9、 My Face Gets So Red 我的臉紅了
M: Hi, Sarah, what’s up?
W: Oh, hi. I just got out of a history class. I had to give a presentation.
M: How did it go?
W: Terribly. I’m sure I made a fool of myself.
M: Why? Weren’t you prepared?
W: No, it’s not that. I just get so embarrassed and nervous whenever I’ve to speak in front of a group of people. I stand up and my face gets red and then I get even more nervous because I know everyone can see me blushing.
M: It is not so bad to blush.
W: But it happens all the time. If the professor asks a question and I know the answer, I’ll blush like crazy if he calls on me. Doesn’t that ever happen to you?
M: No, not really. Maybe you should try to forget about the people. Look at something else in the room, like the exit sign.
W: I guess I could try that. But I doubt it will help.
M: You know we talked about this in psychology class. Blushing, even though it’s involuntary, is more or less a learned behavior.
W: What do you mean?
M: Oh, children hardly ever blush at all. And, among adults, supposedly women blush more than men.
W: I wonder why.
M: I don’t know. But I had a friend in high school, Brian Smith. It was really easy to make him blush. He turned red whenever a waitress would ask him for his order.
W: I’m not that bad. Well, I’ve got to get going for my next class. I’ll talk to you later.
---------1999年10月托福聽力試題
【托福特色詞匯】
presentation 在課上發(fā)言
參考譯文
M:嗨,莎拉,你好嗎?
W:哦,你好。我剛上完歷史課,做了一個(gè)口頭發(fā)言。
M:怎么樣???
W:糟透了。我出盡了丑。
M:為什么?你沒有準(zhǔn)備嗎?
W:不,不是因?yàn)槟莻€(gè)。我每次在人前講話都會(huì)很緊張。我站在那里,臉變得通紅,而且當(dāng)我知道所有的人都看到我的臉紅了的時(shí)候,我會(huì)更加緊張。
M:臉紅并不是件壞事。
W:但我總是這樣。如果教授提問,我明明知道答案,當(dāng)他一叫到我的時(shí)候,我的臉拼命地紅。這種事也發(fā)生在你身上嗎?
M:我倒不這樣。也許你應(yīng)該試著忘掉那些觀眾。眼睛盯著別的地方看,比如看著出口標(biāo)志什么的。
W:我想我可以試一下,但不知道會(huì)不會(huì)奏效。
M:你知道嗎,我們?cè)谛睦韺W(xué)課上討論過這個(gè)問題。盡管臉紅是不受意志控制的,但它或多或少是后天習(xí)得的。
W:什么意思?
M:兒童幾乎很少臉紅。在成人當(dāng)中,女性比男性臉紅的現(xiàn)象較多。
W:我想知道是為什么。
M:我也不太清楚。我高中時(shí)候的一個(gè)同學(xué),名叫布萊恩•史密斯,他特別愛臉紅,就連餐廳里的女服務(wù)員問他要不要點(diǎn)菜的時(shí)候,他也臉紅。
W:我倒不像他那么嚴(yán)重。好吧,我還要去上課?;仡^見。