地道美語聽力播客903：給孩子起名可是門學問

　　塞萊斯特：看，這是我列的小單子。

　　Albert: A shortlist for what?

　　阿博特：什么小單子?

　　Celeste: Baby names.

　　塞萊斯特：孩子的名字。

　　Albert: We have months to decide. Don’t you think we should wait?

　　阿博特：我們還有好幾個月的時間呢。你不覺得我們應該在等等嗎?

　　Celeste: No, I want to be prepared. Here, take a look. See what you think.

　　塞萊斯特：不，我想準備好。來，看看吧。說說你怎么看。

　　Albert: Ezekiel?! You want to name our child Ezekiel? He’ll be teased by every kid in school.

　　阿博特：Ezekiel?!你想讓我們的孩子叫Ezekiel?學校里別的孩子會笑他的。

　　Celeste: It’s a family name. I was trying to appease my parents. They’ve been suggesting a lot of family names. We could call him by a nickname, maybe “Zeke.”

　　塞萊斯特：那是個姓。我想討我爸媽喜歡。他們一直建議給孩子起個帶姓的名字。我們可以給他起個小名，要不就叫“Zeke”。

　　Albert: I’m not naming my child Ezekiel. His name would be Ezekiel Eckleman. That’s a mouthful. I also want to steer clear of alliterative names. I’ve never liked them.

　　阿博特：我不想讓孩子叫Ezekiel。他的名字不就成了Ezekiel Eckleman嘛。拗口，我不想要有頭韻的名字。我一直不喜歡那樣的名字。

　　Celeste: Okay, are there any names you like on my list?

　　塞萊斯特： 好，單子上有你喜歡的名字嗎?

　　Albert: Not Alan Phillip. That’s for sure.

　　阿博特：不喜歡Alan Phillip. 一定不選它。

　　Celeste: Why not? I thought we’d name the baby after my grandfather. Alan is a nice first name and Phillip is a nice middle name.

　　塞萊斯特：為什么不選它?我還以為我們可以用我祖父的名字呢。Alan 是個好名字,Phillip 是個挺好的中間名。

　　Albert: His initials would be “A.P.E.” – ape! He would never live that down.

　　阿博特：那他的名字的首字母不就成了“A.P.E.”——猿了嘛!

　　Celeste: How about “Mikol”?

　　塞萊斯特：“Mikol”怎么樣?

　　Albert: You mean an alternate spelling for “Michael”? People don’t know how to pronounce a name with an odd spelling.

　　阿博特：你是說“Michael”的另一個拼法嗎?這么奇怪的拼寫，人們不知道怎么讀。

　　Celeste: Well, are there any names you do like?

　　塞萊斯特：好，有什么你喜歡的名字嗎?

　　Albert: Albert Eckleman Junior has a nice ring to it.

　　阿博特：“Albert Eckleman Junior”

　　Celeste: As you say, we have months to decide. Let’s keep an open mind.

　　塞萊斯特：就像你說的，還有好幾月呢。我們也聽聽別人的意見吧。

　　Albert: Humph!

　　阿博特：哼!