan. 聽起來像是個計劃。
Jack說，不去K歌沒關係，可以去酒吧。Henry則說，中國啤酒味道不錯，因爲I've sampled all of them，他嘗過所有牌子的。最後大家一致決定，晚上去酒吧喝酒。
