美語情景對話 第1008期:Local Accents 地方口音

Curtis: Hey Spencer, so I was just thinking, it's kind of interesting. Sometimes your accent, it's hard to pinpoint where it's from, sometimes I think it's from a country outside of the US, but you're from North Carolina, right?

柯蒂斯：嗨，斯賓塞，我在想，這很有意思。有時你的口音讓人很難確定你來自哪裏，有時我以為你來自美國以外的國家，不過其實你來自北卡羅來納州，對吧？

Spencer: I am from North Carolina, although the other day I was at Starbucks and ran into some friends, one of whom, I never met before and she said, "Oh, where are you from?" And I said, "North Carolina." And she's like, "Are you sure?" Yeah. No, I've lived with a ton of different people from just all over the world and I've found that I've come to mimic their accents. My best friend, she's Welsh and then probably after her my two best friends are, one's Aussie and one's Kiwi. And so everybody who I meet tells me that I tend to sound either Australian or New Zealand ish or Kiwi or even British. So yeah. No. And it's funny too because of American accents, people tend to think that the south has a very strong dialect, they speak really slow, sound...

斯賓塞：我來自北卡羅來納州，那天我在星巴克遇到了幾個朋友，其中有一個人我以前從來沒見過，她説：“哦，你來自哪裏？”我回答説：“北卡羅來納州。”然後她説：“你説真的嗎？”我回答是的。我和來自世界各地的人一起生活過，我發現我總會模仿他們的口音。我最好的朋友是威爾士人，我還有兩個好朋友，一個是澳大利亞人，另一個是新西蘭人。我遇到的所有人都跟我説，我的口音聽起來像澳大利亞人或是新西蘭人，甚至是英國人。嗯，這其實很有趣，因為一般人們認為美國南方人的口音很重，他們説話很慢，聽起來……

Curtis: Right, right. Extra vowels.

柯蒂斯：對，沒錯。有附加的元音。

Spencer: Extra vowels, yeah, from Wilmington, North Carolina. But no, like I've lived out of the country now for a couple of years and nobody has really been able to pinpoint me, "Oh, North Carolinian, yeah, southern accent." So yeah, no way. I have a mixed blend of accents.

斯賓塞：附加的元音，就像這樣：我來自北卡羅來納州威爾明頓市。不過現在我已經在美國以外的國家生活了幾年的時間，沒人能確定我來自哪裏，沒人説：“哦，你來自北卡羅來納州，嗯，你有南方口音”。沒有人做到。我有好幾種口音。

Curtis: So what accents are your favorites?

柯蒂斯：你最喜歡哪種口音？

Spencer: I really love the South African dialect of English, it's, you know, a mix of British English, Australian and it's just really cool sounding to me. I also really like the Kiwi, the New Zealand accent, some Australian but not quite, I feel like they don't quite hang on to their words as long. Australians tend to kind of draw out words whereas I feel like Kiwis are a bit more short. I think just a lot of the words are a lot more euphoric, for example in America, we say, you know, "Trash", and it just doesn't sound very good to the ears. But you know, British and Australians, they say, 'Oh, rubbish'. And it just sounds a lot better to me, instead of saying like, "What, I did't hear you, what." They say like, "Oh, pardon." It just sounds more polite I think and more like better sounding to the ears.

斯賓塞：我非常喜歡南非式英語，那種口音混合了英式英語和澳大利亞式英語，我認為那非常酷。我也很喜歡新西蘭口音，我感覺一些澳大利亞人不再拉長音説話，不過這麼做的人不太多。澳大利亞人習慣拉長音、慢吞吞地説話，但是新西蘭人習慣短音。我認為這讓很多單詞變得明快起來，比如在美國我們將垃圾稱為“trash”，耳朵聽起來很舒服。可是英國和澳大利亞將垃圾稱為“rubbish”。對我來説，短一些比説“什麼，我剛才沒有聽見你説了什麼”要好。他們會説：“哦，請再説一遍”。我認為這種説法更禮貌一些，而且也讓耳朵更舒服。

Curtis: And the stiff- upper-lip culture.

柯蒂斯：還有保持冷靜的文化。

Spencer: Yeah, stiff upper lip culture. I'm not a big fan of the Canadian accent. I feel like a lot of times they say, "Hey", kind of after everything. And it sounds very much like American accents. I don't ... being from the south I don't have a big ... I don't really like the northern accents, they tend to ... we say speak as if you are holding their nose, so like this, right, that was southern, but they seem to talk through their nose.

斯賓塞：對，不讓他人看出感情變化。我非常喜歡加拿大口音。他們經常説“嘿”這個詞，基本上在每句話之後都會加這個詞。聽起來很像美國口音。我來自南方，但是我沒有……我不太喜歡北方口音，他們……我們説話時像捏着鼻子一樣，比如這樣説是南方口音，像是用鼻子説話一樣。

Curtis: Oh, like western for example.

柯蒂斯：哦，就像西部人。

Spencer: Yes, exactly.

斯賓塞：對，沒錯。

Curtis: Like maybe from Boston, where you park the car.

柯蒂斯：比如波士頓人説話是這樣的：你把車停在了哪裏。

Spencer: Exactly, yeah, jazzy, jazzy shower, yeah. It's interesting too like when I lived in Sweden, the Swedes from Stockholm, thought the same of the swedes the south that they spoke as if they were eating soup at the same time that they were speaking.

斯賓塞：沒錯，很花哨。這很有意思，我在瑞典生活時，來自斯德哥爾摩的瑞典人也認為，瑞士的南方人在説話時像嘴裏含着湯。

Curtis: Oh, okay, okay.

柯蒂斯：哦，好。

Spencer: And the people from southern Sweden thought that the stockholmers were speaking as if they're also like holding their nose at the same time that they were speaking.

斯賓塞：而瑞士南方人則認為斯德哥爾摩人説話時像捏住了鼻子。

Curtis: Okay, so really nasal sound.

柯蒂斯：嗯，鼻音很重。

Spencer: Exactly.

斯賓塞：沒錯。

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重點講解：
1. run into 意外碰到；
例句：He ran into Krettner in the corridor a few minutes later.
幾分鐘之後他在走廊裏意外碰到了克雷特納。
2. hang on to 長時間保留；保存；
例句：Hang on to your present job until you find a better one.
繼續做你現在的工作，直到找到更好的。
3. instead of 代替…；而不是…；
例句：Instead of working, Jack was idling away his time.
傑克不去工作，虛度着光陰。
4. as if 好像；彷彿；
例句：As if unsure of where she was, she hesitated and looked round.
她彷佛茫然不知身在何處，猶猶豫豫向四周打量。