美語訓練班 028

各位聽眾，大家好！今天我們?yōu)槟コ?ldquo;美語三級跳”節(jié)目“出行”單元的高級課程。

Professor: Today is Craig's first day at his new job, but he got lost on his way to the office so he's really late. In this first section he is talking to his co-worker, Tina, about the best way to get to work.

Craig: Wow, I had a miserable commute this morning.

Tina: Really, what happened?

Craig: Well first I took a cab, but the cab driver tried to rip me off so I got out. Then I tried walking, but I got bad directions and got lost. How do you usually get to work?

Tina: I drive most days, and some days I take the bus.

Craig: You drive? But the parking around here is so expensive.

Tina: That's not a problem. I carpool with some of the other employees here so we save on gas and parking fees.

Professor: So Winnie, did you hear how Tina gets to work?

MC: 她說，她大部分時間開車上班，有時也搭公車。不過，Professor, Tina提到的carpool是什么意思？

Professor: Carpooling is when a group of people all go somewhere in the same car. For example, if you live right near some co-workers, you might start a carpool with them to share driving duties.

MC: 哦，carpool, C-A-R-P-O-O-L 就是拼車。Tina跟同事carpool，大家分攤汽油費和停車費，好主意！

Craig: Oh, a carpool? That's a great idea. Do you think I could share a ride too?

Tina: Unfortunately, we don't have any more space in the car. But I can certainly recommend some ways for you to get to work.

Craig: Yeah, that would be great. I'm new to New York and so I don't know my way around.

Tina: No problem, I know the city like the back of my hand. I can give you some good advice.

MC: 可惜Tina的carpool滿員了，Craig沒法加入。不過Tina很熱心，愿意告訴Craig一些好走的上班路線。Professor, Tina 說，she knows the city like the back of her hand，是什么意思？

Professor: "To know something like the back of your hand" means you are very familiar with something. For example, "Todd is one of the best lawyers I have ever seen. He knows the law like the back of his hand."

MC: 哦，就是“了如指掌”！

Tina: So Craig, the best way to get to work is probably on the subway. It's a bit more expensive than the bus, but it's totally worth it.

Craig: Really? Why?

Tina: Traffic in New York can be a nightmare during rush hour. It's bumper-to-bumper everywhere in the city.

Craig: Doesn't the subway service get really backed up too? I've heard there are lots of delays.

Tina: Yeah, the subway can run late sometimes too, but it's still more dependable than the bus.

MC: Tina建議Craig坐地鐵，地鐵雖然比公車貴，但時間上更有保障，因為上下班高峰期，紐約的路況特別糟糕。哎，什么叫 traffic is bumper-to-bumper?

Professor: That means that the traffic is so bad and moving so slowly that it's almost as if the bumpers of the cars are touching.

MC: 哦，bumper是汽車的保險杠，所以，如果路上車特別多，就可以說bumper to bumper，也就是說，車子的車頭接著車尾，一輛緊接著一輛。

Craig: Yeah, the subway is probably a good idea, but I hate being squeezed into those smelly cars with all those other people.

Tina: Well as long as you're on the mass transit system, you have to get used to it. The bus is crowded too.

Craig: (Sigh).... I just wish there were some way for me to get to work without leaving my house. I wonder if in the future there will be a magical machine that can do that.

Tina: Actually, we already have one: it's called a computer. Maybe you should try telecommuting!

MC: Craig說，他不愿意擠在臟兮兮的地鐵里，我深有同感！Tina說的telecommuting太棒了，只要通過電腦和網(wǎng)絡，在家里就能遠距離工作 ！

Professor: Exactly. Today some people prefer to telecommute to work to save time and gas. Employers like it too, because they don't have to pay for an office.

MC: 是啊，telecommute又省錢又省時。Professor Bowman, 不如我們也緊跟潮流，讓我在家里通過telecommute上課吧!

Professor: Sure! I'll just give extra homework to make up for the time you'll save.

MC: 啊？就當我什么都沒說吧!

A: Telecommuting 遠程辦公，在家上班，I love that idea!

B: 是啊! I think every company should let its employees to work from home on some of the workdays.

A: 同意! 在家多舒服啊。

B: But working from home is still "work". It can't beat a "no work" vacation!

A: 那是! 最好就是休假，徹底不想工作的事兒!

B: So how about a five-week vacation?

A: 五個禮拜! 太好了，從學校畢業(yè)后就再也沒有這么長的假期嘍!

B: 不一定! Let's listen to Business Etiquette. Jerry's vacation is so long people are getting jealous!

Business Etiquette: vacation I

Jerry跟同事Paula和Will打招呼，注意聽他們?nèi)酥苣┒几闪诵┦裁础?br />
Jerry: Hey, Paula. Hi, Will. Did you have a good weekend?

Paula: Yeah... I checked out that new 3-D movie. It's amazing what they can do with technologies these days!

Will: I went mountain biking with a couple of friends. We worked up a good sweat and had a good time. How about you, Jerry?

J: Actually, I spent most of the weekend looking at travel brochures.

Paula周末去看了新出的三維電影，3-D movie. Will 跟幾個朋友一起去騎山地車，山地車在英語里叫 mountain bike，可以是名詞，在上面那段話里是做動詞用，Will went mountain biking. Will 還說，他們出了一身汗，玩得特別開心。work up a sweat 是一種習慣用法，指鍛煉身體或從事體力活動很投入，可以是真的出了一身汗，也可以形容特別賣力。Jerry呢，一個周末大部分時間都在看旅游宣傳材料 travel brochures. 看來他是要休假嘍？Paula問：

P: Really? Are you going somewhere?

J: Well, starting on the 20th of this month, I'm taking a five-week vacation.

W: Five weeks!! No way!

P: Get out of here! How did you swing that?

J: Actually, the company owes me about four months' worth of vacation time. I've been working here since 2002 and haven't taken a vacation yet. I've got oodles of comp time as well.

W: Sorry, what's comp time?

Jerry要休五個星期的假，Will和Paula都不敢相信，問Jerry, How did you swing that? to swing it 是一種口語里非正式的說法，意思是說服別人，達到自己的目的。Jerry解釋說，他從2002年來這家公司工作，就一直沒休過假，現(xiàn)在公司欠他四個月的假期，Jerry說，另外，I've got oodles of comp time as well. oodles is spelled o-o-d-l-e-s, oodles, oodles of something 也是一種非正式的說法，相當于 a lot of something 很多，Jerry說自己除了四個月的假期，還攢了很多 comp time. Will是新畢業(yè)的大學生，不知道什么是comp time. Paula解釋說，

P: The "comp" is short for compensation. Basically he means overtime pay.

J: Yeah, but some companies -- like ours -- don't really pay overtime.... they give you extra vacation hours instead. If you add up all the vacation time and comp hours I have, I have a lot of time.

P: When I was working for a company in Germany they had super short work weeks and very liberal overtime rules.

Paula解釋說，comp, c-o-m-p, comp 是 compensation的簡寫，其實就是 overtime 加班，有些公司不發(fā)加班費，而是把員工加班的時間折合成假期，補償給員工。另外，歐洲和美國的情況也有很大的區(qū)別，Paula說，她以前曾經(jīng)在德國的一家公司工作過，they had super short work weeks and very liberal overtime rules. 那家公司不僅工作時間短，而且加班的規(guī)定也 very liberal, 很松。

A: 嫉妒死我了! He's got oodles of comp time, but all I have is oodles of travel brochures!

B: Haha! What do you need them for?

A：沒法去，只能看宣傳材料過過眼癮唄!

B：Oh, poor you!

A：得啦!咱們不能去放大假，就利用周末放個小假吧。走，看棒球去!

American sports English: nose bleed section

P: Thanks for taking Marc and me to this baseball game, Yang Cheng.

M: Yeah. Do we have good seats?

Y: The best! 保證是最好的座位!

P: Let me see. What? Oh come on, we're sitting way up high in the nose bleed section???

Y: Nose bleed section? 誰的鼻子流血了?

M: That's just a joke. It means that the seats are so high up that it's like you're on top of a mountain, and your nose starts bleeding because the air is so thin.

Y: 這個nose bleed section是說位子太遠，好像在山頂上，空氣稀薄，所以要流鼻血。 That's a bad joke. Patrick.

M: Actually, I think what Yang Chen did makes a lot of sense. Sitting in the nose bleed section is better than having your nose bleed because it was hit by a ball.

Y: Thank you, Marc. See, I also brought my bicycle helmet to protect myself.

P: Oh come on, don't be so scared. Half the fun of going to a big league game is trying to catch fly balls.

Y: Big league? 大聯(lián)盟不是叫 Major Leagues嗎?

P: You can say both. Actually those phrases are useful outside of baseball, too.

Y: Oh no, not another English lesson.

P: Say there is a news reporter working for a small local paper in Ohio. You could say that he moved up to the big leagues when he got a job at the New York Times.

Y: Oh 如果我也在紐約時報找到工作，那我就是moved up to the big leagues。

P: Exactly. Say, when you're a big leagues reporter, will you buy us better tickets?

Y: No. But I would do this.....

P: You punched me again?

M:Oh, Patrick, you nose is really bleeding.....

A: 原來看比賽時特靠后，在高處的座位叫nose bleed section. 我每次都坐那！

B: So do I! And I don't really mind because I can still enjoy the game even though I'm sitting far away from the field.

A: 就是! 而且現(xiàn)在都有大屏幕，后排一樣看得清楚! 可就是，座位太高，往下看的時候有點頭暈。

B：So for you, it's not only the nose bleed section, but the head spin section too!

A：Indeed! 以后有錢了，就買貴一些的票，這樣頭也不暈了，鼻血也不流了! 哎，節(jié)目時間差不多了。這次的撰稿人是曉北，編輯是蔚然。同學們，我們下次的美語訓練班再見!

B: Bye!