Y: 各位听众好, 我是杨晨，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: Hello everyone, my name is Jody ! And welcome to American Cafe! American Cafe is a place where you can improve your spoken English by meeting people who actually live and work in the United States. You're going to learn a lot more than English. I promise.

Y: 没错, 我们这个节目非常丰富多采。您在这里不但可以学到地道的美国英语，还可以认识很多的美国人。

J: For today, Yang Chen and I spent our Sunday visiting a famous Washington D.C. hangout that's been a success here since 1976. It's called Kramer's Books & Afterwards Cafe.

Y: 对，在今天的节目中，我们要带您到一个非常有意思的地方。这里是华盛顿当地的居民非常喜欢的一个hangout, 等一下我们要解释这个词。

J: It's a combination of a cafe, a bookstore, a restaurant and a bar.

Y: 这个地方是1976年开业的。它不仅是一个书店，还是一个咖啡馆和餐厅。

J: Great! Let's introduce Mark who has been working at Kramer's for 20 years.

实录1: Mark: It was ... in 1976 when they opened it, it was a unique idea combining a restaurant, bar with a bookstore.

Y: 我想在这里我们用hangout来形容Kramer's是再合适不过了。我们俩在这里真的是渡过了一个很愉快的下午，又买书，又吃，非常非常的放松。这也就是人们到咖啡馆的目的吧。

J: Exactly. And that's exactly what a customer named Peter explained why people come to Kramer's and why it's such a popular destination.

实录2: Peter: It's a great meeting place. It's a very diverse bookstore. And it's just a good place to come. Um, this bookstore has been here a long time, I don't know what long is, maybe 20 years or so. It's always been successful. It's always been lively. It's in a very lively part of town, probably the most cosmopolitan part of Washington.

Y: 这个Peter有点儿英国口音。不过他已经在Washington住了三十多年, 我们可以说他是地道的Washington 人。

J: I think 30 years makes you a resident of the District.

Y: 对， 如果Jody你要是到北京住三十年，我也可以说你是地地道道的北京人。

J: 好，谢谢您。

Y: 我们没有问Peter是做什么的，不过我觉得听他说话好象是一位教授。你看他用的这些词都很好。他用了一个“Cosmopolitan."

J: I really like that word. "Cosmopolitan." You're hip. You're with it. Modern. Urban.

Y: "Cosmopolitan" 这个词有世界性的，见过世面的这些意思。 我们可以说在中国，北京了，上海了，这些城市都非常cosmopolitan.

J: I think D.C., Washington D.C. the nation's capital, is a very cosmopolitan city. You know, Mark mentioned a good word that I would like to go back to for a minute.

实录3: Mark: Location, Location, location. Dupont Circle is a pedestrian neighborhood. There are people walking on the streets from early in morning 'til the middle of the night. And we're the kind of place where you stop in and browse for books, stop in and have a cocktail. It's just an easy, fun place to go.

Y: 我觉得Mark很有生意头脑。他说Kramer's为什么这么成功，首先是它的地区。这一带叫Dupont Circle，是华盛顿非常繁华的一个地区，有很多年轻人住在这里。

J: It's not only the young people who make it successful. It's that diversity of the clientele. Where all different types of people come in ... professors or diplomats, famous authors. Everybody stops in Kramer's. It's kind of a joke. When someone says what are three things important for the success of a business. The answer is "Location, location, location."

Y: 一定要说三次。

J: So I thought we would include that. It's kind of a funny expression in English.

Y: 对，如果你选对了地方的话，即使你不会经营，它可能也会财源滚滚。

J: Right, right. So both Mark, who is the employee and Peter, who is the frequent customer of the bookstore, - both of them talked about the importance of having a diverse and cosmopolitan clientele for success.

Y: Peter是位顾客，那我们就从一个顾客的角度来听听为什么Kramer's这么受欢迎。

实录4: Peter: Where you locate a bookstore is really absolutely critical. There is a cosmopolitan crowd around this area. If you stuck this in the middle of the country it would be a total failure.

Y: Jody, 时间过得好快，五分钟马上就要到了。

J: I know. It went so fast.

Y: 我知道。用五分钟来谈论咖啡文化到底对美国人意味着什么显然是不够的。

J: Really five minutes is not enough time. So, I think everyone should join us again for another program of American Cafe.

Y: 那么希望下次节目和您再见。

J: Come on Yang Chen, let's go hang out over a cup of coffee!

J: Hello, I'm Jody!

Y: 大家好, 我是杨晨!

J: And welcome to American Cafe.

Y: 欢迎您到美语咖啡屋.

Enter pipe band music

Y: Jody, 今天的这个音乐, 我怎么觉得怎么熟悉啊 ？

J: Today I thought we would introduce Margaret Peng, the Chinese-American woman we met who does something quite uncommon. She's a drummer in a Scottish pipe band. Yang Chen, how cool is that!?

Y: 你说得没错，我对她的印象特别的深. 这个女孩儿叫Margaret Peng, 是一位华裔，是华盛顿苏格兰风笛乐队的队员之一。在这种乐队里华人并不多见。那么，作为一个华裔，她是怎么迷上这种音乐的呢？我们来看看她是怎么说的：

实录1: Margaret Peng: I'm a tenor drummer in the pipe band and I started playing in high school. Eh... I had a friend who was in the bagpipe band in high school. That what she played. She said: "Come on join it with me, join it." So I did it and I didn't think I'd keep doing it but I am (laughs).

J: How many years now?

MP: I've been in this band I've been in for 12, 12 years. Right.

Y: Margaret刚才说她是在高中就加入了乐队一直到现在她练了十二年了，很长时间。

J: 12 years! Wow.

Y: 真的很不简单。 她加入乐队的原因其实很简单。 她当时她有一个朋友在乐队里吹bagpipe 的, 就问她, 你参加不参加? 她说好啊，就是那么简单.

J: That's simple. She was in high school and a friend told her to come join the band.

Y: 没错，没错。她在乐队里是鼓手。

J: Yang Chen, I was so impressed when we saw Margaret Peng twirling her mallets in the air! It's like she was dancing! Really beautiful. She explained to me that the mallets are actually the sticks you use to bang the drum.

Y: 对，“mallet”就是敲鼓用的鼓槌，或者小音槌。当时如果你能看到Margaret Peng挥舞小音槌的姿势，你会觉得她非常优美，简直就象跳舞一样。

J: The music of the Scottish pipe band is so bizarre, isn't it?

Y: Bizarre?

J: You know, 奇怪。

Y: 我想在这里可能说它奇特更合适吧。

J: Oh, 不是奇怪的意思?

Y: "Bizarre"当然有奇怪的意思，不过这里说奇特更合适一些，因为这个音乐还是很好听的。

J: I don't think anything sounds quite like the music of Scotland. And especially the bagpipes. While the drums are familiar, Yang Chen, to many cultures, I don't think the bagpipes are.

实录2: Margaret Peng: It takes a lot of time. It's very difficult. There's a bag that you inflate with a blowpipe in your mouth. And you inflate the bag and every time you blow then you squeeze after you finish blowing. And you have to keep the pressure constant to keep that drone sounds. And then you have to play and then you have to walk. So there's a lot of things going on at the same time.

Y: 说起来这种乐器的名字里面有个“笛”，风笛。其实它比中国笛子或长笛相比要大得多，看上去也很重。

J: They have to carry all their instruments as they are marching.

Y: Margaret刚才提到吹奏风笛有一种“drone sound”。我想要让听众更好地了解这种声音，还是让他们听一段音乐。

J: Of course that's the best way. Let's play a droning bagpipe.

Enter bagpipe music.

J: I mean, picture this, Yang Chen. A group of musicians, men and women, dressed in the same very formal Scottish costume with kilt, you know a skirt, and carrying their instruments as they parade around.

Y: 大家可以想象一下，一群人带着自豪感，昂首阔步地前进。我还记得Margaret当时给我的印象很深，她很威风，对不起？

J: Exactly.

Y: 苏格兰男子身上穿的这种花格裙是苏格兰特有的一种服饰。这种裙子的正确说法是 "kilt," 而不是 "skirt."

J: You're right Yang Chen, the word is "kilt." K-I-L-T. I think Margaret gave a good explanation of the origin of Scottish pipe band music.

实录3: Margaret Peng: And bagpipes are the traditional Scottish instruments used in time of war to help signal whether they were going to retreat or whether they were going to attack.

Y: 原来在古代的苏格兰，人们用吹奏bagpipe来向军队发出信号，告诉他们应该进攻还是撤退。 最后我们来欣赏一段传统的苏格兰音乐。Jody,你知道吗，这段音乐是我的一个朋友演奏的。

J: Oh, that's wonderful. And actually that's the end of our show today. So, thank you for stopping in to American Cafe.

Y: 再见!

J: See ya!

J: Hello I'm Jody and welcome to American Cafe.

Y: 各位听众好， 欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。

J: You know, Christmas is just around the corner and I am already starting to feel Christmas all around me.

Y: 你是说商店里现在挤满了抢购礼物的人，还有电视上不停地在播放圣诞节的广告，对不对？

J: No, no! I ignore all of that stuff. No, what I mean, is I'm starting to hear and smell Christmas. OK, Close your eyes, Yang Chen, and think about Christmas and tell me what you hear and smell.

(Silence. Long pause)

J: Yang Chen? Yang Chen, anything yet? You know people are waiting.

Y: 哎呀，你等一等。我正在竖着耳朵听呢，还得使劲闻一闻。你不是说要我闭着眼睛寻找感觉吗？呣,我找到了。 在一个美丽的夜晚，星星在闪耀，我站在雪地里，听到了雪橇那悦耳的声音。对，就是这种感觉，你觉得怎么样？

J: That's okay. But I was thinking more like ... chainsaws.

Y: Chainsaws? 啊呀，你真是扫我的兴啊。原来你说的声音是电动锯的声音。太不浪漫了。

J: Well, I know it's not romantic, but I love the sound of a chainsaw and the smell of a pine tree being cut. The Christmas tree tradition is one of the best things about Christmas.

Y: 对。真正的圣诞树用的是松树？

J: Right, pine tree.

Y: 那人们是不是要到森林里去砍树呢？

J: Oh, no no-no. You don't go to a forest to cut down your Christmas tree. There are Christmas tree farms.

Y: 哦, 原来有Christmas tree farms。这还不错，用不着去破坏森林。说道这里，我倒是好象真的闻到了松树的味道了。

J: Oh, that's me.

Y: 你用了什么香水？

J: Not perfume! I have just come from a Christmas tree sale in my neighborhood.

Y: 有意思吗？

J: I did. And it was wonderfully entertaining. The elementary school held a Christmas tree sale to raise money. And there I met a woman named Ann, who is not only the organizer of the sale but she is also very active in the elementary school with the Parent Teacher Association, also known as the PTA.

Y: 好啊，那我们就听听组织者Ann都说了些什么。

实录1: Ann: We have from Charlie Brown trees to big beautiful balsam firs And we have a range of prices. And we do this to support the school PTA and it pays for supplies and trips and things like that for the children. And, um, so we do it two days over the weekend, Saturday and Sunday, and hopefully raise some money. And also just build a lot of good feelings about the school inside the community.

Y: Ann刚才说的 PTA 就是老师和家长联合组成的协会。原来他们举办圣诞树销售活动是为了协会筹款，另外还可以增强学校和社区的感情。

J: Right. And it really does spread community feelings in the neighborhood. That's what Christmas is all about!

(Enter Music "O Tannenbaum" from Cyrus Chestnut's A Charlie Brown Christmas)

Y: Ann 刚才提到Charlie Brown。 我们都知道Charlie Brown是著名的花生漫画系列里的人物。

J: Again, here's Ann.

实录2: Ann: Well, Charlie Brown, the cartoon character, always had a very small little sad-looking tree that nobody wanted, but he took it home and was very happy with it. So we always have some people that come and look for a Charlie Brown tree.

Y: Ann 刚才说的多好啊，一棵瘦小的圣诞树在可怜巴巴地等待着有人把它带回家。

J: The holiday cartoons with Charlie Brown and Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang are really an important part of Christmas for almost all children in the United States. Well, not just children. because every year I watch the Charlie Brown Christmas Special.

Y: 你要借给我看一看。

J: I will, I will give it you. You and your family will love it. And truly Charlie Brown fell in love with a small, scrawny, little lonely Christmas tree that nobody wanted. And took it home and he gave it love. And it turned out to be a perfect Christmas tree.

Y: 没错。Charlie Brown过圣诞是一个非常经典的故事，大人小孩都喜欢。Jody，你知道吗，我们家那棵圣诞树又小有不太好看，而且是塑料的，用了好几年。我今年本来打算把它扔了，可是我女儿不让我扔。我想她可能对这棵树非常有感情。不过今天听你解释了Charlie Brown Christmas tree，我想要是下次有人再笑话我们家的树太小太难看的话，我就可以告诉他这棵树可是典型的Charlie Brown Christmas tree。

J: Of course, you tell them you have a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, Yang Chen!

Y: 没错。我可以向别人炫耀我有棵Charlie Brown Christmas tree。

J: Thanks for tuning into American Cafe. Okay, see you again!

Y: 谢谢大家到我们的美语咖啡屋。好，我们下次再见。

Y: 各位听众好。我是杨晨，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。在今天的节目中...。 哎，我们的另外一位节目主持人,Jody, 还没来哪。Oh, Jody... 别担心，别担心， 她来了...。

( Door closing. Bags rustling.)

J: Yang Chen, I'm so sorry I'm late. Has the program started yet?

Y: 当然已经开始啦。

J: Oh, I'm so sorry everyone. Hello everyone! Welcome to American Cafe. My apologies.

Y: 你怎么今天迟到了?

J: Just go ahead without me. I'm going to get my bags...

(Sound of rustling bags.)

Y: Jody 你干吗呢? 能不能集中点精神？ ... 啊?! 你竟然去逛街去了？

J: Shopping? No, no, no. I was not shopping.

Y: 那这些购物袋是怎么回事儿呢？

J: What bags? Oh, these bags? Right, You see, Yang Chen, I was doing research.

Y: 作研究, 做什么研究啊？

J: Research on ... buying and selling.

Y: 啊哈，作市场调查。那还不是和逛街差不多。

J: Okay, I may have done a little shopping. But I just wanted to get in the mood. Because I thought shopping is such a popular pastime for Americans, we could do a show on shopping. What do you think?

Y: 我知道美国人，特别是女士们周末喜欢逛街。我也很喜欢啊。你下次再作市场调查可要叫我和你一快去啊。

J: Oh, absolutely! Actually for today's show I thought we could talk about a special type of store that I've always wanted to know more about, a consignment store!

Y: Consignment store? 哎, 咱俩那天在Dupont Circle路过的那家店就是一家consignment store,对不对？

J: The one and the same! It's called Secondi Consignment Store. And when I went back, I spoke with Molly, an employee there, who helped me understand exactly how a consignment store operates.

Y: 我们来听听Molly怎么解释consignment store是什么意思。

实录1 Molly: A consignment store is a store where people own the items that the store sells for them on their behalf. The original owner of the items is only paid once the items are sold on the store.

Y: 这种商店在中文里应该叫寄售商店。

J: Let's listen to Molly again as she talks more about how a consignment store operates.

实录2 Molly: The consigner comes in. One of the managers goes through the items and tells the consigner "Yes, we can sell it" or "No, we can't." "Here's what we think we can sell it for" pricewise. And then the consigner gets 50 percent of that price.

Y: Molly 刚才提到的"consigner"... right?

J: Consigner. Correct.

Y: ... 就是委托他们出售商品的客户。一般来说，客户拿东西到她们商店来，有一位专门负责收购的经理决定哪些她们能卖出去，哪些她们不愿意卖。然后和客户商订价钱，商店会得到售价的50%。

J: Wow, Yang Chen, you summed that up really well. A consigner is the person who brings the clothes in that they want the store, the consignment store, to sell for them. So a consignment is just like being a distributor. You know, a slang word for distributor is "middle man." And you say "middle man" even if it's a woman.

Y: 呣, 在中文里呢, "middle man"应该就是"中间人" 或者"经纪人"的意思。

J: Oh, hey, Yang Chen, also at Secondi they have a great system that keeps the inventory fresh.

Y: 这家商店，就是Secondi这家商店，那么他们怎么避免货品的积压呢？我们再让Molly解释一下。

实录3 Molly: After the first month the clothing goes down 20 %, and after the second month it goes down 40%, and after the third month if it's still here, the contract that we have with the consigner is just that we can donate it automatically for them.

Y: 噢，原来她们的货物第一月没卖出去就降价20%，两个月卖不出去就降40%，三个月还卖不出去就要捐出去了。听 Molly 怎么一说，如果我们每天去这家商店，那每天都能看到她们的货架上有新的东西。

J: Oh, they have some really great items there. Some were way out of my price range. Too expensive!

Y: 我知道，你说的 "well out of my price range"就是对我来说价钱太贵了，买不起。

J: But look at my new jeans! $28 and they still had the tag on them!

Y: 才28美元？太值了！好了，各位听众，您今天了解了美国的consignment store，不知道您有什么感想呢？我觉得，我真是一种很不错的消费方法，以低于零售商店的价格买到名牌衣服。这简直就是每个女士的梦想。哎，Jody， 咱们现在就去吧！

J: Thanks for tuning to American Cafe. Come on, Yang Chen, lets go!

Y: 谢谢您收听美语咖啡屋，我们下次再见。

J: Hi everyone! I'm Jody and welcome to American Cafe

Y: 大家好，我是杨晨，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。在我们这个小小的咖啡屋里，您可以了解美国文化，还可以认识美国朋友，最重要是还可以学地道的美国英语。

J: That's right! And on today's program, we are going to take you to the Big Apple...New York City, to talk about something New Yorkers cannot live without, Restaurants!

Y: 对，今天这个题目大家一定都喜欢。我们要带您到最有美国特色的大都市纽约，了解对纽约人来说至为重要的餐馆文化。

J: Well, Yang Chen I spoke with Brian Carson, who is the manager of a restaurant located in the heart of New York City.

Y: 这个Brian Carson是我们今天要认识的第一位美国人。他在这个热闹的纽约市中心的一家餐馆做经理。好，我们听听他来解释这个餐馆文化对纽约人来说意味着什么。

实录1 Brian Carson: Most people don't cook in this city because it's set up to eat. You walk outside your door and there's a sea of 10000 restaurants on the isle of Manhattan. It's just that it's part of the convenient, ummm, way of life in New York City. People eat out. They dine out, that's what they do.

Y: 哇，你听见他说了吗? 他说光在曼哈顿区就有一万个餐馆。而且他用了一个词，用"sea”来形容餐馆林立。 "Sea" 就是海洋的意思。

J: He said "a sea of 10,000 restaurants," to describe when something is abundant. You could say, "the grassy field was a sea of green." Ah, you could say, "she is drowning in a sea of confusion."

Y: 你是在说我吗？

J: No, not you. Another example, "The streets of New York are a sea of people."

Y: 确实，中文里也有“人山人海”这种说法。下面我们再接着听听Brian介绍餐馆文化的意义。

实录2 Brian Carson: What makes...um, things special for New Yorkers is when they throw dinner parties. It's the opposite. They invite people into their world and they create feasts in their environments. That to me and to them is a special night. Eating out is almost like a necessity in this city. It's just what people do.

Y: 这么说来，纽约人请别人到餐馆吃饭是很普通的，如果请你到家里那是特殊的情况，是不是？

J: Right. And when I spoke to a customer, her name's Tammy, she was very honest in her response. She also said she doesn't cook. Much like you, Yang Chen.

Y: 就是想我一样。

J: And she said that it's simply easier for her to meet her friends out at restaurants. But it is a very special event when they come to her home.

实录3 Tammy Scotsafaber: Eating out is very important for me because I don't cook, A. I think it is one of the main ways that people end up seeing their friends at dinners and drinks or dinners then drinks. If you have someone to your home then you have to be a hostess as opposed to being able to just relax and have dinner.

Y: 她说得太对了！你想一想，在家请客又费力，又费心，花那么多的精力去准备，对不对？

J: Sorry to interrupt, but I was going to say, you also have to clean your house.

Y: 没错！

J: And New Yorkers, I mean, people who live in big cities, not only New York, Shanghai, Beijing, Los Angeles, you just don't have time.

Y: 并不是说我很懒惰！

J: No. It's not because we're lazy. We're busy women!

Y: 因为我的时间太宝贵。说起服务员的工作，我想，这份工作挺好的。

J: Well, we spoke with a man by the name of Aaron Zebrook and he has many reasons why he likes to work as a waiter.

实录4 Aaron Zebrook: Pretty women. Lots of cash. Stuff like that is involved. Good food. You learn about wine, you learn about food. You have to know these things. And that's again appealing. Who doesn't want to learn about food and wine and try all this good stuff and make cash at the same time at night when you have free time?

Y: 哇，他总结得很精彩，美酒佳肴，金钱美女，听起来真的是很诱人。

J: You learn about lots of stuff, food and wine and people. It can be a really good job.

Y: 也是一种社会经验。

J: Yeah. And I'll tell you what, for students, it is one of the most popular jobs to have. All this talk about restaurants, Yang Chen, is making my stomach growl.

Y:对，我听到你的肚子在叫了！

J: I know! It's embarrassing, but I'm starving! So, let's go to a restaurant and get something to eat.

Y: 好了，今天我们的节目时间到了！我和 Jody 要赶快到外边吃饭去了！

J: Thanks for joining us on American Cafe! Let's go eat!

Y: 咱们走罢！

Y: 各位听众好！欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。

J: Hello, everyone, I'm Jody! Welcome to American Cafe! And Happy New Year everyone! Happy New Year, Yang Chen! You know what January brings, don't you?

Y: 一月份是新年的开始，人们当然要快快乐乐地迎接新年。比如说打扮得漂漂亮亮地参加舞会，走亲访友，还有逛街买东西等等。

J: Of course, but after all that is over that's when the New Year's Resolutions kick in. You know when they start.

Y: New Year's Resolutions，新年的决心。哎呀，我还没想好呢！

J: You know, maybe we should talk about New Year's Resolutions a little bit to find out, you know, what we should give up for the New Year.

Y: 对。我们还是给大家解释一下什么叫New Year's Resolution。

J: Good idea. Here's Chuck from Washington DC with a definition of New Year's Resolutions...

实录1 Chuck： Well, a New Year's Resolution is something that an individual chooses to do on the occasion of the new calendar year. They are starting off with a clean slate. They are sort of having a fresh beginning and are going to take the occasion of the new year to introduce a new behavior or set some goals or, to the contrary, they are going to eliminate some behavior, perhaps a vice or a bad habit, and do their very best through the new year to improve their behavior.

Y: Chuck 刚才说的clean slate是一个很有用的说法，你给大家解释一下它的意思好吗？

J: Sure. A clean slate. And it just means a fresh beginning. You know adding a good habit or giving up a vice or bad habit. But I'm still not sure of anything I should give up for the New Year's. What about you?

Y: 嗯，我想想看。A clean slate可以解释成从头开始。可是说到要放弃什么坏习惯，我还真想不出来。你看我这么老实，遵纪守法，根本没什么坏习惯啊。

J: What, no bad habits?! Are you sure?! I can think of a couple bad habits you may have.

Y: 可别告诉别人！

J: Okay we'll keep that between us. Let's introduce some of the people we met on New Year's Eve and hear what they were giving up for the new year. The first one is Jen, from Boston.

Y: 我们听听Jen有什么打算。

实录2 Jen： My name is Jen and I'm from Boston and for 2004 I hope to be healthier, eat healthy, go out running and relax and find a balance in my life between work and relaxation, take some time for myself.

Y: Jen说她要多跑步。这个主意倒是不错。

J: Oh, are you kidding!? No thanks. I hate running. Jen can do all the running she wants. What else did Jen have to say?

Y: 她还说她要在工作和休闲之间找到更好的平衡。

J: Now that sounds like a good idea: finding a balance between work and play. Here's another person. His name's John and he has a New Year's resolution too.

Y: 好。那我们听听John有什么打算。

实录3 John： My name's John and I'm from Boston. And New Year's Resolutions would be to go to the gym more. Um

Y: Gym? 不行。我最不喜欢到健身房和一大堆人一块儿锻炼了。

J: Oh, I'm with you! You know since we don't like working out or dieting maybe we could change a part of our behavior, like Corby, a visitor to Washington D.C., had many New Year's Resolutions.

Y: 这个Corby够贪心的。她说她有好几个New Year's Resolutions。我们听听她是怎么说的。

实录4 Corby： Resolutions for next year is to control my temper, and not judge people and to quit smoking. I will probably focus on those. They're a handful.

Y: Corby 真有意思。他不只有一个，而是有好几个新年的决心。她坏毛病还真不少：喜欢批评别人，坏脾气，还抽烟。哎呀，我们又没有这些坏毛病，所以我们也不用去想什么新年决心了。

J: Maybe you're right. You know, we're both pretty easygoing and neither of us smoke.

Y: 就是，就是，我们都快成了道德典范了。

J: Here's a woman named Terry who explains why she gave up giving up stuff for New Year.

Y: 我们听听Terry是怎么说的。

实录5 Terry： Most of the times it's because when I make them they are very difficult to follow through on and complete. So I don't feel successful and nobody likes to do failure sorts of things. So, I guess I just don't do New Year's Resolutions.

Y: 还是Terry看得开。她知道自己没有毅力坚持下去，所以也就不去强求自己了。

J: We'll just keep on doing what we're doing.

Y: 没错。不用改变什么。喜欢作什么就作什么。太好了。这就是我的New Year's Resolution! 只要高兴，我们做什么都可以。

J: But good luck with your New Year's resolutions and Happy New Year.

Y: 好。我们今天的时间就到了。下次再见。

J: See you later.

J: Hello and welcome to American Cafe! My name is Jody!

Y: 大家好，我是杨晨。Eh, Jody... 你拿了一堆什么东西啊?

J: Oh, this stuff? Let's see, I have political posters .... what else do I have flyers, you know, information sheets... Wow, I really have a lot of work to do!

Y: 一大堆工作你还这么高兴啊，为什么？

J: Well, I'm excited because the work is for a political grassroots campaign. See, I volunteered to hang posters and hand out flyers to people at subway stops.

Y: 噢，原来你是热衷于这种基层群众活动。

J: It's the best way for everyday citizens to get involved and make a difference! But hey, some of the people I met a grassroots campaign meeting can explain that it much better than I. Let's hear from them. Here's Rudy who organized the meeting that I went to.

Y: 下面我们就来听听Rudy是怎么说的：

实录1 Rudy: My name is Rudy. I've lived in DC for a little under a year. And grassroots campaigning to me is a movement of people coming toward for a common cause, be it political or social, or whatever, banding together, working together to come to a common goal and hopefully be victorious in its outcome. The hierarchy is loose so everybody's voice counts. And in the end hopefully everyone is happy with the outcome.

Y: Rudy总结的很好。他说基层活动就是为了共同的目的， 大家聚集在一起，共同努力，最后获得成功。 Jody, 你给大家解释一下hierarchy的意思好吗？

J: Okay! The hierarchy means the chain of command. And in a grassroots campaign the structure of the hierarchy is very loose. That means there's really no specific leader or boss.

Y: 对，这个hierarchy就是指挥系统，或者说体系。当然了，既然是基层群众运动，那么它的结构一定是比较松散。

J: Right. And in a grassroots campaign everybody comes together for, as Rudy said, a common goal and contributes what they can.

Y: 那多好啊。每个人都是平等的，没有什么上下级之分。

J: Right, like a true democracy.

Y: 你说的一点没错。这一类的自发性群众活动正是美国民主的基础。

J: Here's another definition of grassroots campaigning that I liked a lot from Michael.

Y: 好，我们再听听Michael的观点。

实录2 Michael Briggs: If I had to define grassroots campaigning, I would think that it's people working with each trying to really bring democracy to life, share ideas, get people involved behind their candidate, trying to change minds, and raise awareness about an issue or a politician.

Y: 哎，Jody，我突然想到，grassroots campaign这个说法是怎么来的呢？

J: Oh, you know, I was curious about the origin, or the roots, haha, get it? Grassroots...anyway. I was curious about that myself. So let's have Michael help us out again.

实录3 Michael Briggs: My understanding of it is that grass has roots that are very broad, and they're not very deep but they broad. The way grass grows is it sends its roots out and then sprouts and those sprouts send more and more roots out. So it's about a chain reaction or a growing web of people that over time come to life.

Y: 中文里的“grassroots”就是草根的意思。草的生命力很旺盛，它的根部蔓延得很快，用这个词来形容这种基层群众活动非常形象。另外，Michael说的chain reaction就是连锁反应的意思。

J: The more people you reach out to, the more people they reach out to, and so on, and so on and so on. I'd say that joining a grassroots campaign is the best to empower yourself.

Y:你说得没错。这种亲身参与确实有一种鼓舞人心的力量。

J: That's why a woman named Catayune joined a grassroots campaign to elect a political candidate.

实录4 Catayune: My name is Catayune and I live in Washington DC. I grew up in Ohio. Grassroots campaign helps me because it means that ideas and emphasis and energy comes up from the grassroots, from everyday citizens. So it helps empower everyday citizens to really have a voice in national politics.

Y: 你觉不觉得今天我们采访的这几个人他们都强调群众参与，每个公民都应该发出自己的声音这样一种概念，这也正是群众运动的意义所在。

J: Well, what do you think, Yang Chen. Joining a big group of people and fighting for the same common goal doesn't it sound exciting?

Y: 嗯，太让人激动了。

J: You don't sound very 激动了. Come on let's go join everyone and take part in the grassroots campaign.

Y: 那就走吧，还等什么呢？

J: Thanks for joining us on American Cafe. We gotta go! See ya!

Y:大家好, 我是杨晨! 欢迎您到美语咖啡屋!

J: Hello and welcome to American Cafe! I'm Jody. Here, Yang Chen. I bought you something. An instant Lottery Ticket. See, you scratch off the surface to see if you have won. Let me do mine first. (scratch, scratch) Come on Lady Luck! Make me a winner! (scratch, scratch) Damn! Nothing.

Y: Hmm, 好象幸运女神不太喜欢你。

J: I guess not. Well, you try yours and see how you do.

Y: 好，我来试试我的运气。(scratch, scratch) 哇! 我赢了五块钱!

J: What! Let me see that. You won five bucks! I think I gave you the wrong ticket. I think I gave you mine. Can I have it back?

Y: No way!

J: Now, what would really be exciting is if you won the BIG Lottery.

Y: 你说的好多州一起办的那个超级乐透奖,对不对？

J: Yes. That's right! The POWERBALL!

(Enter sharp lightning crack)

Y: 这个声音好恐怖啊！

J: What our listeners may not know but a well-timed lightning bolt sound is meant to signify the mysterious, the awesome, like the POWERBALL!!!

(Enter sharp lightning crack)

Y:好了，好了，我现在已经感受到超级乐透的威力了。现在你这个音响效果可不可以停止了呢？

J: Okay. No more lightning bolts. For a while.

Y: 可是，我们是不是先来解释lottery这个词，然后再发挥你的音响效果。

J: Let's do. The Lottery is gambling. It's a drawing of numbers. And you have to get all six numbers right AND pick the right number as the Powerball to win.

Y: 噢，对，Lottery是以买彩票或奖券的方式进行赌博。

J: The jackpot recently is really high: $210 million!

Y: 哇! 两亿一千万美元!! 啊，我要昏倒了。

J: That's right, Sister! You go ahead and faint. The night before the drawing, I stopped at my neighborhood store and there was a line of about 50 people waiting to buy their lottery tickets. Here's some on-site interviews of people actually buying their lottery tickets.

Here's Carl from Miami...

实录1 Carl: Lottery ticket is a gambling format for a winning of a ticket for $210 million.

J: $ 250 million. What are the odds that you can win?

Carl: one in 250 million, I think.

J: So why are you here?

Carl: Someone's gotta win, that's basically it. The chances are low, but someone does have to win.

Y: 他刚才提到一个词“odds”，我看我们需要先给大家解释一下。

J: Sure. O-D-D-S. You know, your chances of winning. What are your odds of winning? But for this lottery, the odds were 1 in 250 million.

Y: 那么这里就是说赢得机律是1比2亿5千万。

J: So the odds are very low. And this woman Susan had a very funny way of describing how she views her odds and why she still plays.

Y: 好，我们听听Susan的见解。

实录2 Susan: Your have a better chance of getting hit by lightning than you do of winning the lottery. However, people do get hit by lightning. So it does make sense to give it a try.

J: So, you're willing to risk a couple of dollars and see if you can win the jackpot.

Susan: Yes!

J: See! She mentioned the word "lightning!"

(Enter sharp lightning crack)

Y: 你知道吗，你听起来象个巫婆一样。

J: Okay. Now, get serious, Yang Chen. You know, after I started interviewing people they all started talking about the big "what if?" You know what if I win?

Y: 就是，我都替他们发愁。如果赢了，那么多钱怎么花呀？

J: Here's what Susan had to say.

Y: 好吧, 我们来听听Susan的宏伟计划。

实录3 Susan: Well, that's what everyone always thinks as they're waiting in line ... "What would they do if they won." And of course, the first thing you think is quit your job and buy all those things that are on your list, that you wanted to get...you know...

J: Another woman, Olivia from New Orleans, Louisiana, said that after she paid off her and her family's debt she would give some of her winnings to charities.

实录4 Olivia: I would definitely donate some to charity, because there are a lot of good courses. And pay off all my debts, my mother's debts, my sister's debts and travel.

Y: 每个人都那么说。如果赢了以后先把工作辞了，然后买下所有以前买不起的东西，还要捐一部份给慈善机构。

J: Well, that's what they say before they win. I don't know what they say after they win.

Y: 好，我们的时间到了。谢谢大家收听美语咖啡屋。

J: Yeah! Thanks for joining us today at American Cafe. I certainly enjoyed talking with you about the American tradition of the...

Y: Stop it, Jody! 如果你再让我听到...

J: ...POWERBALL!!

(Enter sharp lightning crack)

课文下载：第9课

Y: 大家好，我是杨晨。欢迎您光临美语咖啡屋。

J: Hello and welcome to American Cafe. My name's Jody! Hey Yang Chen I am having Brunch this weekend with some friends. Do you have time to come join us?

Y: 好啊。不过这次可不会象上次那样一吃就吃四个钟头吧。

J: Oh, but that's the whole point of Brunch. After a long workweek, a nice long Brunch is the perfect end to the weekend! And as a matter of fact the meal is so long and so relaxing that it is a combination of breakfast and lunch. It's spelled B-R-U-N-C-H.

Y: 你说的到是有道理。既然brunch是把早饭和午饭合并在一起，那么当然时间就应该长点了。不过说起来brunch这个词不好把它翻成中文呢。我看听众朋友喜欢怎么叫它就怎么叫它什么吧。或者干脆就用英文brunch。

J: Hey Yang Chen, remember we talked to Edina, the manager of the restaurant where we had Brunch last time.

Y: 没错，我们来听听Edina给brunch下的定义。

实录1 Edina：Brunch is a very special time in American life. It's a time where after a very busy workweek a family or friends have time to actually sit down and enjoy their meal.

Y: 下面我们就让讲一讲他们的顾客最喜欢点什么菜。

实录2 Edina：It's usually French toast, pancakes, omelets, lots of eggs.

Y: 你记不记得我那天就点了omelettes，煎蛋饼，非常好吃。French toast是一种炸面包片，也很受欢迎。哎，你会作吗？

J: Oh, I make a wonderful French toast.

Y:不过我很好奇，它为什么叫French toast，和法国有关吗？

J: I don't think so. We have French fries and French toast 跟法国没有什么关系。

Y: 你说人们是不是只有在周末才会吃brunch呢？

J: Most definitely! And it's usually on Sunday after, you know, you go out with your friends and party a little, have a couple drinks, listen to music.

Y:人们在周末都爱睡懒觉，早上一起来早饭的时间就已经过了，那么乾脆把两顿饭合在一起，尤其在星期天，很多人在星期六晚上已经狂欢了一整夜，星期天和朋友享受一顿美味的brunch，的确是很开心。

J: Remember we spoke with a group of people who were out having Brunch after a fun night together on the town together.

Y: 我们上次碰到的一个女孩Kristine，她是这么说的：

实录3 Kristine: Brunch tradition is usually, I feel, the nice end of weekend to start off the new week. Nice comforting feeling. Usually very relaxed and laidback, late in the afternoon and really just a nice cap to the whole weekend and it is a chance to catch up on, on the week, I think, too.

Y: Kristine 提到了几个很好的词，比如"relaxed," "laidback" ，都有休息，放松的意思。

J: And brunch is definitely a laidback and relaxed meal, because, you know, if you go out drinking the night before you may be a little bit tired the next day.

Y：那人们在吃brunch的时候会喝酒吗？

J: Not everyone. But many people do. In fact, restaurants on their menu, include two particular drinks. You can choose to have either a Mimosas, a mixture of orange juice and champagne or a Bloody Mary, which is a little bit of vodka and tomato juice with spices.

Y: 对，可是喝了酒是不是更觉得没精神呢？

J: No, not really. It's just a small amount of alcohol to take off the edge.

Y: 我曾经听过这么一个习惯用语，叫 "the hair of the dog that bit you."

J: Ha! I can't believe you know that! That is the perfect idiom. "The hair of the dog that bit you" is exactly right. Here's Edina to explain.

实录4 Edina: If you have a weekend to yourself most people go out. You go out Friday night or you go out Saturday night. You enjoy alcohol and you drink as much as you want. You wake up and still have the that sort of taste of the night before. So, something like a Mimosa will give you that sense back. That's what the hair of the dog, the dog is the night before, and the hair is the memories.

Y: 这个习惯用语很难解释。

J: "Hair of the dog that bit you" ... I'm having trouble to explain it too!

Y: 我想可不可以这么打个比方呢，就是说你星期六彻夜的狂欢，灌了一肚子烈性酒，就好像你被一只大狗咬了一口。到第二天早上还有点晕晕呼呼的，那么你呢就少喝一点点酒，好像这样能帮助你恢复正常。那么这一点点酒就好象你从狗身上拔的一根毛一样。

J: I think that's a good explanation. You just need a little hair though. Thanks for joining us on American Cafe!

Y: 好，我们今天的时间到了，欢迎您下次再到美语咖啡屋。再见!

Y: 各位听众好，我是杨晨，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: Hello I'm Jody and welcome to American Cafe. Hey, Yang Chen, guess what this sound is.

(Enter breathing sounds)

Y: 噢，听不大出来，好象是有人打电话恶作剧，是不是？

J: No, no, no! It's not an obscene phone call. It's is the sound of scuba diving.

Y: Scuba diving? 潜水，那一定很好玩吧。哎， Jody, 我一直想学潜水，但是我很怕水。

J: Well, if you want to study scuba diving you better get over that.

Y: 说到scuba diving，我就想到要全副武装，背着那个很重潜水设备。太难了吧。

J: Well, the next time the Scuba Tour comes around you should try it!

Y: Scuba Tour是什么呢？潜水不是要到那种热带或者是靠近海洋的旅游胜地吗？

J: Oh, that's the special thing about the Scuba Tour ... it comes to you! When I went to a Health and Fitness Exposition at the DC convention center. There, they had a Scuba Tour. But, let's hear from Scott Evans who was a member of the Scuba Tour to find out what it is.

实录1 Scott Evans: My name is Scott Evans. We're at the D.C. Convention Center doing the Scuba Tour, which is an experience for non-divers to discover Scuba, basically.

Y: Scuba Tour就是到不同的地方举办活动，教那些初学者体验潜水的乐趣。这到真是个好主意。

J: Oh, it's a brilliant especially if you're in the Scuba business. The Scuba Tour brings it to people who may not have the chance to try it! Here's another diver named John talking about why the Scuba Tour is important.

实录2 John: My name is John, I'm from the Dive Shop in Fairfax, Virginia. There's always people who have always wanted to try it and that's one of the nicest things about an event like this is that they have a chance to try it in a non-threatening environment.

Y: 嗯，太棒了。通过这样的活动能让大多数人不出远门就能学习潜水。

J: Exactly! And I think when John mentioned non-threatening that is really important. The Scuba Tour brought the pool, the equipment, but not the sharks.

Y: 没错。虽然Jody刚才提到有鲨鱼是有点吓唬人，不过第一次学潜水就到海里的确是很惊险，游泳池当然让人觉得安全多了。你那天去的时候人很多吗？

J: Oh, there were many people waiting in line to try out scuba diving.

Y: 哎，说了半天我们是不是先给大家解释Scuba这个词是怎么来的？

J: Well, first we should that Scuba is an acronym. S-C-U-B-A. And it stands for something. Here's John Harmon to give us an explanation.

实录3 John Harmon: Okay, my name is John Harmon and SCUBA stands for self-contained, underwater, breathing apparatus.

Y: Scuba这个词在中文里就是水肺，是一种帮助人在水下呼吸的设备。

J: The self-contained, underwater, breathing apparatus or scuba equipment, allows you to stay underwater, like a fish.

Y: 那我们来形容一下它的样子好吗？

J: Let's have John explain the specific equipment used for scuba diving.

实录4 John Harmon: And basically what that consists of is some equipment, which is a tank which contains air; a regulator, which actually is the apparatus that we breathe...to deliver air from the tank to our mouths and a vest which actually allows us to sink under water or float to the surface.

Y: 听他这么一说，这种潜水设备挺吓人的，又是氧气罐，又是呼吸器，还得穿上潜水背心。

J: Oh, exactly. Well think about it. You're going underwater. You need good equipment. There's the air tank, the regulator, that delivers the air from the tank, and the vest for floating or sinking and, Yang Chen, don't forget about the wetsuit. Trusting the equipment for breathing is the hardest thing for a scuba student to learn.

Y: 没错，我觉得对我来说，最难做到的大概就是对你的设备感到放心，特别是在深水里，万一出现意外情况该怎么办呢？

J: Exactly! Your life depends on it. So, let's hear what George had to stay.

实录5 George：You gotta learn to trust the equipment and that's probably the biggest thing for students is to trust the equipment. The equipment is high performance. This is life support equipment.

Y: 我完全同意George的话。

J: I know. Even though he says it's high-performance, life support equipment, I would still be nervous.

Y: 哎，等一等，你说你也会nervous。那说了半天，你自己也不敢下水啊？

J: Well, see the line was really long, Yang Chen. And I wanted to try it... but you know...

Y: 好了， 好了，你不用解释了，反正我知道你没敢下水就是了。

J: Possibly. Okay, thanks for joining us on American Cafe. That's all the time we have for today.

Y: 好， 谢谢大家收听，我们下次节目再见。

Y: 各位听众好，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。

J: Hi I'm Jody and welcome to American Cafe!

Y: 我想我们的听众可能觉得很奇怪，听这声音好象不是在咖啡屋。您猜的没错，我们现在站在一个巧克力店门口。为什么呢？因为今天是情人节。

J: That's right, Yang Chen, it's Valentine's Day. So we left the cafe. We came out on the street to find out what people are buying for Valentine's Day!

Y: 巧克力！ 我现在口水要流出来了。

J: And Yang Chen, we've come to the perfect place, Chocolate Chocolate. And you, Yang Chen, I know something about the name Chocolate Chocolate. The chocolate is so good they have to say it twice

Y: 没错。巧克力！ 巧克力！！！今天是情人节。你第一个想到的是人们都送什么礼物呢？就是巧克力。确实是，你看里面人那么多，买巧克力的人好象大多数都是男的。

J: Of course, women love chocolate. Men like to send their sweethearts all kind of good stuff, diamonds and flowers and chocolate.

Y: 你说起钻石，等会儿我们还要去一个珠宝店，专门卖钻石，首饰的珠宝店。

J: That's a great idea. But first let's talk to..., oh, let's talk to this guy! Are these chocolates for you?

Man: No, actually one's for my fiancée and one's for my mom.

Yang Chen: That's so sweet!

Jody: So, we were just saying that Valentine's Day is not only to show your love for a special someone but also family and friends. Is that true?

Man: Yes it is. Women like chocolate anytime, next to diamonds.

Jody: You know, there's a diamond store right up the road.

Man: All right, I passed that one on the way. So...

J: What else for Valentine's Day are popular traditions when you guys plan to do?

Man: Probably dinner, roses, maybe some perfume.

J: Oh, look, there's another guy. I bet he's buying chocolate for his girlfriend.

Y: 你错了。你看这个人走进了[维多利亚的秘密]，是一个专门卖内衣的商店。

J: We are in front of Victoria's Secret store and the window is full of sexy red underwear just for Valentine's Day!

Y: 我可能不太会去买这种红色的内衣。That's not for me.

J: So, traditional gifts for Valentine's Day include chocolate, sexy underwear, and also flowers.

Y: 我们还是去那边看看玫瑰花吧。我们走吧。

Jody: First your name and why you chose to buy roses for your lovely wife on Valentine's Day.

实录1 David: Okay, my name is David Pollack and I like to buy the roses for my wife 'cause Valentine's Day it's a sentimental value for her to know that I love her and show some appreciation.

Y: 说起来Valentine's Day，中国翻成情人节。

J: Literally, "Lover's Day."

Y: 其实这个“情人节”不光是说情人之间送礼物。

J: Exactly. Valentine's Day is not just for lovers. Children show their love for their parents. Friends can show their love for each other. So, it's a time of the year to show your feelings, I guess.

Y: 就是你对家人，对朋友的爱。

J: You think the name should be changed to something like "Love Day."

Y: 爱心节！

J: 爱心节！Okay, so we've gone to the flower guy, we've gone to the sexy underwear store, we've gone to the chocolate store. What else is there for Valentine's Day?

Y: Diamonds! 钻石！

J: There's a diamond store?! Let's go!

(Enter sound of running)

Jody: We are here in a diamond store in Washington, D.C. What are your comments about Valentine's Day and its relationship to diamonds in general?

实录2 Mervis: Diamond symbolizes love because for many, many centuries it has always been a tradition of longevity and because demand is pretty much the hardest gem it has a stigma that it lasts forever, which it does. And men and women have always been attracted to its sparkle and brilliance and beauty.

Jody: Yeh, if you have sweetheart what do you plan to do this Valentine's Day.

实录3 Mervis: Well, I have more than just a sweetheart. I have a very beautiful wife and three kids. And believe me, my wife is going be spoiled rotten on this Valentine. I shouldn't be saying this in case she hears and I'll let the cat out of the bag. And I speak a large pair of diamond studs for her ears. And...yeh....

(laughter)

J: Diamonds are a girls' best friends.

Y: Jody, 你觉得今天过得怎么样？

J: Oh, today is so fun! I love hearing what people are doing for Valentine's Day! Thank you for you joining us outside in D.C. visiting all the places where people are buying traditional Valentine's Day gifts. That's all the time we have on American Cafe! See you next time.

Y: 谢谢大家，我们今天的时间到了。Jody，我有一个遗憾，就是在那个巧克力店，他们有让你试吃巧克力。

J: Free samples? Let's go back now! We're so silly.

(Enter "You're My Funny Valentine" by Tony Bennett)

J: Hello and welcome to American Cafe. My name's Jody.

Y: 各位听众，欢迎大家到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。

J: Hey, Yang Chen, you know our friend down in the music library, Vince...he says "hello" by the way ...

Y: 真的？下次你告诉他我也向他问好。

J: Will do. Anyway, did you know he's a guitar player?

Y: 我知道。他上次还建议我应该多听听他的偶像Jimi Hendrix的音乐呢。

J: Oh, that's weird. That's exactly what we talked about. Wow, he really admires Jimi Hendrix. But who wouldn't. Jimi Hendrix is a music legend.

Y: 等一等，这个music legend我们应该给听众解释一下，就是音乐界的传奇人物。

J: Exactly. And Jimi is not only a music legend, he changed rock-n-roll, 摇滚音乐forever!

Y: 说起摇滚乐，我可以跟你聊一天一夜。

J: Me too! But let's make sure that Vince gets a word in.

实录1 Vince Bonner: My name is Vince Bonner. And I feel Jimi Hendrix is not the father of the modern guitar, but um, he changed the sound so drastically.

Y: Vince说，虽然Jimi Hendrix并不是现代吉他音乐之父，可是他在很大程度上改变了吉他音乐的声音。不过我不太明白他这儿说的是什么意思。

J: We'll let Vince explain that. But before we hear from Vince I want to mention something again. Sometimes when Vince speaks, he drops the "t" at the end of his words. For example, he will say "lef-handed" instead of "left-handed."

Y: Lift-handed中文就是左撇子。

J: Right. I mean, left. I mean that's correct!

Y: 好了，好了，我看你越说越糊涂。我们还是听听Vince的解释吧。

实录2 Vince: Number one he was a left-handed guitarist. So he played the instrument upside down which is even more incredible. Um Jimi was the first to use distortion and reverb, heh, without it sounding like a lot of noise. Everything he was doing he did wrong, technically, he was doing wrong.

Y: Vince刚才说的这段里有两个词比较难懂。Jody，你来解释一下吧。

J: Right. Distortion and reverb are two special terms for music and, especially, for Jimi Hendrix. Reverb is a music term that's short for reverberation or shaking and tremors in the music. But you know what, Yang Chen, we have so many examples from Jimi Hendrix himself ... let's just play that.

Y: 对，让听众从音乐中来体会。

J: Here's an example of distortion and reverb from Jimi Hendrix.

Y: 大家可要坐稳了。下面我们欣赏一段Jimi Hendrix演奏的音乐。

(Enter sample of Jimi Hendrix)

Y: Wow, 他的音乐太有震撼力了。

J: Isn't that amazing! Nobody thought that that could sound good. But Jimi Hendrix was such a great guitar player he made he sound great. And Vince felt the same way, too. In the next quote he talks about what makes the guitar playing of Jimi Hendrix so special. Yang Chen, he didn't just play the guitar. His concerts were the ultimate in showmanship.

Y: 是不是所有的音乐家我们都可以称他们为表演家呢？

J: No way! No, no, no, Jimi was special. He used crazy lights and crazy color shows. He even set his guitar on fire one time.

Y: 这就是他和其他音乐家的不同之处。

J: Right. And he just played the guitar so well. When he played it was true showmanship. Here us Vince.

实录3 Vince: For me, and this is what I think makes Jimi so special, is being different, is having your own individuality on the instrument. Everyone right now sounds like everyone else. Everyone else sounds like Jimi Hendrix.

J: I really like how Vince worded it. "Everyone right now sounds like everyone else. Everyone else sounds like Jimi Hendrix."

Y: 现在很多人都在模仿别人，而所有的人都在模仿Jimi Hendrix。

J: Not only was he incredibly individual, but when he played his concerts turned into a spiritual experience. Here is Vince.

实录4 Vince: Jimi once said that when he got on stage and when he started to play he can make the audience do anything. It was like a spiritual revival when he played.

Y: 我觉得音乐的力量的确是非常伟大。如果大家都来听Jimi Hendrix的音乐，这个世界一定会变得更加美好。

J: You are absolutely right. I couldn't agree with you more.

Y: 谢谢大家收听美语咖啡屋。我们下次节目再见。

J: Let the spirit of Jimi Hendrix fill the air!!

(Enter Jimi Hendrix music)

J: Hello everyone and welcome to American Cafe! My name's Jody.

Y: 欢迎大家到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。

J: Hey, Yang Chen, I have a joke. Do you have a minute?

Y: Uh huh.

J: Okay, did you hear the one about the mushroom who walked into the bar?

Y: 一只蘑菇走进一个酒吧，很好笑啊。

J: Well, a mushroom walked into a bar and the bartender said, "Hey, get out of here. We don't serve your kind."

Y: 为什么？

J: That's exactly what the mushroom asked. "What do mean you don't serve my kind...I'm a fun guy!" Fun-guy. You know, fungus ... See the mushroom's a fungus. Oh, never mind. It's kind of funny. Yang Chen, are you there? Don't you get it? Fungus...Fungi...

Y: Haha ... 是挺幽默的。我相信我们的听众在收音机前已经笑得直不起腰来了。

J: Oh, you know what, don't humor me, Yang Chen.

Y: 不错，你还是挺会讲笑话的。继续努力。

J: You know maybe I should take me friend's comedy class. You know, polish my act a little.

Y: A little？

J: Yeah, you know polish it up a little.

Y: 真的有这种专门教人讲笑话的课吗？

J: Oh sure. My friend Jason teaches a stand up comedy class so I went to check it out.

Y: 怎么样，有什么收获吗？

J: Actually the thing that surprised me the most was how serious the class was. Jason talked a lot about the pain and sorrow in comedy.

Y: 痛苦，悲伤？你确定他们上的是喜剧课？

J: I was surprised too. But let's here from Jason as he describes his philosophy of comedy.

实录1 Jason: Comedy is actually your pain turned into comedy; that is what it is. It's the things that affect you in your life. Unfortunately the things that most people will laugh at are your pain and your sorrow that actually is actually in their life as well in some sort of fashion, maybe a bad mother, a bad father, bad working conditions, something like that, but they can still identify.

Y: Jason讲的倒是挺有道理的。幽默就是把自己的痛苦经历当笑话讲给别人听。这样既可以引起他们的共鸣，又可以让他们哈哈一笑，忘记了生活中的不愉快。这的确是很深奥的道理。

J: I agree. We all laugh at things we can identify with. As a comic Jason is not afraid of sharing the most painful parts of his life. During our interview as we were driving from his stand-up class Jason talked about how he grew up with a heart condition, his open heart surgery and the connection to comedy.

实录2 Jason: Comedy has always been dear to my heart. Um, I grew up with a heart condition. I had open-heart surgery. Um, I found that comedy was the unique thing that would bring people together. And it was always something I could do to make them laugh and help them enjoy their life and actually take their pain and sorrow of their life, identify it with me ... and actually get some sort of ... maybe a closure or some sort of ending to their saga or their story.

Y: 其实我们每个人在生活中都有这样的经历。 你越是在困难的时候就越想看喜剧片或者听听笑话。

J: Oh, I think so too.

Y: 说到这里，我很好奇，Jason的学生都是些什么人呢？

J: Most of the students in the class were older women. There was only one man. Here's Jason again talking about one of his students.

实录3 Jason: One of my students had brain surgery and she wanted to use it as some sort of healing. Bring out her pain into the public and actually to resolve that and turn her pain into someone else's happiness. And, um, it's a way of putting closure on events.

Y: Jason刚才讲的这个学生做过脑部手术。她想借助喜剧来恢复健康。对这个学生来说，"putting closure on events" 就意味着要忘掉过去的痛苦，开始新的生活。说起来美国的这种 "stand-up comedy" 是一种很特殊的喜剧表演方式，有点类似中国的单口相声。

J: Stand-up comedy is one of the hardest types of performing. It literally means that you stand up in front of people and make them laugh.

Y: 我有个很严肃的问题：要是没有人笑该怎么办？

J: You know that's a good question. You feel vulnerable. You feel exposed. You feel embarrassed. You feel naked.

Y: 还是广播好，我们可以用音响效果来掩饰你的尴尬。

J: That's right!

Y: 对，要是没人笑，你按一下按钮用音响效果就可以了。

J: Let me tell my joke again and see if it's any better.

Y: 好阿，效果一定很好。

J: We'll finish with my joke. Thanks for joining us on American Cafe.

Y: 好，我们今天的时间到了。谢谢您到美语咖啡屋。我们下次节目再见。

J: So a mushroom walks into a bar ...

(laughter)

J: ... and the bartender says, "Hey get out of here! We don't serve your kind.

(laughter)

Y:各位听众好，欢迎大家到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。

J: Hello and welcome to American Cafe. My name is Jody! Hey, Yang Chen, who's going to join us today on American Cafe?

Y: 明克胜先生。你知道吗，现在中国有学英语热，但是他们不知道其实在美国也有很多人在学中文。所以我们今天请明克胜先生来给我们谈谈他为什么要学中文，还有他在学中文的过程中遇到什么困难。我们今天还有一位神秘的嘉宾。你知道是谁吗？

J: I have no idea.

Y: 就是你。

J: Oh, my gosh!

Y: 好，我们就请明克胜先生谈谈他为什么要学中文，他是怎么开始的。

实录1: Carl: Well, I started a long time ago. First learned a little bit when I was in college. But I probably picked up most of it when I was overseas in Taiwan and also Mainland China for about three years total. Started learning, really learning, when I was in Taiwan.

Y: 那么，Jody你呢， 你是怎么开始学中文的呢？

实录2: Jody: Actually I started studying Chinese when I arrived in China. I don't have Chinese under my belt before that time, Yang Chen. So I arrived in Shanghai when I was 21 years old, not speaking any Chinese. And I arrived at the train station at 3 o'clock in the morning surrounded by people who did not speak my language. And I can tell you it was a little frightening. So, I did the only thing I knew what to do ... I sang a song, "Rain drops keep falling on my head." And everyone started laughing and it made the situation better. Actually, Carl said that he began studying in college while he was in the United States. I did not do that. I got a scholarship to leave the country and go to China and study and I took advantage of it. I really wanted to go abroad to study and China seemed like the most foreign place on the planet.

Y: 我们可以想象美国人学中文一定有很多困难，因为这两个语言实在是相差的太远了。那么下面请你们谈谈你们在学习中遇到过什么困难，首先我们让明克胜先生谈一谈。

实录3: Carl: Two of the most challenging things when you study Chinese, in particular, are the tones and the characters. I think that's just extremely difficult. And it was frustrating to be teaching ... teaching kindergarten students and realizing that their reading was much better than mine.

Y: Jody， 你觉得明克胜谈的这些困难是不是每个学中文的学生都会遇到的困难呢？

实录4: Jody: Oh, most definitely. The tones and the characters, Yang Chen, they're so difficult. We're just not used to it. We're not used to the strict tonal aspect of Chinese. 妈、麻、马、骂。

Y: 没错， 我听到过很多外国人说中文的时候因为四声没有掌握对，所以闹出很多笑话。 比如把一个东西讲成另一个东西。我想学中文也和学其他语言一样，每个人都有一些小的诀窍。那么你们两谈一谈你们在学习的过程中有些什么样的诀窍，或者是技巧啊，或者有什么好的经验介绍给大家。

实录5: Carl: The best thing to do when you're learning Chinese is to be around a lot of four-year olds. And the reason I say that is because their level of Chinese and yours are at the very beginning quite similar. You can have these great conversations like "I'm hungry!" "I like blue." "I want the ball!" And so, I thought it was great to be able do that ... very simple Chinese expressions with four and five-year olds.

实录6: Jody: Yeah. I didn't teach small children. I taught university students and we mostly used English. But I did have the opportunity to make friends with students in the music department and I learned several Chinese pop songs and I was able to perform with them and sing Chinese songs at concerts. And when you're a foreigner living in China you get asked to do television commercials and acting shows.

Y: 所以这个语言环境是很重要的，你和不同行业的人交谈也可以学到很多东西。

J: Not only the language but most importantly, the culture and how people live their lives and make a living and have fun.

Y: 好，我们今天的时间快到了，我想最后请你们二位一人用中文讲一句中国的成语啊， 俗语啊，或者是俏皮话，讲什么都可以。

C：天下无难事，只怕有心人。

J：I like this idiom. I heard it and it stuck with me and here it is 好马不吃回头草。

Y：哇，你们两都说得非常好。好，我们今天的时间到了。谢谢大家收听。我们下次节目再见。

J: See you later!

Y: 个位听众好！我是杨晨。欢迎您到美语咖啡屋！

J: Hello, I'm Jody and welcome to American Cafe. Hey, Yang Chen, how was your trip down to Florida?

Y: 哎呀，玩得太开心了。我知道你也去了迪斯尼世界，对吧？

J: I did! We drove down too. What a fun time!

Y: 可是玩得时候开心，你知道开车回来的时候开了十几个小时，简直把我累死了。

J: Oh, you're telling me. We drove straight through too and it was a long drive. Hey, on the road did you notice all the motorcycles?

Y: 没错，我正要问你呢，为什么有那么多摩托车呢？

J: Well, it just so happens that we were coming home just as Bike Week was ending in Florida.

Y: 你是说那些摩托车都是要开到同一个地方，参加同一个活动。

J: Yeah, all the bikes were going to Daytona Beach where they have Bike Week. I think this year it ran from Feb 27 to March 7.

Y: 难怪呢。

J: And on the way to Florida I stopped at the headquarters of Bike Week and spoke with a biker named Gino. He told me a little about Bike Week and biker culture.

Y: 好啊，我也正想听听这个Bike Week是怎么回事呢。

实录1 Gino: Well, my name is Gina Garjulo and I am in St. Augustine, Florida. And we're about 65 miles north of Daytona, which has the second largest Bike Week in the world. This Bike Week here is in its 63rd year. And every year people come from all over the world, literally.

Y: 听Gino这么一解释，这个Bike Week其实就是一种摩托车爱好者或者说摩托车手的大聚会。Gino说这个活动已经有63年的历史，参加者来自世界各地。

J: That's right. People come from all over the world to attend Bike Week at Daytona. A lot of people came and a lot of people spent a lot of money.

实录2 Gino: About 500,000 people descend upon Daytona. It's an impact of about $500 million dollars in about a two-week period all together.

Y: Wow! 不过我很好奇，这些摩托车爱好者都是些什么人？

J: Well, Gino explains that Bike Week is a very interesting look into the diversity of the biker culture.

Y: 你说的diversity是什么意思呢？

J: Okay, some people think that all bikers have long scraggly hair and tattoos and beards. You know, that's the stereotype of a biker.

Y: 没错，一提到骑摩托车的人我们就会联想到那种留长头发，穿皮夹克啊，就是那种比较粗野的形象吧？

J: Yeah, I know. And some bikers do fit that description, that stereotype. But here's Gina again to describe the diversity of people who go to Bike Week.

实录3 Gino: It's a very interesting look into the Biker Culture and you've got people that are what we call "one percenters" that are real hardcore bikers that have the long, scraggly hair and beards and everything and the tattoos all over them. Then you have the doctors and lawyers and everything. There are bikes that run up to $150,000. Lots of women ride, uh ... just all interesting people.

Y: 看来人们对摩托手确实有一些误解，其实他们当中有很多受过良好教育的人。Gino 刚才说的 hardcore bikers指的是那些铁杆分子。你说我可不可以形容他们是爱摩托车如命呢？

J: Right. Gino said "hardcore" and that's the perfect word to describe, you know, people who are really devoted to something to a very serious degree. "Hardcore" is one word and it's spelled H-A-R-D "hard," "core" C-O-R-E. And another example of how to use it would be "That's really hardcore, man," really serious.

Y: 我很好奇，这个Bike Week都有些什么活动呢？

实录4 Gino: They camp out. They're get here a week or so early. They have camping spots down there. And, uh, they drive all over the place. They have organized rides, contests ...

Y: 我想除了野营，赛车，观赏摩托车之外，一定还有购物活动吧？比方说他们可以购买特制的皮夹克或者说摩托车用品等等。

J: Even tattoos, Yang Chen.

Y: Oh, 别提那个。"Tattoo"中文就是刺青，就是在身上弄得花花绿绿的。我受不了。

J: That's one thing Gina wanted to make sure of ... that not all bikers have tattoos.

Y: 不能划等号。

(Enter motorcycle sounds)

Y: 啊，怎么有人开着摩托车到我们的咖啡屋来了。

J: Let's go outside and check it out. Uh, uh, Sorry, everyone. We gotta go! Thanks for joining us on American Cafe.

Y: 好，各位听众，我们下次节目再见。

Y: 个位听众好，我是杨陈。欢迎大家到美语咖啡屋。

J: Hello and welcome to American Cafe! My name's Jody. On a previous show we talked about Bike Week, a long vacation in Florida for people who love motorcycles.

Y: 没错，我们曾经介绍过Bike Week就是摩托爱好者的一次大聚会。

J: Exactly. And people come from all over the world to come to Bike Week.

Y: 对，参加的人来自世界各地。他们的活动丰富多彩。哎，Jody，我觉得这些人已经形成了特殊的摩托车文化，你说对不对。

J: Oh, exactly. There was way too much to cover in only five minutes. So, we're back with our friends Gino and Terry, bikers and motorcycle salesman, to learn more about the traditions of the biker culture.

实录1 Gino: I've been riding for 32 years. Uh I've been in the bike business for about 20 years ... me and my and partner Terry. It's been something I've always enjoyed.

Y: Gino说他玩摩托车的历史已经有32年了，然后他和Terry开业卖摩托车也已经有20年了。

J: Yeah, we talked in the store that he and Terry owned. The store was full of motorcycle gear.

Y: 你说的motorcycle gear，是不是摩托车用品？

J: Right, clothing and helmets, and of course the motorcycles. And Gino described a typical biker. Yang Chen, we should tell everyone that in English "biker," B-I-KE-R", only refers to someone who rides a motorcycle.

Y: 我会骑自行车，我算不算biker？

J: Oh, no, I don't think that counts, Yang Chen.

Y: 我好伤心。

J: Try again next time. Here is Gino to tell us more about the biker culture.

实录2 Gino: They're basically just nice people. They're down-to-earth, hardworking... they'll do anything for anybody.

Y: Gino说的down-to-earth我们可解释为很实在，很朴实，对不对？

J: 对了。

Y: 我听说这些摩托车爱好者之间有很多虽然不是明文规定，但是大家都要遵守的规则，是吗？

J: Exactly. Bikers live by an unwritten code of ethics. You know, they stick together and are very loyal to their friends, family and fellow bikers, even if they don't know them.

Y: 我想这就是为什么人们喜欢聚在一起，因为他们可以找到有共同爱好，可以信任的人。

J: That's such a good point. That's why people join communities like the bikers -- to find that loyalty. Again here is Gino.

实录3 Gino: We all feel akin to each other. You know you see someone broken down on the side of the road there's a biker you always stop to help (th)'em. And traditionally when you see bikers, bikers always wave to each whether you know each other or not just to say hi.

Y:真没想到他们这么团结，比如Gino刚才提到如果他们看到别人的摩托车坏了一定要停下来帮忙。还有呢，如果在高速公路上大家一定要互相招手致意。

J: OK, Yang Chen, I'm going to give you a quick motorcycle quiz.

Y: 你要考我，好啊。

J: What do you think it means when a biker pats the top of his or her helmet?

Y: 如果一个骑摩托车的人拍一拍头盔是什么意思。让我想想。

J: 好。What do you think?

Y: 我知道了。一定是他在提醒对面那个骑摩托车的人前面有一个卖冰激淋的店！

J: Ice cream shop? No, no, no. But I know where you mind is. What it means is to slow down if you are speeding because there is policeman up ahead.

Y: 真的？可见他们骑摩托车经常超速。

J: I don't know. But just in case. Just in case they are speeding. OK, here is another question, Yang Chen. What motorcycle do you think bikers most love to ride?

Y: 这个我知道，一定是本田。

J:No, no, wrong answer. You failed the motorcycle quiz.

Y: 啊， 我又错了？

J: It's the Harley Davidson, a bike named after the two Americans who invented it. Let's introduce Terry, Gino's business partner, as he shows us his pride and joy.

Terry: It's a 2003 Harley Davidson Fatboy.

Y: Wow!

J: Yeah. Wow.

Y: 其实我根本不知道2003年Harley Davidson Fatboy是什么。听起来象一种汉堡包。

J: It does sound like a hamburger. But here is Terry to tell us what it really is.

实录4 Terry and Jody:

Terry: It's the oldest American bike in existence.

Jody: What's it like to ride it?

Terry: It's more fun that you could ever imagine.

Jody: I think so.

Terry: You have to ride one. You ride one and you'll know what it's like.

(Enter music ZZ Top "La Grange")

Y: Terry说的没错。你要想知道骑摩托车的滋味，就必须亲身体验一下。好，我们今天的时间到了，谢谢大家收听美语咖啡屋，我们下次再见。

J: See you next time on American Cafe.

Y: 大家好，我是杨晨，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: And I'm Jody! Thanks for dropping by the American Cafe!

Y: 哎，Jody， 你踢踏舞练得这么样了？

(Sound of tap dancing)

J: Slowly, Yang Chen. Really slowly.

Y:一定很难吧？

J: Um, I would have to say in a word, simply ... YES! It's really hard.

Y: 就是吗。当初我就劝你学点简单的东西。

J: I know.

Y: 不是我打击你的积极性，你这个年龄学踢踏舞是不是晚了一点儿？

J: What's that supposed to mean? What do you mean 我的这个年龄?! What's wrong with my age!? But, actually the ladies in my tap dance troupe, called Young At Heart, are in their late 50s and early 60s. So, I'm pretty young. And most of them didn't start tap dancing until they hit 50 years old.

Y: 还有这么多人50多岁了才开始学跳踢踏舞。Young At Heart这个名字起得真好。它的意思是说一个人身体变老了，可是心灵和思想永远是年轻的。这和中文里的“童心未泯”的意思很接近。

J: And in English the expression "young at heart" is often used to describe older people who have a zest for life. You know, they have a young way of looking at life. Here's Hazel, one of the founders of Young At Heart.

实录1 Hazel Elbert：My name is Hazel Elbert. And ah, I started tapping in 1989. In 1989 I was 52 years old. I've been with Young at Heart since, oh dear, I guess it's been about five, going on about six years now.

Y: Hazel五十二岁才开始学跳舞。你们都在什么地方表演，我下次一定要去看看。

J: Oh, that'll be fun! Young At Heart travels to many nursing homes and senior centers in the area and tap dances for people who don't get to go out very much any more.

Y: 这里的nursing homes指的就是养老院，那么senior centers指的是老年人中心。哎，你们到这些养老院或老年人中心去为老人们表演，这也应该算是一种慈善活动吧？

J: Here's Hazel again.

实录2 Hazel Elbert：And you get a good feeling because the whole purpose of our organization is to provide entertainment to elderly people, actually. It's the elderly people that are in our nursing homes or senior centers and what have you, and that's the main purpose of our organization.

J: And you know, what's better than music, dancing, singing and laughter? Those are the best medicines for anybody.

Y: 没错，没错。对我自己来说，多听音乐，唱歌跳舞都是有益身体健康的活动。

J: And you know, there's another side to the benefits of Young At Heart.

Y:那是什么呢？

J: Well, many of the women have used tap dance to help recover from serious illnesses.

Y: 真的？跳踢踏舞还可以帮助她们恢复身体健康啊？

J: Definitely, definitely. Here's Hazel.

ACT Hazel Elbert

Jody: Out of all the dance forms why did you choose tap?

实录3 Hazel: Because I needed a diversion from a medical problem I was having. And I thought tap would be challenging and it would keep my mind occupied. It required a lot of thought, coordination and that's kinda of what I needed at the time.

Y: 原来Hazel是用跳舞来分散她的精力。这样她就不会老把自己当成一个病人。这真的是一种好办法。

J: Right, because tap dance, like Hazel said, is not only physical it's also mental. It requires a lot of thought, a lot of coordination. Another women in the dance troupe, a friend of mine, has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.

Y: Chemotherapy就是疗。

J: And she's still tap dancing. Well, here's Emily. She explains how tap dancing saved her from severe shyness.

Y: 害羞？

J: 非常害羞。

Y: 哇，我很好奇，如果她是个害羞的人，那她怎么敢在很多人面前跳舞呢？

J: 我们让她解释。

实录4 Emily：I choose tap dancing because it is something I've always wanted to do since I was yay high but I was too frightened and too scared, and I was a very shy person, oh horribly shy person. But then when I became 52, I said "Uh oh, I think it's time." 52 or not I was going to do this.

Y: Jody, 你知道吗，我听了Emily的话，真的很受鼓舞，因为我也是个很害羞的人，所以我也应该去学跳踢踏舞？

J: What?! You? Shy?! No way! But come on out and dance with us anyway. Young At Heart would love to have you.

Y: 好，各位听众，我们今天的节目就到这里结束。谢谢大家收听，我们下次节目再见。

(Sound of tap dancing)

J: Thanks for tuning into American Cafe! See you next time!

Y: 各位听众好，我是杨晨，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: And I'm Jody. Welcome to American cafe, where you can meet everyday Americans at work and at play. So, come on in and grab a good seat by the window and join us for American Cafe.

Y: 说到这儿啊，我们今天要带您认识两位美国人。他们有一个共同的爱好。

J: That's right. One's a musician and one's a dancer. And they have something in common - they both love bluegrass music!

(Enter "Orange Blossom Special")

J: Yang Chen, did you hear how fast they are playing? It is simply incredible!

Y: Wow, 你说的没错。虽然我看不见他们的手，可是我已经觉得眼花缭乱了。

J: Yang Chen, let's first introduce Bob Carlin, a musician we met at a cultural festival and let him describe this very American type of music; bluegrass.

Y: 好吧。我们首先来认识一下Bob Carlin。他是一位音乐学者，让他给您介绍一下什么是Bluegrass Music， 兰草音乐。

实录1 Bob Carlin: Bluegrass is a form of music in its strictest definition. It's a band of fiddle, or violin, mandolin, five-string banjo, which is an American invention from an African instrument, and, uh, the guitar and string base. And that's the classic bluegrass band.

Y: Jody，Bob Carlin刚才提到了演奏bluegrass的几种基本乐器。我们解释一下这几种乐器好吗？

J: That's a great idea. First he mentions the fiddle, or violin.

Y: 其实 fiddle就是小提琴，在演奏乡村音乐或兰草音乐的时候就称为fiddle。我给它起了个名字，叫“乡村小提琴”，好不好听啊？

J: Very clever. Then there's the mandolin.

Y: 曼陀林琴。

J: Next is the five-string banjo. It is the most important instrument in bluegrass music. What you hear in the background, in fact, is an example of banjo music.

(Enter banjo music)

Y: Banjo就五弦琴或者叫班究琴。您现在听到的就是班究琴。Banjo在兰草音乐里是最重要的一种乐器。

J: Then there's the guitar.

Y: 我想大家都很熟悉吉他。

J: Finally, Yang Chen, there's the string bass.

Y: 最后还有低音琴。解了演奏 Bluegrass 的基本乐器，下面我们听听 Bob Carlin为我们介绍 Bluegrass 的起源和风格。

实录2 Bob Carlin: What separates this from other music groups is that they play in a style that was pioneered by Bill Monroe back in the 1940s. And, um, it's a music that takes its cue or its roots from earlier forms of American string band music, country music and incorporates, uh, some ideas out of jazz, like soloing.

Y: Bob Carlin 刚才谈到的 Bill Monroe 就是兰草音乐之父。还有啊，他提到几个词，我们来解释一下，"jazz" 就是爵士乐。"Soloing" 我想就是某种乐器穿插在乐曲中间的独奏，对吧？

J: That's a perfect definition of soloing.

Y: 谢谢你的夸奖，Jody。你来自西维吉尼亚，可以说你是听着bluegrass 长大的，那么对你来说，bluegrass有什么特别意义呢？

J: You're right. I grew up in West Virginia listening to bluegrass music so it really is in my blood. When bluegrass music is playing, it's very hard to keep my feet still.

Y: 好，那么我们下面就为大家介绍我们今天要认识的第二个美国人。她叫Lynn Masterson。我们听听她为什么喜欢bluegrass。

实录3 Lynn Masterson: Well, it always has a strong beat. For a dancer, a strong beat is very important. Um, it's cheery. It's happy music. It's very, uh, familiar and comfortable music. It's sort of part of who we are.

Y: 我觉得她刚才Masterson女士的这番话很有代表性。 Bluegrass的确很有感染力。她所说的strong beat，也就是节奏感很强，适合跳舞。Jody，bluegrass这个题目要讲的内容实在是太多了。

J: That's true.

Y: 可惜我们没有足够的时间。 不过有一点我觉得非提一下不可，那就是bluegrass对大家熟悉的摇滚乐歌王，也就是猫王Elvis Presley的影响。

J: I knew you were going to bring up Elvis Presley.

Y: 好，下面我们还是听听音乐学者 Bob Carlin 是怎么说的吧。

实录4 Bob Carlin: Of course, Elvis is influenced by bluegrass. You know, Elvis did Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky," and Bill Monroe just did it one speed through.

(Enter Bill Monroe singing "Blue Moon of Kentucky")

实录5 Bob Carlin: Elvis, he did it as a waltz like Monroe and then he sped it up.

(Enter Elvis Presley singing "Blue Moon of Kentucky")

J: Now that we heard both versions, Yang Chen, which one do you like better?

Y: 当然是Elvis Presley了。

J: I knew you were going to say that.

Y: 因为他的演唱速度比较快，而且有摇滚乐的味道。

J: Okay, okay we know how much you like rock-n-roll and Elvis Presley. But you know, I think Bill Monroe's version better. But, I guess we're going to have to talk about that over coffee because that's all the time we have for today on American Cafe.

Y: 好，我们今天就聊到这儿。听众朋友们，我们下次见。

Y: 各位听众好，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨

J: Hello, I'm Jody. Welcome to American Cafe. Hey, Yang Chen, how's it going?

Y: 很好啊！

(Sound of table rocking, coffee cup spilling over)

Y: Jody，小心点，你不要晃桌子。 看我的咖啡都洒了。

J: It's not my fault. Look, it's the table. See how crooked it is?

(Sound of table rocking)

Y: Oh, 你说的没错，这桌子好奇怪，一个腿长，一个腿短。 得找人修一修才行啊。

J: No problem! Luckily, I've just come from visiting my favorite hardware store. Here let me...

(Sound of a saw cutting wood)

Y: Jody，你在干什么?

(Sound of a saw cutting wood)

J: I'm fixing ... (grunt) the (grunt) table leg.

Y: 不要再锯了，哎呀，你看别人都在看我们呢!

J: Just ignore (th)'em ... (sawing) just a little bit more (sawing) ... there!

(Piece of wood falling)

Y: 哎呀，现在这桌子更是高低不平了。

J: Oops.

Y: 你现在知道闯祸了。 中国有句成语“班门弄斧”，我看说的就是你。不过你这把锯子到是挺漂亮的。 从那里弄来的？

J: I told you, my favorite hardware store.

Y: 你最喜欢的hardware store ? 什么意思啊？

J: A hardware store. You know, a store that has hardware for fastening things, for fixing things, for...

Y: 我当然知道什么是五金店， 我是觉得奇怪的是，五金店不就是卖工具吗，还分什么喜欢不喜欢的。

J: Well, there is no reason to yell. Maybe some of our listeners don't know. I got an idea. Let's go visit Pfeiffer's Hardware, my favorite hardware store.

Y: 好吧，我们就看看这个五金店有什么特别之处，让你这么激动。

(Background sounds of the Hardware Store. Cash register rings)

实录1 Todd Pfeiffer: My name is Todd Pfeiffer and we're standing in Pfeiffer's Hardware. A hardware store usually has hardware for fastening things, for helping build houses, for renovating houses, for repairing things in the house. And also tools, tools that you use with the hardware to fix things.

Y: Ha! 说了半天，他这个五金店不也就是卖点什么拧螺丝，修房子， 装修之类的工具。我还是不明白为什么你要说这是你最喜欢的五金店。

J: Oh, well, that's easy. It's not what he sells. Well, you know, I'll let Todd explain.

实录2 Todd: It's actually a fascinating place (be)cause it's more than just a place to sell things; it's also a place where people come to talk to get the latest the news. Here it's about conversations about the neighborhood, what's going on in people's lives, what's going on in my life.

Y: 真的？

J: It is a fascinating place. Really.

Y: 居然有人喜欢到五金店去聊天，去公园不更好吗？

J: Well, you can always go to a park. But, like Todd said it's a place where people come to talk and to get the latest news. It's a neighborhood hangout. Here's Todd's wife Adriana.

实录3 Adriana: But on Saturdays it's a really fun place to be. The day flies by. You know, so many people come in and you get to talk to folks. And it's fun to spend the day with Todd. It is. It's really fun. We laugh a lot,...so..

Y: 她说的没错the day just flies by，时间过得好快。

J: That's right. It's so much fun that time passes quickly. Time just flies by.

Y: 现在我有点理解人们为什么喜欢到这家店， 因为老板和老板娘态度特别好，人们到这里有一种亲切的感觉。

J: Exactly. Steve, a retired man in the neighborhood, is a regular at Pfeiffer's Hardware.

Y: 你说的"regular" 是什么意思?

J: Oh, a "regular," it's spelled R-E-G-U-L-A-R, is someone who goes to a business frequently. So, you call them a regular.

Y: Wow, 居然有人逛五金店也会上瘾。这大概就和我们逛百货商店一样吧，百去不厌。

J: Here's Steve explaining why he's a regular at Pfeiffer's Hardware.

实录4 Steve: Well, the difference here is Todd and Adriana. They make this a wonderful place to visit. I'm glad a place like this exists in the neighborhood. I'm glad that people like Todd and Adriana are available to visit every week, every day. I come and help. I began helping just to be helpful to them but later I found that I enjoyed it. And it's a great pleasure to be productive.

Y: Steve只是个顾客。他常常来这里帮忙而且还乐在其中，看来他是把自己当成他们的一个家庭成员那样了。

J: Exactly! But back to our problem - our broken table. Look what I bought at Pfeiffer's Hardware!

(Enter drill sound)

J: Now we can fix the table!

Y: Uh oh!

J: Trust me!

Y: Trust you? 我看我还是先走，你自己折腾吧。各位听众朋友，我们下次见了。

J: Wait! Come back, Yang Chen! It's easier than it looks!!

(Fade with drill sound)

Y: 各位听众好，我是杨晨。欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: Hello, I'm Jody. Welcome to American Cafe.

Y: Jody， 你最近忙吗？

J: Pretty busy.

Y: 你在忙什么呢？

J: You know, work, spending time with my friends, oh don't forget about the tap dance.

Y: 没错。最近我忽然觉得业余时间应该学点什么，你觉得我学跳舞怎么样？

J: That's a great idea. What type of dance?

Y: Flamenco!

J: Flamenco!? Did you say Flamenco?!

Y: 没错。你干吗那么吃惊，是不是觉得我学不会？

J: I'm sure you can learn Flamenco. But Flamenco, F-l-a-m-e-n-c-o. Flamenco comes from the Gypsies, you know.

(Flamenco music)

Y: 吉普赛舞蹈。太好了。

J: Yes, yes. And Flamenco is fiery! Like the Gypsies! And Flamenco, Yang Chen, is full of passion and excitement!

Y: 等一等，你冷静一下，不要这么激动。 不过仔细想一想也许你说的对，我可能真的不适合跳这种舞。我看我还是放弃吧。

J: I have an idea. Listen to what my friend Marlene has to say about Flamenco. Marlene, take it away:

实录1 Marlene: I'm Marlene English and this DC Dance Collective. And I am a Flamenco Dancer. I take classes here at DC Dance. Flamenco is probably different from mostly anything that you ever see. It is very, first, it's very fast. It's very loud. It's very fiery. The clothes alone are wonderful. There are a lot of ruffles and colors and it's very exciting.

Y: 热情、浪漫、自由、奔放。我就向往这样的生活！ 哎，这个Marlene学跳舞有多长时间了呢？

J: About six years now. And she began studying Flamenco as an adult. She started out in ballet as a child but was deeply drawn to Flamenco when she saw it perform at the age 14.

Y: 她为什么不在小时候就开始学呢？

J: Let's hear Marlene explain it.

实录2 Marlene: In this country, unfortunately, when I was younger it wasn't available. We did not see much of it. It wasn't very popular and it wasn't well known. I saw it one time when I was 14. And I loved it. But at that time I was in ballet as most American girls are. And I just always wanted to do it. But I wasn't able to ever really find where to do it or how to come to it until I actually was an adult.

Y: 噢，原来她小时候Flamenco并不流行，所以她一开始学的是芭蕾，长大以后才有机会学习Flamenco。

J: Let's listen to Marlene talk more about studying Flamenco:

实录3 Marlene: I have been dancing my entire life. I came to Flamenco about 6 years ago. And I have to tell it's one of the hardest things I've ever done. It's a very difficult dance form. It's physically strenuous. What hardest to learn, however, are the complicated rhythms.

Y: 听她这么一说，我倒真有点担心。Marlene都练了这么多年了，还说很难，她还说这种舞蹈的节奏很难掌握。这是什么意思呢？

J: Maybe the best way to explain is to play some Flamenco music.

(Enter Flamenco music)

Y: 现在我明白了这种音乐的节奏确实比别的音乐要快得多。我觉得我光听这个音乐我的膝盖都要软了。

J: Well nothing worthwhile is easy. Here is Marlene:

实录4 Marlene: The challenge is hard but the rewards are wonderful. It is something that is a complete release of passion. You are so consumed by it that's it worth all of that. It's a wonderful reward for all the hard work.

Y: Marlene说的没错。迎接挑战才能享受成功的快乐。这个大道理我是懂，不过如果要吃太多的苦我可要重新考虑考虑。

J: Wait, Yang Chen. Before you say another word, listen to the advice Marlene gives you about Flamenco:

实录5 Marlene: If you are interested in trying out Flamenco and doing it, it's great fun. There are great challenges but it is so fun and so rewarding. Don't let it scare you, even if you're older and you haven't danced. Do it anyway. Let your soul be free!

Y: Marlene说得太好了。Flamenco。

J: No, Yang Chen, say it louder!

Y: Flamenco?

J: Flamenco! Repeat after me.

J & Y: Flamenco!!!

Y: 请你给我的灵魂装上翅膀，让我自由地飞翔吧！

J: Way to go, my Gypsy Soul Sister!

Y: 哎， Jody, 我怎么受了你的影响，也变得疯疯颠颠了。

J: No more talking, it's time to dance. Thank you for joining us on American Cafe!

Y: 各位听众好，欢迎到美语咖啡屋，我是杨晨。

J: Hello. Welcome to American Cafe. I'm Jody. So, Yang Chen, this is a big political year in the United States. The race for the White House is not going to be an easy one.

Y: 你说的没错。今年的竞争非常激烈。现在你只要一打开电视，就能看到竞选广告里民主党和共和党在相互攻击。

J: But Yang Chen, don't forget; it's not only the White House. There are also Congressional races going on in the States that are very important. In fact, our guest today is Richard Martin, the campaign manager for Christopher Turman's congressional challenge in West Virginia.

实录1 Richard Martin: My name is Richard Martin. I'm managing Christopher Turman's Congressional challenge in West Virginia 2.

Y: Oh, Richard是一个竞选活动负责人。他刚才说的West Virginia 2是什么意思?

J: West Virginia 2 means the Second Congressional District in West Virginia. All States are divided into districts and those districts each has their own congressional representation.

Y: 这种选区的划分还挺复杂的。

J: So complicated! That's why I'm not in politics. So, I asked Richard why he is drawn to politics. Here's what he had to say.

Y: 我看我们还是听听Richard来解释他为什么热衷于政治吧。

实录2 Richard Martin: I've been a political professional for about 5 years. I'm drawn to it mostly because I...I...I believe that all too often the government's used as a tool for certain people to get what they want done and it sort of ignores what would be better for most people.

Y: Richard投身政治是要促使政府为大众，而不是为少数人服务。嗯，我觉得他这个理念很崇高啊。

J: Oh, absolutely. Many people believe that government is a tool that is used by huge companies and big business and not everyday people, you know, 老百姓。

Y: 对，我们选国会议员就是要让他们为老百姓服务。

J: Exactly. And Richard believes that the better representatives we elect, the better everyone's lives will be. Now, let's hear from Richard.

实录3 Richard Martin: I think the better representatives we elect the better everyone's lives are gonna be. And we need our government to work for the people and not the huge companies.

Y: 他说得没错。政府就是应该代表人民的利益，所以大家都应该参与政治。那候选Turman先生有没有在集会上讲话呢？

J: Of course, here's the candidate, Christopher Turman, explaining why he is running for office in West Virginia. He also slams, oh, “slams”... Yang Chen, 用汉语怎么讲？

Y:就是猛烈抨击的意思。

J: He slams his opponent, a Republican woman named Shelly Moore Capito by saying that she was only elected on the coattails of President Bush.

Y: 你刚才用coattail这个词，就是上衣或燕尾服的下摆。这让我想起中文里的“裙带关系”，是不是这个意思呢？

J: 就是了！Exactly! Let's first hear Turman use the phrase "to ride on someone's coattails."

实录4 Turman: And this event is my first event and this is the first time I'm going to say publicly why I am running. In 2000 George Bush won the White House by winning West Virginia. And in 2004 he is going to lose the White House by losing West Virginia. And Shelly Moore Capito who came in on his coattails is going to go home with him.

J: Riding someone's coattails to the top is common in politics. Coattail is spelled C-O-A-T-T-A-I-L.

Y: 你是在什么地方采访了Richard？周围好象很吵。

J: Oh, we spoke at a fundraiser for the candidate.

Y: 其实关于竞选筹款也有很多法律条文，不过那些法律条文实在太枯燥，今天我们就不谈了。

J: Well, we won't talk about it today. But, Yang Chen, if you want to pursue your dream of running for office someday, you'll have to know about fundraising. You could run to be the mayor of ... Happyville!

Y: 如果我成为Happyville的市长，我会让所有的街道都干净整洁，Happyville永远鸟语花香，坐taxi不用花钱，买东西不用排队......

J: Yang Chen! Yang Chen, wake up and smell the coffee. You're not running for mayor of Happyville. You're the host of American Cafe. Now, will you say goodbye to everyone.

Y: 噢，对不起，我们下次再见。

J: Vote for Yang Chen!

Y: 各位听众好，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋，我是杨晨。

J: Hello. Welcome to American Cafe. My name is Jody.

Y: Jody, 我发现你今天头发很漂亮。

J: Oh, thanks so much! But, Yang Chen don't get me started on my hair.

Y: 为什么？

J: I was butchered a couple of years ago by people who just didn't understand how to cut curly hair. Look! I have a picture of what one of them did to my hair.

Y: Oh, oh...

J: I know! It's bad!

Y: 其实也不是很丑了，不过看上去是有点奇怪。

J: I know. Give me that back.

(Enter sound of picture being snatched away)

J: I know it was strange looking. But finally, finally, I found someone who can cut my hair. Garret Johnson at Fiddleheads!

Y: 我倒是很好奇这个Garret是个什么样的人。

J: Well, Garret had a few rocky starts as a young man. He dropped out of college four times and then got kicked out of his parent's house.

Y: 他四次从大学退学，还被他父母赶了出来。这个人一定非常叛逆。

J: Those rocky starts led him to a very successful career. He is known all over Washington, D.C. for his ability to cut curly hair. And now...the famous...Mr. Garrett Johnson!!

(Enter drum roll under)

实录1 Garret Johnson: Why I got into the hairdressing? Briefly, partially was because of dropping out of college four times and not knowing what to do with my life. And I got kicked out of my parent's house and while I was kicked out I met hairdresser. And I saw that he did really bad hair and the women were giving him a lot of money. And I said, "I can do that and I can do it better. "

Y: 有的人没上过大学也可以有成功的事业。Garrett就是一个很好的例子。

J: Absolutely! Especially for artistic people who don't know what they want to do college can be a terribly boring place.

Y: 你是在告诉我们的听众上学不重要吗？

J: No, no, of course not. Getting an education is very important, of course. But some people find other ways.

Y: 没错。我只是跟你开玩笑。上大学并不一定适合每个人。

J: And I can tell, in high school I wasn't a very good student. But I managed to go to China and study Chinese. So, don't give up! If you are a young person who's in high school or college and you don't like it that much, don't give up! You'll find something that you like. Okay, maybe we should go back to our show.

Y: 他父母为什么要把他赶出来呢？

J: Yang Chen, I don't know! That's none of our business!

Y: Uh oh. 对不起。我不该探听别人的隐私，可是我真的很想知道啊！

J: I know, I asked but he wouldn't tell me.

Y: You are terrible. 说起“terrible”这个词来，你知道上次我的头发就被剪坏了!

J: I remember! Your hair was terrible. I remember that terrible haircut, Yang Chen. ... Well, it was bad.

Y: 有那么回事吗？

J: Oh, you're telling me? You are telling me about a terrible haircut!? You, Yang Chen, are tell... Look at this picture!! Look at this picture!! That is a terrible haircut. And you know what? You know a good hairdresser when you meet them. I asked Garrett "What is the hardest thing about being a hairdresser?" and this is what he had to say.

实录2 Garret Johnson: In my opinion one of the most difficult things is that if we make mistakes or if something doesn't work out, there's really not much we can do. Whereas in a regular job, for example, if you're typing and you make a mistake you put white out on it and it's gone. If you mess up someone's hair it's there for the rest of ... until it grows out.

Y: 说了半天他的意思是说你的头发剪坏了，他也没法儿补救。

J: But you don't have to worry (be)'cause Garrett very rarely makes mistakes. But everyone makes mistakes. On the other hand, I bet it feels really to make someone feel happy about how they look. Let's hear from Garrett.

实录3 Garret Johnson: Having someone tell you "You're a genius!" that's really nice! But really talking to people and meeting new people is what I like about it the most.

Y: 看来Garrett真的很喜欢他的工作。下次我也应该试试让他给我剪头发。

J: Oh, good idea. Summer's here and you get a short haircut.

Y: 我头发还不够短啊？

J: A really short haircut.

(Enter buzz sound of razor)

J: Thanks for joining us on American Cafe.

Y: 谢谢您到美语咖啡屋。我们下次节目再见。不过到那时候我的头发就非常非常短了。

Y: 各位听众好！ 我是杨晨！ 欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: Hello, I'm Jody. Welcome to American Cafe! Yang Chen, that is a great outfit! You certainly have an eye for fashion. Hey, speaking of fashion have you ever thought about how fashion is connected to politics and society.

Y: 时装和政治的关系？我从来没想过。

J: I never thought about it until I spoke to a woman named Tina. She's lived in Washington, D.C. for many years and she studied fashion.

Y: Tina在华盛顿住了多少年？

J: Let's hear Tina as she answers the question, "How long have you lived in Washington, D.C.?"

Tina: Seven administrations.

Y: Interesting! 她没有说她在华盛顿住了多少年，而是说Seven administrations就是七届政府的意思。哇，她可真是个见过世面的人啊。

J: Oh, I bet she has. And with her background in fashion, Tina has a really interesting view of D.C. that involves the connection between politics, society and fashion.

Y: 说起fashion来，这当然是我最喜欢谈论的题目之一。不过政治和时装真的有那么大关系吗？

J: Oh, let's hear from Tina as she compares the Democrats and the Clinton administration who she feels are more hip, more liberal, with the more conservative Republican Party.

Y: Jody, 你刚才说的hip， 你能给听众解释一下这个好吗？

J: Oh, sure. Hip is spelled H-I-P. If a person if "hip" they are in sync or in step with fashion.

Y: 就是很时髦的意思。

J: 对了！Exactly! Here's Tina.

实录1 Tina: I'd say, since the Clinton administration it has become much more hip because the Clinton's brought in a much younger, hipper, much more liberal crowd which is much open and less conservative clothing.

Y: 如果我没理解错的话， 她的意思是说，不同政党的政府能够影响人们的行为举止和穿着打扮， 是吗？

J: You got it. The pulse P-U-L-S-E of the city changes overnight.

Y: Pulse在这里是节奏的意思。

J: Talking about the former President Clinton, another difference is that he often had free concerts on the Mall where he brought in bands from all over the world.

Y: 没错，在克林顿执政的时候，在白宫附近的大草坪上经常有免费音乐会，而且那些乐队来自世界各地。

J: Again, here's Tina.

实录2 Tina: You can feel the pulse It just changes overnight. Down to the inauguration Bill Clinton brought in bands from all over the world like Los Lobos and Santana. And these were free concerts on The Mall. Whereas, during the Reagan Administration they banned the Beach Boys. I mean, it's this complete flip flop in culture.

Y: 你得解释一下Flip Flop这个说法。

J: Flip flop is spelled F-L-I-P, F-L-O-P. And flip flop means to change from one thing quickly to the exact opposite.

Y: Flip flop就是突然转变或截然不同的意思。

J: There's also a flip flop in what restaurants are popular. Tina explains that Democrats usually prefer fun and trendy restaurants which is a flip flop from the more expensive, what she calls the "expense account" restaurants that Republicans prefer.

实录3 Tina: The restaurants that people go to are more fun. They are less like the expense account restaurants. That's more of a Republican thing to do. Whereas the Democrats tend to bring in people who are working on human rights and the environment. You're not going to take them to a steak house if you're working with PETA. So, there's a direct reflection on not only the clothes but on restaurants and business.

Y: Tina 这个人好玩儿 。不过你得先解释一下PETA是什么意思，要不别人以为你不带他们去吃牛排是因为你小气呢。

J: I'm not cheap. I just don't eat meat very often. But PETA stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Y: 噢，是个动物保护组织。

J: Exactly. So, I don't think they eat a lot of steak. I'm sure of that. But you know Bush is from Texas and Texas produces a huge amount of beef.

Y: 对，这下我知道今年大选我要投谁的票了，我最不喜欢吃牛肉，所以...

J: Hey, what a minute! You're not supposed to say that on the air! You know better than that.

Y: 那好吧，那我等会儿悄悄告诉你好了。各位听众，我们下次节目再见。

J: Thanks for joining us on American Cafe!

Y: 各位听众好，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。

J: Hello and welcome to American Cafe! I'm Jody. This week, Yang Chen and I go back to the dance hall!

Y: 没错，不过这次我们要学的是交际舞。

J: Today we are going to talk to Sean and Natasha. They are dance partners who compete in a style of ballroom dancing called Latin dancing.

Y: 我告诉你一句悄悄话。

J: What's that?

Y: 其实我不太喜欢交际舞。

J: Why don't you like ballroom dancing, Yang Chen?

Y: 其实也没有什么特别的原因。就是一说起来交际舞我就想到那些跳舞的人，他们的姿势特别强硬，有时候脸上的表情有点奇怪。

J: Well, I think I know what you are talking about. But, Sean and Natasha don't do that kind of dancing. The style of dancing that Sean and Natasha do is Latin style. And it is hot and passionate and dramatic and most of all sexy.

Y: Sexy?

J: Very sexy. When I was watching Sean and Natasha and the way their bodies moved together, 我的脸红了。 They have great chemistry.

Y: 你也会脸红。你刚才说的great chemistry，这里是不是说他们两人搭配得天衣无缝。

J: Exactly. Kind of like the great chemistry between us, Yang Chen!

Y: 现在轮到我脸红了。

J: First, let's hear from Sean.

实录1 Sean: I'm Sean Murphy and we're standing in the Chevy Chase Ballroom, which is on Wisconsin Avenue. And I'm here with Natasha, my partner. We both compete in international style Latin dancing which is a form of ballroom dance.

Y: 他们两人是不是一块儿跳舞有很长时间了？

J: It seemed like they had been dancing forever so I asked. And Natasha's answer surprised me. Here's Natasha.

实录2 Natasha: Together we've dancing since November of 2003. But separately of course we had different partners previously and danced separately, of course. But then we got together in November and decided to dance together.

Y: 其实他们两在一块儿的时间不是太长。

J: Not long at all. Yang Chen, Some people just click. C-L-I-C-K, which means they instantly, have great chemistry together.

Y: 没错，就好象我们两一样。一见如故。

J: 一见如故。

Y: Yeah.

J: We clicked.

Y: Natasha是从那个国家来的，听她讲话好象有点口音。

J: Natasha is from Russia but her accent is very slight. I think she's been in the States for many, many years.

Y: Jody, 我想学跳舞并不难，但是要达到参加比赛的水平可就不容易了。

J: Most definitely. And according to Sean, if you are going to compete in a dance competition, a good partnership is everything.

Y: 好，我们听听 Sean 是怎么说的：

实录3 Sean: Oh, my gosh, partners ... A partnership is pretty much everything, because when...like right now we're probably slacking a little bit and we're practicing maybe three times a week, maybe six to nine hours a week. And to be really competitive, the top couples do it almost full-time, like 40 hours a week.

Y: 他和Natasha两个人每星期要练习6到9个小时，而且他还说练习这么长时间都不够。

J: And now back to Natasha, that "special something" for her is the fact that Sean is such a good lead on the dance floor.

实录4 Natasha: Sometimes there's just one person, two persons, it's very rarely you can find a person that you can have actually good connection with, very easily you can understand that person's lead.

Y: "Lead" 就是领舞的意思。

J: Right. In dancing, the man is the lead. So, let's hear from Sean.

实录5 Sean: A lead isn't really telling the woman what to do but it's more suggesting "it would be nice if you did this now."

Y: 看来他们真的很有默契。 我相信他们会在比赛中取得好成绩。

J: Oh, I bet they're going to do really well at their next competition. To help them win their competitions, Yang Chen, they work with a coach who gives them choreography, 舞蹈动作的设计。

实录6 Sean: When we compete we have choreography. So, we have these routines that our coach choreographs for us so that each step is kind of predetermined. But, there's still a lot of how we ... how my body moves, how her body moves and how are bodies together. And that's... it's not just choreography, but its how we are, I guess, physically connected.

Y: 看来跳舞真的不光是技巧问题，两个人配合默契更加重要。

J: Exactly. We're back to having great chemistry.

Y: 没错! 你现在说服我了，我也开始喜欢交际舞了。

J: Listen to that music, Yang Chen. It's passionate, sexy! It's hot! Thanks for joining us on American Cafe.

Y: 谢谢大家收听美语咖啡屋。我们下次节目再见。

Y: 各位听众好，我是杨晨。欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: Welcome to American Cafe and today we're going to meet John who's a carpenter.

Y: 真的？那太好了。我从小就向往当一个木匠。每天都可以闻到木头的清香，可以听到锯子，锤子这些工具悦耳的声音。

(Enter tool sounds)

J: Wow, Yang Chen, I had not idea that you love carpentry so much. I guess we'll have to add that to list of your dream jobs. Let's see. What do we have so far? Fighter pilot, politician and now carpenter.

Y: 开战斗机，作政治家都不错，不过我今天对木匠最感兴趣。你赶快介绍我认识一个木匠吧。

J: Sounds good. Let's get started. Hey, you guys! Turn those tools off back there! We're trying to talk! Yeah, yeah... All right, John is co-owner of a construction company and he and his partner Tony have worked together for about ten years. Here's John.

John: Yeah, we do custom carpentry.

Jody: John, how long have been doing carpentry?

实录1 John: Probably about 15 years. Yeah, about 15 year doing carpentry. Ten years with Tony about five years just, you know, learning from the older guys. You show an interest and they show you the secrets they want to teach you and I learned. My dad was a carpenter too.

Y: 我想啊，John 的父亲也是个木匠，那么对他来说作木匠应该是最好的选择吧。

J: It's a natural choice. But I have a feeling, Yang Chen, it's not an easy job. John said there's long, hard hours with very low compensation。

Y: 你说的low compensation是什么意思啊？

J: You know, compensation. Money! Moulah! Ka-ching!

Y: 我们还是听听John是怎么说的吧。

实录2 John: We wish the money was better. We put in long hard hours and it just doesn't seem like we're being compensated the way we need to be compensated.

J: You heard it from John - long, hard hours and low pay. You know, that just doesn't sound like a Yang Chen type of job.

Y: 你这是什么意思。你是说我就喜欢那种工资高又轻松的工作吗？

J: No, no, no, no. There are personal rewards with work as well. Again, here's a personal reward John gets from building a friend's deck.

实录4 John: Right now, here we are right now sitting in here looking out. It's raining. Just put done a finished product and it looks great. I guess that's the satisfaction. And to know there's gonna (going to) be a lot of parties on this deck. Alright. Good people here. Good friends. And, ah, that's basically what it's about.

Y: 他怎么好象在给啤酒作广告啊。

J: He would approve of that comment. Especially since of us, uh, you know, drank a couple of beers after they worked on the deck that day.

Y: 你也喜欢喝啤酒？

J: Like beer? Yang Chen, you are looking at the 1993 Beer Girl of Kaifeng's best brewery. 汴京啤酒好喝！

Y: 我不知道你曾经有过这么辉煌的成就，居然给河南开封市的啤酒作电视广告。那你当时一定也是个名人吧。

J: 不敢当。Now, I wouldn't go that far. But anyway, back to John. John uses many casual expressions when he talks like "all right" "that's what it's about."

Y: 他说的"that's what it's about." 意思是“这就是重点。”

J: That's what important, right. That's what it's all about. Good friends. Good people. couple of parties, you know.

Y: 看来他不但是个好木匠，而且很关心他的顾客。

J: Yeah, John really wants to do a good job. According to him when you work in someone's home you can't run away from the work that you do. It has to be good, right?

Y: 没错。

J: That can be stressful, I bet.

实录4 John: We have great relationships with all of our customers. They're there everyday looking at what you do. So, we try to do the best we can. And, you know, I do the same kind of work I would do in my own house in someone else's house.

Y:他说的没错，在别人家干活， 主人天天监督着你，是挺不好受的。

J: So what do are saying, Yang Chen. Do you still dream of being a carpenter and work in people's homes?

Y:算了吧。我还是放弃我当木匠的梦想吧。

J: I thought so.

Y: 我的又一个梦想破灭了。

J: I'm sure that everyone will learn very soon another dream job that Ms. Yang Chen has. So, stay tuned.

Y: 还是你了解我， Jody。好，各位听众，我们下次节目再见。

Y: 各位听众好，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。

J: And I'm Jody! Welcome to American Cafe! Thanks for dropping in. Summer is just around the corner.

Y: 没错，夏天要来了，我想夏天水上运动应该是最受欢迎的吧。

J: Oh yea! Water sports! I love it! Swimming, rafting, boating...

Y: ...嘿，别忘了潜水。

J: Oh, that's right. I thought you would forget about it, since last time when the topic of scuba diving came up, you sounded kind of ify about it.

Y: Ify? 我才不ify呢！ 哎， "ify" 到底是什么意思啊。

J: "Ify" means you're not sure about something. You're full of ifs, "if this happens..." or "if that happens..."

Y: Oh. 就是不太确定的意思。没错，我 是有点ify，因为我怕水。

J: Well, whether or not I'm afraid of the ocean, this year I'm going to try it! I've had a strong feeling lately of wanting to leave the Earth. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Y: 我看你又有点异想天开， 想离开地球可不好办。你又不能去太空，那剩下的选择就只有到水底下了。

J: You got it! So, I thought I should meet some people who scuba dive. Today we're going to meet John.

实录1 John : My name is John. I'm from the Dive Shop in Fairfax, Virginia. Well, I started scuba diving in 1957 so I've been diving longer than most people I know have been alive. I have almost 10,000 scuba dives in my life and this is what I do for a career.

Y: Wow, 他从57年就开始潜水了，那时候我还没出生呢。

J: Me either.

Y: 那你说John 为什么热衷于潜水呢？

J: Let's have John answer the question "Why do you love scuba diving?"

实录2 John: Well, most everyone that you know doesn't dive, so that separates you from most people. What I find is it's an opportunity to go ahead and appreciate a portion of the Earth that most people will never get a chance to see. An opportunity to go out into a relatively pristine and wild environment is quite fascinating.

Y: 他刚才说的pristine这个词很好听，是什么意思呢，Jody.

J: Pristine. Pristine is spelled P-R-I-S-T-I-N-E and it means that something is pure and untouched. Usually, pristine is used to describe a natural environment or landscape.

Y:就是原始，或者说没有被污染的意思。

J: But you know, Yang Chen, simply going underwater is not the end goal of scuba diving. There's much more to it than that.

Y: 那么潜水的真正目的是什么呢？

J: Well, John says that scuba diving is not the end activity. It's all about underwater recreation, you know fun activities. Again, here's John.

实录3 John: Scuba diving itself is not the end activity here; it's underwater recreation whether or not it's exploration, whether or not it's photography, whether or not it's examination of sunken ships, or whether or not it's just simply a walk in the woods.

Y: 听他这么一说，水下还真的有那么多有意思的活动呢。不过对我来说，幻想一下还可以，真要到水底探险，那我还真的先克服怕水的心理。

J: Okay, we're going to try something here. Yang Chen, I want you to join me in a little exercise to get over your fear of water. Okay, close your eyes.

Y: 在这儿？

J: No, really close 'em. Just close your eyes. In fact, everybody out there close your eyes with us.

Y: 哎，你怎么没闭上眼睛啊？

J: Hey, just listen. Okay, just close your eyes, Yang Chen. Trust me.

Y: Okay.

J: First, we're stepping into the cold ocean water.

Y: 我们现在走进了冰冷的海水。

J: We're slowly sinking down, down, down

Y: 沉下去，一直往下沉。

J: You're breathing is relaxed.

Y: 在宁静的大海里你仿佛能听到自己的呼吸声。

J: You hope.

Y: Jody, 不要开玩笑，我们现在可是在水底下呢。

J: Sorry, sorry. Okay, let's go back. Let's go back. Let's go back. Suddenly, a dark image obscured behind a school of fish and seaweed becomes clearer.

Y: 突然之间，你看一个巨大的黑色怪物，越来越清晰地出现在你面前。

J: It's a ship long sunken and long forgotten.

Y: 原来是一艘沉睡了好几百年的船。

J: Forgotten treasures awaits you!

Y: 哇，船上有那么多金银珠宝，我们发财了！！！

J: No, no, no. We have to go back!

Y: 这时候，你还念什么诗啊 。快点帮我拿个大口袋来！

Y:各位听众好，我是杨晨。欢迎收听美语咖啡屋。

J: And I'm Jody. Welcome to the American Cafe. Yang Chen, you mentioned that you bought a guitar. How's it going?

Y: 我刚开始学。不过我真的有点担心我要是学不好该怎么办呢。

J: Oh, don't worry about it. It's fun just to learn something new. But, on today's show, I have a surprise for you.

Y: A surprise? 你是不是又想出什么新的花招吓唬我。

J: No, no, no, don't worry! You'll like this surprise. Today's guest on the show is a woman who's been in rock-n-roll for the past 17 years.

Y: 真的？她叫什么名字，是那个乐队的？

J: Her name's Mary Huff and the band is called Southern Culture on the Skids, SCOTS, for short. She's the female part of this 3-person rock-n-roll band.

Y: 她演奏那种乐器啊？不会正好是吉他吧？

J: You guess it! She plays the bass guitar, the keyboards and she sings.

Y: 真是不得了。她的专长是低音吉他、电子琴，而且她还会唱歌。这么有才能的人，我一定要认识她。

J: Well, you'll have your chance in a minute. Mary started playing piano when she was quite young. And then her older brother started learning how to play the bass. That's when she decided to one up him and learn the bass herself.

Y: 你可能得解释一下"one up somebody"是什么意思。

J: Oh, that a good idea. To one up somebody means to do better than them; to best them. Now, let's meet Mary.

实录1: Mary Huff: Actually I started playing pretty young, you know. I was the pianist in the family and all that. Then, ah, big brother decided to play bass. And I was like "No way! I'm the musician in the family." So, I had to one up him there.

Y: 开来Mary 的好胜心好象很强，作什么事都想超过别人。

J: Exactly! Mary said, "No way man, no way big brother. I'm the musician in the family."

Y: 我们还是谈谈乐队里的其他成员吧？

J: 好了！Well, there's also Rick Miller, on lead guitar and vocals, and Dave Hartman on drums and vocals as well.

Y: Lead guitar 和bass guitar 的区别是什么呢？

J: Oh, that's a good question. The bass guitar is usually in the background and keeps the rhythm, like the drums. In this song "Smilin' Yeah Yeah Yeah" Mary's bass is in background keeping the rhythm.

(Enter "Smiley Yeah Yeah Yeah")

Y: Oh yeah, 听得出来低音吉他保持着乐曲的节奏。

J: And she sings. And as the only woman in the band she gives SCOTS that feminine touch. Here's a sample of Mary singing "Fire of Love" like only a woman can sing!

(Enter "Fire of Love" featuring Mary Huff)

Y: Mary她唱不错！ 那她参加乐队多长时间了？

J: Oh, let's let Mary explain. Here's Mary!

实录2: Mary Huff: I joined when I was nineteen and I'm not even going to tell you how I am now but I've been in the band for 17 years, if you can figure that out.

Y: 她19年加入乐队，经过了17年，19 加上17 一概是36岁没错。

J: I think you're right. She wouldn't exactly tell her age, you know. But she let me do the math and because I'm quick, Yang Chen, I figured it out. 19...17. She tried to be sneaky, but we figured it out, didn't we?

Y: 没错。

J: But that lead me to a question. You know that led me to a question though. Is it easy being in rock-n-roll as a woman?

实录3: Mary Huff: It's fine, you know, until beauty starts to fade then it's a little rough. But um, I don't know. It's fine. It's great. I've never had any problem with it. I've I think it's an assett. Ass-set, that is. Always has been for me. I don't know

Y: 好，Mary加油，我们支持你。本来就是吗，为什么男的五六十岁还可以唱摇滚乐，女的当然也可以。对不对, Jody,

J: Of course! I know a lot of women who are old school rock-n-rollers. And besides, Yang Chen, it's not an age thing, it's more of a lifestyle thing. Don't you agree?

Y: 没错。 因为很多女的后来结了婚，生了孩子要照顾家庭所以没办法跟者乐队到处去奔波。 这可以理解。

J: That's right. But, Mary just chose a different road, the road of rock-n-roll. So, talking about the bass guitar and lead guitar, Yang Chen, which one are you going to play?

Y: 这个问题嘛...

J: Okay, okay, you just started learning so maybe in a couple of months I'll ask you if you're a lead guitarist or a bass guitarist. 你自己选择！ You pick it!

Y: 好，六个月以后你再问我这个问题！

J: Okay, okay!

(End with "Fire of Love")

Y:各位听众好，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。

J: Hello I'm Jody and welcome to the American Cafe.

Y: Jody, 听说你下星期是不是要到意大利去？

J: Yes and I can't wait! I just bought some new clothes for the trip but more importantly I'm learning a little Italian. Piacere!

Y: 听着很好听，是什么意思？

(Pause)

J: Um, just a minute, (flipping through a book) hold on...

Y: Jody, 我看你以前一定没好好学你的意大利语。

J: You're absolutely right. I'll try harder.

Y: 我记得你好象是意大利人后裔，是吗？

J: Yes, I am of Italian heritage H-E-R-I-T-A-G-E, and most of my family comes from Italy.

Y: 你是意大利人后裔，可是却不会说意大利语？

J: I know, unfortunately, my father's mother and father...

Y: (Translate)你是说你的爷爷、奶奶...

J: ...right. only spoke English in the home.

Y: 他们在家光说英语。

J: I think during that era, that time period, it was very common for European immigrants to speak English.

Y: 他们那时候都急着要学好英语。

J: But you know the best way to broaden your horizons is to learn a foreign language.

Y: 你说到"broaden your horizons"，你记不记得我们上次在意大利文化节上碰见到的那个女孩Diane?

J: Oh right, Dianne.

Y: 她也是这么说的。下面就让大家来认识一下Diane:

实录1: Diane: I'm Diane Adleberg and I live in Falls Church, Virginia. I'm on my second Italian class and I am not of Italian heritage but I love languages. And I think it's nice for Americans to broaden their horizons and learn a foreign language.

Y: 她说的"Broaden your horizons"就是扩大视野的意思。Diane说的没错，学外语就是一种扩大视野的好方法，因为你学了一种语言以后，就会自然而然地想学习这个国家的文化。

J: Exactly. And also, Yang Chen, traveling is another way to broaden your horizons and it's fun.

Y: 你说的没错。那你这次到意大利去就是很好的机会，可以提高你的意大利语水平。

J: I hope so. (Speaking Italian), what do you think?

Y: 你说得很好。

J: I don't think so, but thanks any way.

Y: Diane说她不是意大利人后裔，可以有那么多外语可以学，她为什么选择意大利语呢！

J: Maybe because it's so romantic!

Y: Sigh. 意大利语的确是非常浪漫。

J: And Diane speaks French already. But she said that she has always wanted to learn Italian because of an opera that she loves very much!

实录2: Diane: Well, I speak French already and I've always wanted to learn Italian because there's a particular opera that I love, La Traviata.

Y: 我想很多人和她一样是为了听意大利歌剧而学习意大利语。

J: Diane gave us an example of her favorite aria in the opera La Traviata ...

J: What is "aria" in Chinese?

Y: Aria就是咏叹调的意思。

J: Again here is Diane.

实录3: Diane: I'll tell you how the aria to my favorite opera goes. It's: "Di provenze il mar il suol" And I've just always loved that aria.

J: "Di provenze il mar il suol" !!

Y: 听起来很好听，是什么意思呢？

J: I asked her to translate and she wouldn't. She said we would have to investigate.

实录4: Diane: You know I'm going to translate it for you because it's very poetic so you'll have to investigate.

Y: Diane说这句话太有诗意

J: Very poetic.

J: If we need to investigate, I guess we have to listen to it first. Here's the aria from La Traviata!

(Enter music)

Y: Jody， 你听懂了吗？

J: Understand? No, not word. But it's so beautiful!

Y: 其实你不需要懂得意大利语来欣赏意大利歌剧。

J: Thanks for joining us on American Cafe.

Y: 我们下次再见。

(Fade music to end)

Y: 各位听众好。欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。

J: Hello and welcome to American Cafe. I'm Jody.

Y: Jody你终于回来了。这次去意大利玩得怎么样？

J: I had a fabulous time in Italy!

Y: 哎呀，好□慕你啊。那是什么给你的印象最深呢？

J: All of it, Yang Chen. I loved all of it. The culture, the scenery, the people ... everything was simply fabulous!

Y: 吃得怎么样？

J: The food was amazing. I think I'm five pounds heavier and I was only there a week.

Y: 一个星期增加了五磅，一天还不到一磅，还不算太严重。

J: Maybe to you.

Y: 很多人都喜欢意大利菜。不过说到品尝意大利食品，其实你根本不用去意大利就可以做到。你记不记得你去意大利之前我们去过一个华盛顿意大利文化节Festive Italiana。哇，当时有那么多好吃的，还有人表演意大利音乐和舞蹈。

J: The food and music that was really a lot of fun! During the summertime there are street festivals like Festive Italiana all over the United States. Let's meet one of the coordinators of the Festive Italiana, Diana Crespi.

实录1: Diana Crespi: My name is Diane Crespi. I am the coordinator - one of the coordinators of Festive Italiana. Um, my involvement is basically just helping to organize this festival that's been going on for six years now.

Y: Diana说这个活动已经进行了六年。我们可以想象，这么大型的活动组织工作一定很不容易。

J: I'm sure that organizing Festive Italiana takes a lot of work.

Y: 当时那条街上有一个教堂当时正在作礼拜，教堂传来的悦耳的钟声给文化节增添了一非常特别的气氛。

J: Yes, it added so much to the atmosphere of the street festival.

Y: 下面就让Diana给我们来介绍一下文化节的丰富内容。

实录2: Diana Crespi: They can expect to see everything Italian! Food, entertainment, dancing, you know, songs, culture. And that's why people come down - they really want to be Italian for a day. Every year this is where you can truly be Italian for a day and learn the beautiful language and learn about the food and the history as well.

Y: Diana说得多好，做一天真正的意大利人，我当时还真有这种感觉呢。

J: So did I!

Y: 可是你本来就是意大利人啊。

J: Yes I am. But it made me feel more Italian. You know, in the U.S. sometimes it's hard to preserve your culture and your heritage.

Y: 你说的没错。不过这种街头文化节就是一种传播文化的好方法。

J: That is right. In this next quote, Diana explains how a street festival can help to preserve your culture and heritage.

实录3: Diana Crespi: Italian-Americans aren't looked on as a separate minority in this country; it becomes harder and harder to preserve your culture and heritage. So Festive Italiana really gives the active Italian-American population something to cling onto and a way to preserve their heritage, to promote the culture, the positive part of their culture.

Y: 她刚才说的cling onto是什么意思？

J: To cling onto something means to hold tightly, either with your hands like clinging onto to a rope or with your mind like clinging onto an idea or your heritage.

Y: 就是抓住什么东西不放的意思，比如用手抓住绳子，或者说对一个想法不愿意放弃。 说到继承文化遗产，对于美国这个多民族的国家， 维护各民族的文化有什么重要意义呢？

J: Now let's hear again from Diana.

实录4: Diana: And it's important to the fabric of the United States It's important for all cultures to do that not just Italian-Americans.

Y: Fabric of the United State，我好喜欢这个说法。

J: So do I. Because fabric of the United States really describes the diversity of the American culture.

Y: 对，用fabric来形容美国是由不同文化组成的国家，真的很形象。你知道我现在在想什么？

J: What's that?

Y：作一天的意大利人是很有意思。不过做一天意大利人还不够。我恨不得明天就飞到意大利去。和我一起去好吗？

J: That's a great idea. But I think we have to wait a little bit. I just came back. But we can play some Italian music in the meantime.

Y：各位听众好，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。

J: And I'm Jody! Welcome to American Cafe! Thanks for dropping in.

Y: Jody 我今天好高兴！

J: Why are you so excited?

Y: 因为我刚认识了一位在乔治城大学教红楼梦的教授。

J: Oh, well no wonder you are so happy! I know how much you love Hongloumeng.

Y: 没错，因为《红楼梦》是人类历史上最伟大的小说。

J: Yes, well, to you...it is.

Y: 你那是什么表情啊。你想想世界那里还有一部小说象《红楼梦》那样描写了那么多生动的人物。

J: Really? 那我象红楼梦里的那个人物？

Y: 这个我等会儿再告诉你。我们先来让大家认识一下 Millward 教授，他还有个中文名字，叫米华健。他其实是历史教授。

J: A history professor? Then why he is teaching Hongloumeng?

Y: 我们就让米华健教授亲自来解释一下他为什么在历史课上教《红楼梦》：

实录1: James Millward: Well, I've always taught Chinese history and I thought, well it would be nice to teach something that stresses the cultural side of Chinese history as well. And so I thought why not teach Hongloumeng and I wonder if we could use Hongloumeng as a historical source to understand 18th century China.

Y: 你觉不觉米华健教授很有创意？让学生通过《红楼梦》来了解当时中国的社会。

J: That is much more creative because, you know, history can be pretty boring. yawn!

Y: 没错。如果你一边读《红楼梦》，一边学历史就不会觉得枯燥了。

J: But I wonder what can they learn from Hongloumeng. Isn't it just a love story?

Y: 那我们听听米华健教授是怎么说的：

实录2: James Millward: We read about Qing Dynasty government and Qing Dynasty society, and the legal system. There are a lot of court cases talked about in the book, Xue Pan. And we read about gender, history of gender and gender relations and women. We read about poetry and the role of poetry and, in particular, about women writing poetry; we read about art and art history.

J: Wow. So it's not just a boy-meets-girl love story.

Y: 当然不是！ 《红楼梦》可不是一部简单爱情小说.它其实是一部社会小说。

J: Well, did the students like the book?

Y:那我们来问问米华健教授：

实录3: James Millward: They liked the book. They did find it long. They were glad when they were done. You know, if you sit down in the summer and read the whole thing from beginning to end, it doesn't feel long; but if you are reading it every week, it's like homework, and so it's not as much fun.

Y: 你听到了吗， 米华健教授也说了，夏天读《红楼梦》是一种真正的享受。

J: Yeah, but how long is it, Yang Chen?

Y: 不太长，只有一百二十回。

J: 不太长? What do you mean!?!? One hundred twenty chapters? Hey, is there a comic book version of Hongloumeng?

Y: 有啊， 我就有一套。不过我建议你先看原著。 也许是因为文化差异，美国学生和中国学生看《红楼梦》会有不同的感受， 我问米华健教授他的学生最喜欢哪个人物.他是这么说的：

实录4: James Millward: I know in China as well there is always a big debate about who would you rather have as your wife, Lin Daiyu or Xue Baochai. Generally American students found Lin Daiyu to be kind of whiny, and to be lying there all the time and complaining all the time and they didn't really like her character very much. Some of them liked Xue Baochai, although of them found her a little bit calculating. Many of them actually liked Wang Xifeng because they saw her as a very capable woman.

Y: 非常有意思。这些美国学生觉得林黛玉喜欢抱怨，whiny。

J: Whiny. That's not a good trait for a woman.

Y: 有些人喜欢薛宝钗，可是又觉得她太很有心计，calculating。

J: Calculating? That's another bad quality. Are there any good women to like in Hongloumeng.

Y: 你看他们都喜欢王熙凤。哎，你一开始不是问我你象《红楼梦》里的哪个人物马？我看啊，你就象王熙凤。

J: Why? What's wrong with her?

Y: She's perfect!

J: Oh, okay. I'll have to read the book to find out because, Yang Chen, maybe I don't believe you.

Y: 你最好相信我。

J: Now what about you? Hongloumeng is your favorite book. I know you've read many many times, which character would you like to play?

Y: 贾宝玉！

J: Jia Baoyu. Who's that?

Y: 男主角啊！

J: A man! Well, we're going to have to talk about that later. Thanks for joining us on today's American Cafe.

Y: 好今天的美语咖啡屋就到这里。我们下次节目再见！

J: A man? What do you mean a man?

Y: 各位听众好。欢迎收听美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。

J: Hello everyone! I'm Jody! Welcome to American Cafe! Except today, we're not in the Cafe.

Y: 没错。我们现在是树林里。不过这都是Jody的主意，如果我有选择，我宁可舒舒服服地呆在咖啡馆里。

J: Aw come on, Yang Chen, this is going to be fun. Out in the woods enjoying a campfire. This is what I call living large! Living the good life! Don't ya (you) think?

Y: 你说得到轻松。Living large活得自由自在。先别自在了，你看我们点的火都快灭了，快拿手电筒来。

J: You said you were bringing the flashlights.

Y: Jody!! 你不是说你要拿手电筒吗？ 哎呀，现在怎么办呢。

J: Hey, there's no reason to panic.

(Enter animal sound)

Y: (getting anxious) Jody! 这是什么声音，后面是不是有狼啊？

J: That's not a wolf. It was probably just a raccoon. We're fine, Yang Chen.

Y: 听这声音好象是一个个头很大的动物. 我们在树林里，火又快灭了。都怪你非要到这里来作节目。你赶快想办法让火烧得旺一点好不好！

J: Okay, okay. Calm down. How big do you want the fire, Yang Chen? Do you want it as big as a bonfire?

Y: Bonfire? 是什么？

J: A bonfire? Well, it just so happens that on today's show we have two experts, you could say, on bonfires. Aren't we lucky? Heh heh.

Y: Lucky? 今天我们这么倒霉你还敢说是lucky?

J: Oh, whatever. Let's go to our guests. First let's hear from our good friend CT, a man who claims to have built over 100 bonfires in his life.

实录1: CT: A bonfire is a large campfire. It is just a bunch of wood you collect from natural surroundings and put into a pile and then you light it on fire. And ideally you have more wood and you keep throwing it on and on, making the flames bigger and bigger and then it burns out.

Y: Bonfire 就是篝火，只不过比普通的篝火要大，Jody, 他刚才说点这种篝火要准备很多木头，不断地往火里扔。

J: Yeah, I heard that. He did say that ideally you have more wood and you keep throwing it on the fire. Heh, what a great idea. Okay, I'll go get some more wood while CT tells how big a bonfire should be.

实录2: CT: Well it depends on your neighbors. If your neighbors like bonfires I would say you could have a nice size fire in a plot of land that is 20 meters by 20 meters. But maybe you want to have something that's 50 meters by 50 meters. Then you can have a big bonfire.

Y: 我们倒是不用担心邻居们会有意见。因为现在除了我们两人附近根本没有人!

J: Yang Chen, you really must calm down. Here, have a beer.

(Enter sound of beer can opening)

Y: 太棒了。你可真行，忘了手电筒，倒是没有忘记带啤酒。

J: Hey, I do have my priorities. But look at all the wood I gathered!

(Enter sound of wood dropping to the ground)

Y: 不错。不过我还是想听听你认识的那两个所谓的专家还有什么高见。

J: Good idea. Here's Marty.

实录3: Marty: Uh...a bonfire is anytime you're burning any lengths of wood. You can throw in trees ... that's a bonfire. When you get a full tree in ... that's a bonfire. The bigger the better.

Y: 我喜欢他说的 "the bigger, the better."，越大越好。

J: And don't forget...it's getting darker and darker. Heh, boy, fire is really important.

Y: 你很聪明。

J: Yang Chen, I bet this is what primitive people, you know原始人, felt like thousands of years ago.

Y: 我真佩服你的想象力。可我们没有生活在原始社会，干吗要没事找罪受呢？

J: Well, I'm just saying that people like fire.

Y: 为什么？

J: It feels good and, I think, it touches part of our primal side. Again here's Marty.

实录4: Marty: I am just watching the flames and burning stuff. It's primal burning things. I mean this is like the original source of heat in the world; it is burning wood so ...It smells good. Radiant heat is just beautiful heat; how it radiates out at you and warms your whole body.

(Enter sound of roaring fire)

Y: Mary 说的primal side就是原始的本能。 我不知道烤火是不是能让一个人看到自己原始本能，不过我觉得篝火散发出来的光和热给了我一种安全感。 你觉得我们两个人点这么大的篝火是不是太浪费木头了？

J: Boy, you are just never happy. Here let's have a drink to a bonfire!

J&Y: Cheers!

Y: 各位听众我们下次节目再见

J: See you next time on American Cafe. Next time I think we'll actually be in the cafe! See you later!

J: Hello I'm Jody! Welcome to American Cafe!

Y: 我是杨晨。欢迎到美语咖啡屋！

J: And here we are in the great outdoors for yet another episode of American Cafe. (Deep inhale) Ah! Just smell that fresh clean air! Isn't this great, Yang Chen!!

Y: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 你说的没错。一起都很好。 (Slap) 又一个蚊子。

J: Good. I'm glad you're having fun too. I'm having a ball! I just love camping. Mmm, feel that campfire.

Y: 我就不明白。你为什么怎么喜欢到野外来呢？

J: Because you feel free. Look around. There's nothing but nature. No cars, no traffic, no people bothering you.

Y: 算了，算了。我不跟你说了。那我们下面该干什么？

J: Well, we already built a fire. That was really fun! And we cooked a little dinner. Hot dogs and baked beans, mmm ... a real traditional campfire dinner.

Y: 我肚子倒是饿了，不过你看热狗也烤糊了， baked beans又是冷的。凑合地吃吧。

J: Well, here - have some nuts.

Y: Mmm, 有花生，还有开心果。 Mmm, 这还不错。

J: Mmm ... 不错。 Now, one thing to do when you're camping for fun is to tell stories around the campfire. Let's invite our friend Marty to share a story of his favorite bonfire during a trip he took to Canada.

实录1: Marty: Well, we went up ... we went up to Canada and we went to this humongous national park. It's on this lakes (The Great Lakes) So you canoe, you canoe between the lakes.

Y: 他刚才说的canoe就是独木舟的意思。Humongous这个词很有意思。我想 humongous是巨大的意思把。

J: Exactly. Humongous. H-U-M-O-N-G-O-U-S. Marty uses it quite a lot.

实录2: Marty: And when you're out three days the only way to get back in is to canoe three days back in or get a helicopter, obviously a helicopter could pick you up. But otherwise there's no walking out. It's all ... it's all water and everything. There's no, you know, driving or anything like that. The only way out is to canoe yourself outta (out of) there.

Y: 哇整整三天都在划独木舟啊？

J: Exactly.

Y: They are crazy.

J: That sounds crazy to me. And Marty said the only way out is three days by canoe again or a helicopter.

Y: 要不你就再划独木舟划化三天时间划回去，或者让直升机来接他们，只有这两种方法。

J: Exactly.

Y: 他们是在什么地方？ 听上去到蛮好玩儿的。

J: Marty said he was up in Canada by the Great Lakes.

Y: The Great Lakes就是五大湖区的意思，就是美国和加拿大之间的五大湖。

实录3: Marty: And we were on the edge of this humongous lake, huge lake. And ah, the driftwood came up and we pulling up humongous pieces of, you know, trees.

Y: 他们是在大湖的边缘，他们沿路还捡了很多顺流漂来的木头。那么他们捡起这些木头往哪儿放？

J: Well, let's find out. I can't wait to hear how they got the trees out of the lake. Let's hear from Marty again.

Y: 没错。我也想听听他们怎么办把那些树运回去。

实录4: Marty: A big friend of mine who's like a big strong guy, well, we had like four of us and we were pulling in some monster trees.

J: Oh, Marty has a couple big, strong friends. Oh, Marty said something funny that is a good expression in English. He said "we were pulling in some monster trees." Yang Chen, how do you translate that.

Y: I know. "Monster trees" 也是很大的树， 是吗？

J: 对了。

Y: 这个不好翻。

J: I think the English is the best to explain it.

Y: 没错，没错

J: "Pulling in some monster trees" - just really humongous, big trees. And the result ...

实录5: Marty: And ah, yeah, it was just an awesome bonfire. That's probably the best bonfire ... we burned some trees that were probably a couple hundred years old, you know.

J: So, Yang Chen, what did you think of Marty's story?

Y: Awesome! 我好象觉得自己好象身临其境！他讲的很精彩啊。

J: I felt the same way. I felt like I was right by the lake.

Y: 没错。其实我是一个不太喜欢野外活动的人，可是听他一讲觉得非常刺激！好，各位听众我们下次节目再见！

J: See you next time on American Cafe.

Y: 各位好， 我是杨晨。欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: Hello everyone! Welcome to American Cafe! Today we are going to celebrate Women's Equality Day that is celebrated on August 26th.

Y: 8月26号是妇女平等日。那是不是说除了这天以外妇女就不能享受平等权力了呢？

J: You had to say it, didn't Yang Chen.

Y: 难道你不觉得我这个问题问得很好吗？

J: It's a good question. But I don't think we'll talk about it today. But we will talk about Sandy Hansen. Sandy owns a business called Women's History Alive!

Y: Women's History Alive! 就是用舞台表演的形式来讲述妇女在历史上的地位。 Sandy一个人要在舞台上扮演好多的人物。

J: That's right. Sandy takes the rich history of women that is often ignored in history classes and in history books and takes it to the stage to really make it alive.

Y: 我们在看完了Sandy表演以后就马上就采访了她。

实录1: Sandy Hansen: I'm Sandy Hansen. I'm from Holland, Michigan. And my business is called Women's History Alive. I do one-women plays on famous women in American history.

J: When Sandy realized that the history of women was overlooked, she created a way to fill the void!

Y: "Fill the void," 就是添补空白的意思。

J: And the void she wanted to fill is an area of women's history. Sandy got her degree in Women's Studies and it was such a new concept that she literally had to design her own major.

Y: 没错。很多大学根本没有妇女历史这门课。其实是不对的，妇女为了推动历史做出这么大的贡献。你看历史上有过那么多伟大的女性，Harriet Tubman.

J: Oh, and don't forget Amelia Earhart.

Y: Susan B. Anthony.

J: Oh, in China, don't forget Jiang Qing.

Y: Okay, Jody, 你不要开玩笑。

J: Sorry. Sorry.

Y: 好，下面我们还是让Sandy解释一下她的目的。

实录2: Sandy Hansen: My mission is to share women's history to give girls confidence that they can go on and do things in their lives and for adult women, as well, to feel confident to try stuff.

Y: Sandy说得非常好，了解历史能让更多的妇女认识到只要有决心她们也可以改变历史。

J: It's just a great idea to increase a woman's confidence that they're able to do whatever we want. Sometimes women may know intellectually that we can whatever we want, but deep down we may not be so sure.

Y: 即使这些历史人物不仅是妇女能从中得到鼓励，对每个人来说都很有教育意义。

J: Exactly. The scope is much larger than just women. Sandy feels that women's history is essential to every single person: boy, girl, male, female... Again here's Sandy.

实录3: Sandy Hansen: I think that women's history is essential to every single person, boys and girls, male, female, adult men and women, because we learn to respect women when we hear of the wonderful things that they did.

J: And Yang Chen, Sandy is great example herself. She started her own business to fulfill her mission in life. I just think that's great.

Y: 对。Sandy把自己对历史的热爱和对舞台的热爱完美地结合了起来。我觉得她天生就是一个做演员的材料。

J: And Sandy seems born for the stage. In this next quote Sandy she calls herself an "extrovert." Yang Chen ...

Y: "Extrovert" 就是外向的人。

J: Oh, right.

Y: 就象你一样。

J: Oh, thank you. 外向的人.

Y: 或者说性格外向。

J: "Extrovert" is a little difficult so I'm going to spell it very quickly. E-X-T-R-O-V-E-R-T. "Extrovert." So, again here's Sandy.

实录4: Sandy Hansen: I love being on stage. And I love making people laugh at my jokes and sharing women's history with people. I'm really an extrovert. I really love to have people looking at me and talking to me and thinking I'm wonderful and being on stage. Even if you do a bad job people clap for you.

Y: Sandy是非常有趣的人。她说她很喜欢在舞台上表演，有的时候即使表演得很差，观众也会为她鼓掌。其实她太谦虚了，我觉得她还是很不错的。

J: She was great. She was very entertaining. You can tell that she really loves women's history.

Y: 不过说到舞台表演，如果是我自己站在舞台上要这样手舞足蹈，而且还要扮演很多人物，我一定会紧张得两条腿直哆嗦。

J: Oh, are you kidding me? That would be incredibly scary. It's hard enough to get on stage in front of an audience. It's even more difficult when you're alone.

Y: 关键一点就是你自己在舞台上表演，如果出了什么差错只能怪自己，不能推卸责任。

J: Take our show for example. There's two of us and I get blamed for everything.

Y: 好了，我们的节目就到这里，谢谢大家收听，下次节目再见！

J: See you later!

Y: 各位听众好，欢迎到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。

J: Hello I'm Jody and welcome to American Cafe. Hey Yang Chen, you seem pretty deep in thought today.

Y: 我这几天一直琢磨，政治对我们每个人的生活到底有什么重要的意义呢？

J: You know, I think the answer is that politics plays a part in almost every aspect of our lives.

Y: 没错，政治影响我们生活中的每一个方面。

J: And if I remember correctly - you really like politics.

Y: Like politics? I LOVE politics!

J: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You LOVE politics!

Y: 没错，我特别的关心政治，也喜欢参与政治活动，特别是最近我们庆祝了妇女平等日。这就让我联想到美国这个世界最大的民主国家居然没有出过一个女总统。 你想过这个问题吗？

J: Of course I've thought about. We've never had a female president. Remember the woman we met recently, Sandy Hansen? She's very passionate about encouraging women to enter politics.

Y: Sandy来到华盛顿DC表演她自己创作的节目，让人们了解争取妇女投票权运动的主要人物以及她们的成就。

J: Here's Sandy.

实录1: Sandy: Well, woman got the right to vote in 1919. It was voted in August 26 and then we actually voted for the first time in November 1920. So, there was a year before the next presidential election.

Y: 1920年美国妇女才第一次投票。这个权利真是来之不易啊。

J: It was not easy. It took until 1920. And it took time, blood, sweat and tears of many amazing women for women to finally get the right to vote. Voting is absolutely the cornerstone of our democracy. But you know what, many people still don't vote.

Y: 就是，提起这个来我觉得很失望。这些人太不把投票当回事儿了。

J: I don't get it either. What I mean is, I don't understand. You know, actually, I do understand a little. I think one reason people don't vote is apathy. Spelled with a big old A-P-A-T-H-Y

Y: 就是漠不关心的意思。

J: Besides voter apathy, Sandy has another reason why only about 50 percent of women in the U.S. vote these days.

实录2: Sandy: They say that only 50 percent of women vote right now. And I think that the reason is, is because all we have are male candidates. And we feel that are not speaking to us on a lot of different issues. So I think we need a lot more women out there running for office.

Y: Sandy, 刚才说很多妇女不愿意投票是因为那些候选人不重视妇女们所关心的问题。那她觉得哪些问题是关于妇女的问题呢？

J: Oh, she mentioned issues like child care, equal pay for women, health care for children, you know, issues that relate directly to women.

Y: 没错，这些和妇女有直接的关系，所以我们需要更多的妇女参加竞选。

J: Now, let's hear from Sandy who not only talks the talk, she walks the walk.

实录3: Sandy: I ran for office in '92. So, I'm not just telling you to do something that I haven't done. I ran as a Democrat in an area which was always winning the award for the most Republican County of the Year award. I was screamed at every single day I went out campaigning. Every day.

Y: Sandy好勇敢啊，在一个共和党人占绝对多数的地区以民主党身份参选。真不简单。

J: Sandy is very brave. And running as a Democrat in a Republican area is not easy. I wouldn't do it. No way. Uh uh. You couldn not pay me enough money. (Pause) Well, you probably could, but you know what I'm saying. Very difficult. Sandy was screamed at every single day.

Y: 面对这种情况 Sandy 是怎么应付的呢？

实录4: Sandy: We all knew it was doomed from day one. But that wasn't the reason that I was running. I was running to say we need two parties and we need women out there and um and ... ohhh, maybe it was ego trip ... let's face it. It's okay to have ego trips. (laughter)

Y: 我太喜欢Ego Trip这个说法，Ego Trip就是满足个人虚荣心或者自我表现的意思。

J: E-G-O T-R-I-P. Two words.

Y: 看来一定要脸皮厚的人才能参加竞选。

J: With people yelling at you every day you need very thick skin to run for office. Let's see if yours is thick enough.

Y: 你看我有没有希望？

J: Let me see if your is thick enough.

Y: Ow! Jody你干吗掐我？

J: I don't know your skin seems pretty soft and thin. Thanks for joining us on American Cafe!

Y: 谢谢收听，我们下次节目再见！

J: Hello I'm Jody and welcome to American Cafe!

Y: Sigh. Hello. 我是杨晨，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: Yang Chen, what's wrong? I've never seen you this down before.

Y: 哎哟，我心情不好啊。 你不知道我前段时间错过了一个赚钱的大好机会。现在后悔不得了。

J: You know, sometimes things happen that you think at the time are...are bad. But actually in the end ... it turns out to be a good thing. Did that make sense to you?

Y: Jody, 我知道你是好心，不过你的长篇大论我现在没有心情领教。

J: I understand. But maybe you'll want to listen to our guest today. Erica. Maybe she can help you.

Y: Erica? 她是个心理学家吗？

J: No, she's not a psychologist. She's a web designer.

Y: 网页设计师。那她能帮我什么？

J: Well, Erica started her own business in web design completely by accident.

Y: 她是由于一个偶然的机会开始自己做生意。我得听听是怎么回事。

实录1: Erica: I started my own business by accident really. I was laid off a job that I didn' t really like which was actually perfect for me. It was the best thing that could have happened to me.

Y: Erica 说她被laid off，被解雇了。

J: That's right - no work.

Y: 工作也没有了，她还说这是好事？

J: Well, she was laid off a job that she really didn't like. So, that's not really bad news.

Y: Well, 我知道她不喜欢原来的工作，可她至少还有个工作啊，那总从比失业要好吧！

J: Just hold on to your horses. I mean, take it easy. I mean, wait just a minute. There's more to the story. Here again is Erica...

实录2: Erica: But by getting laid off, I didn't have to feel guilty about quitting a job to start a business. So while I was looking for a new job, I started doing websites for people and then I started to make myself a portfolio, a website, and it just sort of rolled from there.

Y: 她刚才提到一个词Portfolio。在这里就是积累工作经验。

J: Exactly, a collection of your work experience. Something you can actually hold onto for example photographs - or even something you can't hold onto like a website. You know, Erica brought up so many great words related to starting your own business. In the next there's more. We're going to hear "Getting money in the door"

Y: 赚钱的意思。

J: Right. "Pool of clients."

Y: 一批顾客。

J: And "coming out of the woodwork."

J: "Coming out of the woodwork" is a slang expression meaning all of a sudden and from every direction.

Y: 就是你莫名其妙地出现了一堆顾客。

J: Coming out of the woodwork, yes.

Y: 那一定她的幸运特别好，所以人们一个传一个说Erica是一个非常好的 web designer 所以大家都来找她。

J: 等一下，等一下。You're getting ahead of the story. Here's Erica.

实录3: Erica: I did end up getting a fulltime job for a while just to get money in the door because it takes a long time to start your own business. And it took me a long to get clients. It took me about a year to start to get a pool of clients. But the economy picked up again and then it was basically a full-year cycle. And when I hit one-year I had clients coming out of the woodwork. It was amazing.

Y: 你看，我说什么，我猜得不错吧。她的生意非常好所以顾客远远不断地来找她。

J: Again, Yang Chen, you were right. When she hit the one-year mark, clients started coming out of the woodwork. And now she has a large pool of clients. She even has to turn people down.

Y: 就她太忙，忙不过来，有的时候别人来她，她就告诉他们“我实在没有时间接你们的生意。”

J: She has so many clients that she can undercut other businesses.

Y: Erica,生意之所以这么好可能还有一个原因，那就是她的要价比别人底。是不是？

J: Exactly, that means she's undercutting other businesses.

实录4: Erica: To this day I' m still overwhelmed by clients. I'm undercutting a lot of other businesses. I should be charging much more than I am. But you know, I' m working with small businesses and I like working with small businesses.

J: So, Yang Chen, the lesson here is don't worry about a lost opportunity. It could lead to an even better opportunity.

Y: 其实从Erica身上我看到有时候那个机会自己会来找你！机会自己就会来敲门！

J: That's the right attitude. Thanks for joining us on American Cafe!

Y: 谢谢你收听美语咖啡屋，我们下次节目再见。

Y: 各位听众好，我是杨晨。欢迎您到美语咖啡屋！

J: Hello everyone! Welcome to American Cafe!

(Music break)

J: On today's American Cafe we're going to visit my home state - West Virginia. 西维吉尼亚！

Y: Yeh! 说起西维吉尼亚，我们知道西维吉尼亚以风景优美，民风纯朴而著称。是一个旅游的好地方。

J: Exactly! In fact, Yang Chen, I recently went there on a visit. I went to an arts-and-crafts festival in a town called Rennick. And there, I met a woman named Jeannie.

Y: Arts-and-crafts就是工艺美术的意思. 那么Jeannie从事的是那一种工艺美术呐。

J: Well, when I met Jeannie she was sitting at an old fashioned spinning wheel spinning wool.

Y: Wow. 她会纺毛线。Um, 那她还会作什么？纺毛线似乎还不能算是工艺美术啊。

J: Well, you're right. But Jeannie not only spins the wool, she is involved in an amazing process that begins with raising sheep and ends with a piece of art that you can wear. Jeannie from West Virginia.

实录1: Jeannie: My name is Jeannie and I'm from Rennick, WV. I grew up outside of Pittsburgh, but I've lived here for over 30 years now.

Y: Jody, 我记得，你好象说过你小时候也在匹兹堡附近住过？

J: Yeah, you have a great memory. I grew up outside of Pittsburgh just like Jeannie. It is such a small world. Now, back to Jeannie.

实录2: Jeannie: And I had for years a farm with a little flock of Cotswold sheep. And so that's what I'm spinning today. Ah, It's kind of coarse wool compared to some but it's very easy spinning.

Y: Jeannie刚才说的 "Cotswold sheep"是什么？

(Enter sheep sounds)

J: Oh, Cotswold sheep, oh, Yang Chen, that is simply a type of sheep. But that's not the important part. The important part is that the wool is very coarse and therefore it's easy to spin.

Y: 她这种羊毛比较粗，因为粗呢，所以就比较容易纺成毛线。

J: Right. Coarse is spelled C-O-A-R-S-E.

Y：纺毛线一定很难吧？

J: Well, let's hear Jeannie explain.

实录3: Jeannie: Oh man, well, you're taking raw wool and your putting a twist in order to get it hold it together to make yarn which you can then make into hats or sweaters or blankets or whatever.

Y: Jeannie真了不起。她从剪羊毛，到纺毛线，然后织成毛衣，或者帽子、毯子，她全都一手包办了。

J: She's amazing! She does everything. Well, almost everything. In our conversation she said she doesn't wash the wool 'cause (because) it's too difficult. But in her case, she begins by cutting the wool off the backs of the sheep with scissors.

(Enter sound of scissors)

实录4: Jeannie: Okay, in my case it came off the sheep with scissors. And the sheep stand up like little dogs and I cut the wool off of their backs. And it's a big job. And then it's very dirty so you need to wash it. And after washing it needs to be combed or carded so it's easily spun.

Y: 羊毛剪下来不仅要清洗，她说还要comb。

J: Right comb C-O-M-B.

Y: 噢，就象梳头发那样。

J: Right! To comb your hair. She cuts the wool, sends it someone else to wash it, combs the wool, spins the wool into yarn and then knits the yarn into hats, sweaters or blankets. It's amazing!

Y: 看来除了清洗羊毛这一道程序其他都是她自己做的。哇，那种程序这么复杂。什么时候才能变成一件羊毛衫穿在我身上呐？

J: That's a good question. I asked Jeannie the same thing.

实录5: Jeannie: Well, it takes many many hours. I'd say a hat if you just counted the time for one hat probably takes 6 hours. A sweater I think takes 30-40 hours.

Y: 你想一件毛衣需要30到40个小时才完成。如果是我的话我一定没有这种耐心。

J: But you know, I think that Jeannie really loves the process not really the product.

实录6: Jeannie: I love the process of taking a raw thing like a dirty sheep and raising the babies and then ending up with incredible works of art.

J: Jeannie. She's wonderful. I just love her. Thanks for joining us on American Cafe.

Y: 谢谢大家收听美语咖啡屋。我们下次节目再见！

Y: 各位听众好，我是杨晨。欢迎到美语咖啡屋！

J: Hello I'm Jody, welcome to American Cafe! On this edition of American Cafe we are going to talk to our friend Jeannie from West Virginia.

Y: 好香啊。你是在煮汤吗？

J: No, I am boiling soup. I am boiling brown.

Y: Brown？ 你说的颜色里的brown, 棕色吗？

J: That is right. I am boiling the color brown.

Y: Jody, 你真是越来越可爱了。 颜色也能煮吗？

J: Of course, you can boil a color. I got the idea from Jeannie, the woman artist we met who raises sheep and then uses their wool to make stuff.

Y: 对。我认识Jeannie。她非常特别。为什么说她特别呢？ 因为她不但自己养羊，还会剪羊毛，织毛衣。 她织的每一件毛衣都是艺术品。

J: That is right. She also dyes the wool herself.

But Yang Chen, you forgot a part of the process.

Y: 她还会给羊毛染色啊？

J: People who dye wool naturally use by-products found in nature like fruit, leaves and bark from trees, vegetables, even bugs!

Y: Bugs? 虫子，我最怕那些小虫子。 你刚才提到的by-product，能不能给大家解释一下？

J: By-product, spelled B-Y-P-R-O-D-U-C-T. A by-product is something that is left over from a process.

Y：对， By-product就是副产品的意思。

J: Jeannie is going to tell us how she is going to use by-product from trees like yellow boxwood elder, osage orange wood and walnut tress to get completely natural color.

Y: 你刚才提到的yellow boxwood elder或者是osage orange wood...

J: Those are just types of trees.

Y: 好。我们就听听Jeannie是利用那些by-products来作染料。

实录1: Jeannie: And in this case I've dyed with yellow box elder to get this nice green-yellow color. And I've got some dyed with osage orange wood and the boxwood was given to me by another friend as a by-product of something he was making.

Y: 我还是不太明白，她到底是用什么方法把这些东西制作出各种颜色的染料呢？

J: The process involves cocking the ingratiates over an open fire like a big pot of soup. Jeannie says that she dyed her wool over an open fire with friends. Doesn't that sound fun?

Y: 嗯...

J: Don't answer that. I had the feeling that boiling bugs over an open flame is not your idea of fun, but for Jeannie...

实录2: Jeannie: Well, we did this outside over an open fire and it took a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun.

Y: 不过我还有一个疑问，如果是利用这些自然界的这些东西来制作颜色，那么颜色的种类是不是很有限呢？

J: Jeannie said that you can get almost any color you want from nature; you can have the whole color span.

Y: 那你这里说的whole color span就是所有的颜色都包括在内。

J: Exactly, and according to Jeannie people who are really into dying wool naturally can get any color they want.

Y: 等一等，我想提醒大家当你说一个人“really into something"就是说这个人某件事特别认真，特别投入。

J: Oh, good point. If you are really into something, you have been doing something for a long time and you really like it. But enough from us, Yang Chen, let's hear how Jeannie uses the expression "really into it" and words like "span..."

实录3: Jeannie: Yeah, there's natural colors you can get almost anything you want. And people who are really into it -- which I'm not, I'm just a beginner, but with the natural colors -- but you can get browns from walnut. You can get blue from indigo. So you can have the whole span.

J: Jeannie says she is just a beginner, but to me she sounds like a pro.

Y: 没错，我也觉得她听起来很老练。你有没有闻到什么东西煮糊了？

Y: 我知道这种来自大自然的颜色一定有很多好处，但是它们会不会很容易退色呢？

J: Oh, no it's my color brown. It's burning, it is all boiled over. Oh, man, my color brown it the color black. I guess I am the real beginner here. Well, anyway, thanks for joining us on American Cafe...See you next time.

Y: 谢谢大家收听美语咖啡屋。我们下次再见。

J: Where is Jeannie when we need her?

课文下载：第38课

J: Hello everyone! I'm Jody. Welcome to American Cafe!

Y: 各位听众好，我是杨晨。欢迎您到美语咖啡屋！

J: Yang Chen, our guest today is Mark Boudevaul, from Beverly, West Virginia. And he has several ways that he makes a living.

Y: Mark住在西维吉尼亚的Beverly. 你说他同时有好几种工作，听上去很有意思。那他的主要工作是什么呢？

J: Primarily, Mark is a beekeeper.

Y: Beekeeper?

J: Bee Keeper!

Y: Bee就是蜜蜂，Beekeeper就是养蜂的人。那他另外的职业是什么呢？

J: He's also the host of a bluegrass radio show and is also a musician himself.

Y: Wow. 他还在电台主持兰草音乐节目，还是个音乐家，那他会不会演奏乐器？

J: He plays the steel guitar that you hear in the background.

(Enter samples of steel guitar)

J: ... and the dobro.

Y: 我知道 Steel guitar是夏威夷吉他， dobro好象没有中文翻译，

J: It's common in bluegrass music. Oh, Yang Chen, listen to that lonely, haunting sound.

Y: 没错，这种乐器听起来有一种孤独深沉的味道。

J: Now, let's meet Mark

实录1: Mark: I'm Mark Boudervaul and I'm from Beverly, West Virginia. Well I'm a beekeeper primarily but I also do a bluegrass radio show and play steel guitar and dobro.

Y: Mark的声音真的很好听，难怪他要主持电台节目呢。

J: I know. He has a great radio voice.

Y: 没错，不过我更感兴趣的是他的另一个职业：养蜜蜂。

J: Raising bees sounds like such interesting work.

Y: 就是啊，那他是什么时候开始养蜜蜂的呢？

J: Mark started bee keeping when he was around 17 years old. He says a guy a couple farms over, meaning a neighbor, had bees and Mark was intrigued.

Y: 对，Intrigued就是产生兴趣的意思。

J: Right. So Mark pestered his neighbor long enough ...

Y: 等一等， "pester" 不是麻烦，打扰的意思吗?

J: Right. To pester means to bother somebody. So, Mark pestered his neighbor to teach him about bee keeping and it worked.

实录2: Mark: I started when I was about 17. I knew a guy a couple farms over from us that had bees and I was pretty intrigued by it. I pestered him long enough for him to show me what to do. And I got my own bees when I was about 18. And I'm 48 now so, that's about 30 years.

Y: 有意思，Mark 想学养蜂，就缠着附近农场的一个人教他， 那个人最后不厌其烦只好帮助他。嗯，pester这个办法不错.

J: Sometimes you have to pester, pester, pester, pester somebody to get what you want.

Y: 没错，Mark说他养蜜蜂到现在已经有30年历史了。 对Mark来说养蜜蜂虽然是他的兴趣，可是养蜂也有淡季和旺季，对吧？

J: Exactly. Bee keeping is definitely seasonal because, of course, bees need flowers and in the dead of winter there are no flowers.

实录3: Mark: It's a seasonal job in that bees are only really working when flowers are in bloom and in the dead of winter there's no flowers.

Y: 到了冬天他就得找点别的事做。

J: Mark goes on to say that bee keeping keeps him going in the summertime. During the winter he finds other things to keep him going.

实录4: Mark: Ahh, it's interesting. It keeps me going in the summer time. You know, I find other things to keep me going through the winter.

Y: Mark 说的keeps him going 就是维持生计的意思。我们知道西维吉尼亚冬天很冷，他能找什么工作呢？

J: To keep himself going through a winter in West Virginia Mark does something very interesting.

Y: 我们来听听是什么。

Mark: I raise donkeys also.

Y: 什么？毛驴？我没有听错吧？

J: You heard it right, Yang Chen! Mark also raises donkeys to give people rides on the trails through the beautiful mountains of West Virginia.

实录5: Mark: Yes, I have donkeys that I take out on trails and this is a good area to come for that. (laughter)

Y: 骑着毛驴沿着西维吉尼亚的山路欣赏风景，听起来很不错，如果我下次要到西维吉尼亚旅游，我一定会去找Mark。

J: Good idea! And also look for Mark if you need any honey or a radio host or a steel guitar player or whatever other wonderful job Mark does. Thanks for joining us today at American Cafe!

Y: 我们下次节目再见!

Y: 各位听众好，我是杨晨。欢迎您到美语咖啡屋!

J: Hello, I'm Jody. Welcome to American Cafe! So, Yang Chen, I was looking at our web site for American Cafe and we have a problem.

Y: 我们的网页有问题？我觉得挺好的啊。

J: Well, it's okay. But I thought we could find better artwork. Don't you? Our web site is just not very artistic.

Y: 哎呀, 网页只要实用就好了，要那么花哨干什么？

J: A good web site does more than just work. It has to be kind of like a work of art.

Y: Art? 艺术。我觉得电脑是个科学工具，根本没必要弄那些华而不实的东西。

J: Art.

Y: 科学！

J: Art!

Y: 科学！

J: Okay, okay, let's not argue ! Hey, I have an idea. Let's talk to our friend Erica. You remember Erica, don't you?

Y: 没错。我还记得Erica。她自己有一个网页设计公司。

实录1: Erica: Web design is very much an art and a science. It's both together because the artistic side is pretty obvious. You need to have visual design.

J: See, Erica says you need to have visual design, V-I-S-U-A-L visual D-E-S-I-G-N design, the way things look.

Y: 哎呀，你耐心一点！ 我敢担保她接下来一定会强调网页设计的科学性。

实录2: Erica: There's a very technical side to it. You experiment. You try things. You test things. They fail. They give you errors. You try again. You keep playing with it.

Y: 你看，我说什么。Erica 也强调设计网页是一项技术性很强的工作。

J: She did say that there is a very technical side to it.

Y: 就是吗。

J: Well, just hold on a minute! Let's spell technical. Technical is spelled T-E-C-H-N-I-C-A-L, technical side to it.

实录3: Erica: So, it's really that marriage between art and technical skills that are so important for web site design.

Y: Erica刚才说的一句话很有意思。她说网页设计是 A marriage between art and technical skills. Marriage 这个词也可以这样用啊？

J: Marriage, M-A-R-R-I-A-G-E, marriage, can be used to mean a union to other things besides a spouse. Maybe the best way is to give an example. Well, like Erica said, "It's really that marriage between art and technical skills." I can also say "I like that idea, but I'm not married to it." Meaning, I like the idea but I'm not committed to it.

Y: 我想在marriage这里的意思就是两者的结合。

J: But Yang Chen, I wonder. Does Erica consider herself an artist or a scientist?

Y: 对， Erica 认为她自己是一个艺术家呢，还是科学家？

实录4: Erica: I'm really an artist. The reason I'm doing web design is because it gives me an opportunity to do art all the time. Make pretty things and show them to people 'cause (because) I love an audience too.

Y: 听起来Erica更象是一个艺术家，而不是科学家。

J: Erica considers herself an artist. She likes making pretty things and showing them to people and she loves an audience. Sounds like an artist to me.

Y: 以前我倒是从来没有从艺术的角度来看待网页设计!

J: A web site is not just art that you hang up in your house, like a painting. It's art that the whole world can see!

实录5: Erica: It works out perfectly. People actually pay me to do art. But it's not just the kind of art, you know, that you hang up in your house. It's art that the whole world can see. And it's art that's really functional and useful. And actually I'm really proud of the functional part too, the fact that it's very user-friendly and very useful, not just pretty to look at.

Y: 看来我要改变我的想法，网页设计的确包含着很多艺术创作的成份。你觉不觉得Erica的确是在艺术和科学之间找到了一个很好的平衡。她设计的网页真是又漂亮又实用。

J: It really sounds like Erica has found a good marriage between art and science in her web design company. So what do think, Yang Chen? Our web site needs artistic help?

Y: 也许Erica可以帮助我们。

J: Erica would love to help us.

Y: 谢谢您收听美语咖啡屋。我们下次节目再见！

J: Thanks for joining us on American Cafe! See you next time!

Y: 各位听众好，我是杨晨！欢迎您到美语咖啡屋！

J: Hello I'm Jody! Welcome to American Cafe! (sigh) You know, Yang Chen, we are really lucky to work in Washington, D.C.

Y: Lucky? 很幸运，为什么？

J: Well, even though Washington, D.C. is very urban, very city-like, it is what we call a "green city," meaning it has lots of trees, lots of parks and green spaces.

Y: “绿色的城市”，你说的没错。很多人喜欢华盛顿市的原因之一就是因为这里的绿化搞得很好。

J: Take where I live for example. I live in an apartment in the center of the city. You've been to my place before.

Y：我去过，那里很不错。

J: It's very urban as you know. But a short five-minute walk away is the beautiful National Zoo.

Y: 我去过国家动物园，那里面最吸引的人是两只大熊猫。 附近好象还有个很大的公园。

J: You got it. Rock Creek Park. It's a huge park where you can go hiking and biking and picnicking. I just love Rock Creek Park!

Y: Hiking就是徒步旅行的意思。

J: I go hiking in the park a lot. But not biking. Right now I don't have a bike.

Y: 你连自行车都没有？

J: No, I don't. I'm saving up money for a bike. But, Yang Chen, simply hanging out in the park is fun! Rock Creek Park gives me the chance to escape the urban feeling of the city. And it just makes life much more enjoyable.

Y: 没错，没错。住在大城市，如果附近有这么一个公园的确是给生活增加很多乐趣。你可以躲开城市的喧闹，享受大自然的宁静。

J: And there's even horse stable that offer horseback riding!

Y: 真的，还可以骑马!?

J: Yes! And during the weekend some of the roads in the park are closed to car traffic so that people can enjoy the park without having to worry about cars zipping by.

Y: 我想这些都是环保组织的功劳。

J: Yes. The Sierra Club, a national environmental organization, played a big part in making that happen.

Y: 你记不记得我们上次在街头艺术节碰到了Sierra Club在当地的一个负责人。

J: Oh sure, I remember him. His name is Jason Broehm. And during a street festival he was explaining to people the goals and the mission of the Sierra Club.

实录1: Broehm: My name is Jason Broehm. I've lived in D.C for about four years now. I'm a leader in the local chapter of the Sierra Club, an environmental organization. Sierra Club is a national organization with hundreds of thousands of members across the United States and we have 3,000 members located here in the District Columbia.

Y: Sierra Club是个全国性组织，他们在当地就有三千个会员。

J: Jason is the leader of the local chapter in D.C.

Y: Jason说他们作为Sierra Club的一个地方分会， 重点是要解决当地面临的特殊问题。

J: He mentioned things like cleaning up the rivers, improving air and water quality and improving public transportation.

实录2: Broehm: Well, here in the District we're working on a number of main areas including trying to clean up the areas, the rivers, have better water quality. We want to have better air quality and better public transportation. And finally we would like to have a good system of parks where people can get out and enjoy the natural environment.

Y: 我想Jason本人一定是个热爱大自然的人，要不然他就不会为环保组织工作了。

实录3: Broehm: I do. I love to bike in Rock Creek Park and all over Washington, D.C. I love to hike and walk. And, so, I do very much.

J: Oh, Jason is definitely an outdoor person.

Y: 其实Jason在Sierra Club只是作义工，他还有另外一份正式的工作。

J: Right. His "day job," as we call it, is with a federal agency.

实录4: Broehm: I have another job with a federal agency, but I volunteer my time with the Sierra Club outside of work hours.

Y: 说起作义工，我觉得这是一件非常有意义的事情，不仅可以为社会作贡献，同时也改善了自己的生活。

J: It's good to know there are people like Jason who volunteer their time educating the public and helping to protect the environment...

Y: 就是，如果每个人拿出一点儿时间来做好事，那你想想这个社会该有多么美好呢？ 谢谢大家收听美语咖啡屋，我们下次节目再见。

J: Thanks for joining us on American Cafe! See you next time!

Eric, Day Of A Teenager

J: Hello I'm Jody and welcome to American Cafe!

Y: 大家好。我是杨晨。欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。Jody我们为什么放这个音乐？我现在觉得我到了太空一样。

J: Because, Yang Chen, today we are visiting a different world. The world of teenagers!!

Y: No! 我们能不能谈点儿别的？

J: Calm down, calm down. It'll be okay. Besides we were all teenagers once. Do you remember when you became a teenager?

Y: 不记得了，好象太遥远了。

J: It does feel like a long time ago. But it was only a mere 10 years.

Y: 十年前！ 你数学怎么学的？

J: Oh, never you mind. Anyway, today, we're going to revisit that awkward time when you're no longer a child and not yet an adult. So, without further delay let's meet Eric, a student in Virginia who celebrates his birthday on New Year's Day.

实录1: Eric: My name is Eric. I am thirteen. My birthday is January 1st, 1991. And I go to Hayfield Secondary School in Virginia.

J: Eric's is a teenager alright. Can you hear how his voice is starting to change?

Y: 没错，听得出来他的声音好象在变粗。唉，我很好奇一个13岁的男孩每天都作些什么？

J: That's just what we're going to find out. So, here's Eric as he walks us through a normal school day.

实录2: Eric: I shower, get dressed and go downstairs, eat breakfast and get my stuff ready for school.

Y: Eric刚才谈的是他到学校以前先洗澡，然后穿好衣服，然后到楼下吃饭，然后gets his stuff ready for school. "Stuff" 这个词好象特别有用。

J: Very useful.

Y: 那他到了学校以后都作些什么呢？

J: Well, Eric's classes include strings, ah, which means his music lesson for viola.

Y: 中提琴。

J: Right. And Eric must really enjoy his strings class because he has trouble remembering what he has next.

实录3: Eric: First thing I go to strings, then I run off to dra, no, civics, no, let me think real quick ... health or P.E., which will be P.E. when I get out of Winter Break. And then we have homeroom and then lunch. And then I have algebra everyday. And then I have English. And then I jump on a bus and go home and do stuff.

Y: Jody 等一等。你得解释一下什么是P.E.? 什么是homeroom.

J: Oh, right. P.E. stands for physical education. You know, gym class.

Y: P.E. 是体育课的意思。 那homeroom该怎么理解呢？

J: Homeroom is difficult to explain. It's kind like a break. Or a study hall if you have a strict teacher.

Y: 我还是不太明白。那我们就让 Eric 来解释一下，好不好？

实录4: Eric: Homeroom is where we can do whatever we want. But some teachers are mean and have you like read or do your homework. Oh, they let you do whatever you want; talk loudly, throw stuff things at people.

Y: Eric刚才是不是还说他们有时候会 "throw stuff"?

J: Again stuff. Yes. He did. But I think, Yang Chen, he was just joking. Or maybe not. I don't know how bad kids are these days.

Y: Hmm, "do stuff" ... 上了一天的学，那他回家后都做些什么呢？

实录5: Eric: Well, I like to play video games and I say that about 75 percent of American teenagers play video games.

Y: 说起电子游戏，其实不光是美国的小孩儿，全世界的小孩儿都迷电子游戏。

J: Oh, most definitely. According to Eric, some of the most popular video games these days are role playing video games.

Y: 就是说玩的人可以扮演里面的人物。

实录6: Eric: I like Baten Kaitos. Baten Kaitos is a game where you are trying to save the world from an evil God and find out where the ocean has gone.

Y: Wow, Eric 要从一个邪恶之神手中拯救世界，还要寻找一个迷失的海洋。他可真够忙的啊。

J: Wow, he's a busy teenager.

Y: 那我们就祝他好运吧。好，各位听众，谢谢大家收听美语咖啡屋，我们下次节目再见。

J: See you next time on American Cafe!

Liz, Graphic Design to Pastry Chef

J: Hello everyone! I'm Jody. Welcome to American Cafe

Y: 各位好，我是杨晨。欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: Our guest today is Liz. She's a friend of mine and also a neighbor in the house where I live.

Y: Jody, 你又采访了你的朋友？我看你快把你的朋友和邻居得罪光了。

J: Oh, no no. They're used to it. And I think they really enjoy it. Anyway, Liz and I we were talking the other day and I found out that she changed her job.

Y: 那她原来是做什么的？

J: Graphic Design. Graphic. G-R-A-H-I-C Design. D-E-S-I-G-N

Y: Graphic Design 就是图像设计。那下面我们就请Liz 介绍一下什么是 graphic design。

实录1: Liz: Hmmm Graphic Design. I guess dealing with visual matter for a specific purpose.

J: Graphic Design pretty much deals with visual matter for a specific purpose.

Y:这听起来挺不错的嘛。她为什么要换工作呢？

J: Well, according to Liz she is not a technology-oriented person. And if you're a graphic designer you really need to like technology and especially computers.

Y: 那她后来换了什么工作？

J: Her current job is a pastry chef! Pastry is spelled p-a-s-t-r-y. Chef, c-h-e-f. Pastry Chef! Everybody loves a pastry chef!

Y: Pastry chef是做糕点的师傅。这很奇怪，作糕点的师傅和图像设计好象没有什么关系啊。

J: Well, not really. There is a connection between graphic design and making pastries.

Y: 你又跟我开玩笑！

J: Well, Liz says that her love of being creative and working with her hands are found in both graphic design and pastry making. Again, here's Liz.

实录2: Liz: I'm not a very technology-oriented person. So, um, I don't know, I just...I love to cook and I thought the creative side of side of pastry would be good, um, mixed with the graphic design past. The love of being creative and just working with your hands ... so, I just decided to do pastry.

Y: 创造力和动手的能力...yeah, 这么说起来图像设计和做糕点是有点关系。 Liz刚才说到 "technology-oriented." 人们常常用它来形容一个人有技术头脑，对技术感兴趣。

J: For example, "I am a very nature-oriented person." Or another example, "He is not very mechanically-oriented." You try it, Yang Chen.

Y: I'm not a very work-oriented person.

J: Okay. I would have to agree with that. That's funny. Um, let's hear more about why Liz chose to become a pastry chef.

实录3: Liz: First of all people have sweet tooth so they need to satisfy that.

Y: 说一个人有a big sweet tooth就是说这个人特别喜欢吃甜的东西。

J: Exactly! I have a big sweet tooth! Again here's Liz.

实录4: Liz: I think a cake can bring people together. 'Cause a cake is kind of a form of a card you can write things on it.

Y: 她说的没错。蛋糕就象是一张卡片一样，人们可以在上面画图画，可以写字，比如生日快乐，或者放一朵花；你可以把它装饰得非常漂亮。说起来甜点，那Liz做这一行赚钱吗？

J: Oh absolutely there's always a celebration or significant event where you need a cake.

实录5: Liz: A wedding, birthday, um ... graduation, um... Oh boy, I'm drawing a blank.

Y: "I'm drawing a blank" 这是什么意思呢？

J: To draw a blank means that ah, well, you know ... it's kind of like when your mind is ... What were we talking about?

Y: 我现在明白了。就象你这样，完全忘了刚才说什么，脑袋一片空白。

J: That is drawing a blank. Thanks for joining us on American Cafe. See you next time!

Y: 谢谢收听美语咖啡屋，我们下次节目再见！

Yemi, Musician Poet

J: Hello I'm Jody! Welcome to American Cafe.

Y: 大家好，我是杨晨。欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。 我们今天的客人是Yemi。Yemi是个很有意思的人，您听了我们的节目保证会喜欢上他。

J: Oh, I think you're going to find Yemi very interesting. First of all he's a sound engineer. But that's not all he does.

Y:没错，不过我们首先还是让Yemi来作一个自我介绍吧。

实录1: Yemi: My full name is Yemi... and I'm from Washington, D.C. I was born in 1976. I perform, I produce, and write songs under the name, stage name, Nfact which is N-f-a-c-t. If you'd like more information you can visit my website at Nfactonline.com (http://nfactonline.com/).

Y: 你觉不觉得Yemi 的声音让你一听就知道他很会唱歌。

J: As soon as you hear Yemi, you know he's a singer. He has a great voice.

Y: 实际上他确实是个好歌手。而且他告诉我们他很快就要出唱片了 。

J: That's right. He's soon to release an album, which is a huge step in a musician's career. So we're really happy for him.

J: Way to go, Yemi.

Y: Yemi，加油。

J: Again here's Yemi.

实录2: Yemi: And lately I've been working on my album. We'll probably sell it at our website and other websites.

Y: Yemi刚才说他的唱片在网上就可以买到。

J: That's right. Yemi says that you can buy his album on the Internet. And not only does Yemi record music, but he also writes poems and performs them a local poetry readings here in Washington D.C.

Y: Yemi不仅会唱歌，还是个诗人，所以我说他很有意思。

J: On Wednesdays he performs at a place called the Bohemian Caverns, a famous place in Washington DC.

Y: 每个星期三Yemi都要在一个叫Bohemian Caverns的地方表演诗歌朗诵。

实录3: Yemi: My more recent performances lately have been poetry readings at a place called Bohemian Caverns here in Washington D.C. And every Wednesday they have, ah, local poets come out and read their poetry.

Y: Poetry reading就是诗歌朗诵。

J: According to Yemi the crowd at Bohemian Caverns is really supportive. And he says it's inspiring to have other poets listen to his poems.

实录4: Yemi: The Bohemian Caverns ... my experience there ... it's more like a lot of poets coming out to hear other poets. Well, I like it because the other poets listen. They actually listen to what I'm saying and, um, it's supportive. And then when I hear some of their stuff it kinda of inspires me to go home and write even better poetry.

Y: 一群诗人聚在一起，讨论诗歌、互相支持、互相鼓励。其实说起来Yemi的诗，他的诗内容都很严肃 。他觉得自己有责任要唤醒年轻的一代人，希望他们更加独立，更加有责任感。

J: He feels a responsibility to wake his generation, which he feels has been bred to be dependent - which means raised to rely on other people too much.

Y: 对，就是太依赖别人，比如太依赖父母，朋友或周围的人。

实录5: Yemi: A lot of the stuff that I write has more to do with waking up my generation. I feel like we've been a generation that's been bred to be dependent.

Y: 下面我们请Yemi来朗读一段他的诗歌。

J: Now, you may not understand all the words in his poem ...

Y: 如果你听不懂不要紧，只要去感觉就可以了。

实录6: Yemi:

Nfact, what is this we call rap?

Intertwining words through instruments, instrumentals to your mental.

Weaving and bobbing through notes with verbs,

Is it just that simple?

Oh come come now. Will this ever stop here? Does this ever stop now?

Hallelujah is powerful happiness over the people. But you aint gettin' it.

Y'all too busy searching for a hero.

Yes, Yes. Y'all too busy searching for a hero.

Influenced by high definition reflections,

Raised by idle hands all you found was zero.

'Cause y'all too busy searchin' for a hero.

Y: 希望大家希望Yemi的这首诗，也谢谢大家收听美语咖啡屋。

J: And now we'll leave American Cafe with the rest of Yemi's poem, "Stop Waiting."

实录7: Yemi:

Time to get it together, gather them thoughts.

Mike check one, mike check two, mike check...

Now in tune to the central nervous system's main board.

Elevate that mind (stop hating.)

Elevate that mind (stop faking.)

Elevate that mind.

You be the leader, the preacher, the hero.

Stop searching. Stop waiting. J: Hello everyone! I'm Jody. Welcome to American Cafe

Lara & Eric, School Plays

J: Hello, welcome to American Cafe! I'm Jody!

Y: 各位好，欢迎到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。

J: Hey, Yang Chen, don't forget to keep next weekend free.

Y: Oh, 对，下个周末我们要去看音乐剧。因为Eric要在里面扮演一个角色。说Eric起来，我觉得他可是够忙碌的，又要上学，又要参加学校剧团的演出。

J: He is a very busy 14 -year old. But you know, all kids sooner or later are in a school play.

Y: 是吗，所有的孩子都有机会参加演出啊？

J: Oh sure. And today we'll hear from Eric and his mom Lara about what it means to be in a school play.

Y: 好啊。那我们就先来认识Eric的妈妈Lara 。

实录1: Lara: It's, I think fairly common, almost every junior high school and high school in the country has some sort of play or dramatic opportunity that kids can participate in.

Y: 原来我以为只有那些将来想进演艺界的小孩才会参加这种演出呢。

J: Oh no, no, no. Everyone tries out for school plays!

Y: "Try out" 就是参加audition，I mean 参加“演员挑选”

J: That's right. Everyone tries out. The nerdy students try out, the artsy students try out and just the plain ol' average students try out. Again here is Lara.

实录2: Lara: Everyone tries out. Anyone who's interested can try out. The more nerdy kids, if you will, the artsy kids, and just plain ol' average kids. Anyone can try out.

Y: 哎， Jody，你来给大家描述一下，如果说个人很nerdy， 那该是什么样子呢？

J: OK. A nerd is anyone who studies too much, never gets into any trouble and carries around lots of pens and pencils. That is a nerdy student.

Y: Nerdy kids 一般来说都是书呆子。 那么artsy呢？

J: Artsy, very creative, artistic students. But no matter if you are nerdy or artsy , being in a play makes you busy.

Y: 没错，特别是对一个14岁的孩子来说。 那他有那么时间吗？

J: Well, Yang Chen, that is the negative side of being in a school play - it can really drain a student's time.

实录3: Lara: The negatives are... it's a very large drain on a kid's time. For an individual play it's several weeks of practice - maybe six weeks of practice.

Y: 要花 6 个星期的时间来排练。 那这样会不会影响他的学习成绩呢？

J: Well, it probably does influence a student's grades. But I also think it's well worth it.

Y: Jody, 你的意思是说参加演出比取得好成绩还要重要吗？

J: Well, it could be. Acting in a play is a wonderful opportunity to develop such things as public speaking abilities, confidence.

实录4: Lara: Well, the pros are that it's a wonderful opportunity for kids to develop public speaking ability and confidence. That's a definite plus - building a positive self-image.

Y: 说了半天，Eric到底参加的是那一部戏的演出？

J: Eric performed in the Music Man.

实录5: Eric: My name is Eric. And... I was in a play called the Music Man. It's about this man named Harold Hill and he's a con artist. A con artist is someone who tricks people into giving them money. And so Harold is selling boys bands.

Y: Con artist, 就是诈骗犯的意思。

J: In the Music Man boys bands means a marching band with lots of instruments!

Y: Marching band，该怎么解释呢？

J: I've got an idea. Bring in the band!

[Enter music here.]

Y: 哎，我想Eric一定演的是Music Man里面的男主角大骗子Harold Hill，对不对？

J: Well ... not exactly.

实录6: Eric: I was Man #2. I was a non-important character who said three lines and had one musical solo line.

Y: 不过不要紧，我相信Eric下次一定能演主角。

J: Oh, sure! He is very talented. And to a parent it doesn't matter if you're the lead role or Man #2.

实录7: Lara: It doesn't matter if they're in the big part or they're just Man #2; every parent who sees their child on stage feels enormously proud.

J: Lara does sound like a proud parent, doesn't she?

Y: 没错。

J: That's all for American Cafe. Thanks for joining us and see you next time.

Y: 谢谢大家收听美语咖啡屋。我们下次节目再见。

Jen, Small Town to Big City

J: Hello I'm Jody and welcome to American Cafe!

Y: 我是杨晨。欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: Hey Yang Chen, isn't your college reunion coming up soon?

Y: 没错，一想到要和多年没见面的同学相聚，我激动得连觉都睡不着了。

J: You know we have a saying, "The friends you make in college are the friends you have for life." And today we're going to meet Jennifer and Sharrin. They are roommates in my building. But after talking to them I found out just how unique their roommate relationship is.

Y: Unique? 好朋友又成为roommates，分租一个公寓。这有什么特别之处呢？

J: Well, I know it doesn't sound very unique. But wait until you hear their story.

实录1: JENNIFER: OK, My name is Jennifer and I live in Washington D.C. in a neighborhood called Mt. Pleasant. And I live with one other woman, Sharrin, in that apartment.

Sharrin: My name is Sharrin and I'm 26 years old.

Jennifer: And I'm 25.

Y: Sharrin今年26岁，Jennifer今年25岁。 她们和你住在一个公寓楼。那她们俩到底是怎么认识的？

J: Well, they told me they first met their freshman year of college. They were in some freshman tutorial writing class together that all freshmen had to take.

Y: 虽然她们是同一个年级，不过她们不一定每天都上同样的课吧？

J: Exactly. In the States, it's a little different than in China. The real closeness comes from living in the same dormitory or dorm for short. Next, let's hear again from Sharrin.

实录2: SHARRIN: We first met when we were going to college together. We met our freshman year. And uh we had a freshman tutorial class together that all freshmen had to take to practice writing. And so we met through that class and we also lived in the same dorm. And so we hung a lot through that and we just stayed friends all four years of college.

Y: 说了半天，她们在大学一年级就认识，然后成为室友，毕业后还是朋友，现在还住同一个公寓。我还是不知道这种关系有什么特别之处？

J: The unique part comes after college. Without talking about it together, Yang Chen, both women independently decided to join the Peace Corps.

Y: 真的？

J: Yeah, isn't that amazing?

Y: Wow, 她们两并没有商量，但是各自决定要加入和平队。

J: I know, but that's not all...

Y: 还有啊？

J: They were sent to the same country. Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa

实录3: SHARRIN: And after college we both decided independently to join the Peace Corp. And we ended up in the same country in Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa. So we were there for about a year.

Y: Wow, 真是越来越有意思了。她们不但分别决定要加入和平队，而且还被派到同一个国家，西非的科特迪瓦。

J: But wait, there's more. After a year in Cote d'Ivoire they also lived together for three months in France!

Y: 两个人一起在法国住了三个月？你想想看，如果能和自己最好的朋友一起周游世界，那该多好啊！

实录4: SHARRIN: After Cote d'Ivoire we traveled to France and we lived together there for about 3 months. And then we moved back to the States and we both lived with our families ... I think we were home for a few months and then we both decided to move to Washington DC. And we're roommates now.

Y: 太不可思议了。这简直就是命运总是能把她们带到一起。 那现在Jennifer 和 Sharrin生活在华盛顿市的Mt. Pleasant这个居民区。她们对这一带有什么感受呢？

J: Jennifer is from the Midwest and both she and Sharrin went to school in a very small town. So, Jennifer really likes the small town community feel of Mt. Pleasant.

实录5: JENNIFER: It's a neighborhood I really like. The neighborhood has a different feel. It has a community feel in a larger city, which is really nice to have that smaller town feel. I'm from the Midwest and I went to school in a town of 9,000 and that included 1,300 of the population from the college. So, it is a small town.

Y: Jennifer在中西部的小城镇长大，所以她很怀念那种小城镇的感觉。Mt. Pleasant正好满足了她的这种需要。

J: And it's even nicer with Jennifer and Sharrin as neighbors! Thanks for joining us today on American Cafe!

Y: 我们下次节目再见！ Lara & Eric, School Plays

Jen & Sharrin, Life After Peace Corps

Y: 大家好，我是杨晨，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋！

J: Hello everyone! I'm Jody! Welcome to American Cafe! Hey Yang Chen, what's that you're reading?

Y: 噢！没什么啦！

J: Let me see.

Y:哎呀，你快还给我！

J: The Peace Corps?

Y: 是啊，我正在看一些关于和平队的材料。

J: You're thinking of joining the Peace Corps？

Y: 哎，你干吗那么惊讶呢？

J: Well, I'm not surprised ...Yang Chen, it's really hard work.

Y: 那又怎么样？

J: Don't forget it's volunteer work.

Y: So? 我本来就经常做义工啊！再说了，我现在觉得生活有点平淡，想找点刺激，我想去冒险。

J: Everyone wants excitement and adventure. But before you sign that contract, let's talk to our friends Jen & Sharrin. They were Peace Corps volunteers for one year in Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa.

Y: 噢，对! Jen和Sharrin曾经参加和平队，到过科特迪瓦。咦？可是她们为什么只在那儿待了一年呢？

J: Well, they ran into a little problem in Cote d'Ivoire ... something about an attempted coup d'etat.

Y: 啊？是真的政变啊？

J: A real coup.

Y:哇，是不是就好像电影里演的那样，有军队，还有人打枪什么的。

J: Soldiers, guns - the whole nine yards. Not really what you would call a safe environment.

Y: 听起来好像很可怕噢！

J: In fact, Jen and Sharrin were evacuated to the neighboring country of Ghana.

Y: 真的啊？她们后来还被疏散到加纳。

J: First let's hear from Jen.

实录1: Jen: There was an attempted coup d'etat in Cote d'Ivoire. Peace Corps, of course, took us out. It wasn't a safe environment. So, we were evacuated to a neighboring country - Ghana. From there we waited about two weeks to see if it would blow over. It turned out it wasn't safe enough. So from there we closed out our service for Peace Corp.

Y: Jen说她们当时撤到加纳，还在那儿待了两个星期，因为她们不知道动乱会不会blow over. Blow over我想在这里，就是结束或者消失的意思，是吧？

J: Exactly. After two weeks the danger did not blow over. So, Jen & Sharrin closed out their service with the Peace Corps.

Y: 噢，所以这样她们就提前结束了在和平队的服务。

J: That's right. You know, according to Jen, trouble would pop up frequently and then be fine the next day. But this time trouble popped up and did not blow over. Again here's Jen.

实录2: Jen: Problems would pop up but they would be fine the next day. So everyone thought it'd be fine the next day. When I left, I don't know what Sharrin thought, but when I left I thought I'd be returning back. So, I thought for sure I'd be back later on to say "Bye" for good or just to return and finish my service.

Y: Jen刚才说她们当时匆匆忙忙就离开了，而且呢，她还以为她们很快就能再回到科特迪瓦呢。

J: Actually, for both Jen and Sharrin the hardest part of being evacuated was not being able to say goodbye to people and having a lack of closure. You know, a definite ending. Now, let's hear from Sharrin.

实录3: Sharrin: I think it was really hard just because I had all these plans and everything for what I was going to be doing. And I didn't say goodbye really to anybody; so, there was a definite lack of closure. And I think that was the hardest part of the evacuation - was just no closure at all.

Y: 就是啊！她们在当地一定交了很多朋友，就这样匆匆忙忙离开，没有来得及和这些朋友说再见。我想她们当时心里一定很难过。看来，参加和平队也不是一件那么容易的事。

J: Aw come on! Where's your sense of adventure? I know the attempted coup, the evacuation, not being able to say goodbye to friends - all that would be hard but ...

Y: 等一等，等一等，Jody,我是很喜欢冒险啦！可是这又是要政变，又是要逃难什么的，我可受不了。

J: But think of the all the great memories that comes from being in the Peace Corps. Now let's hear from Sharrin and Jen talk about the rewards.

实录4: Sharrin: I think for me it was just the hospitality and the welcoming of the people in the different communities we lived in. Jen: The hospitality was a big thing, but for me it was also really amazing to be able to go through a training period and become conversational in the language and to become independent.

Y: 怎么样？Jody，咱俩一起去好不好？

J: Yang Chen, joining the Peace Corps is a big decision. You really should think about it a little bit more.

Y: Okay, okay，我会仔细的考虑的。不过我确实是佩服Jen和Sharrin.

J: I admire them as well. Thanks for joining us today at American Cafe.

Y: 谢谢您收听美语咖啡屋，我们下次节目再见！

Heidi, Animal Lover

Y: 大家好，这是杨晨。欢迎到美语咖啡屋。

J: Hello everyone! I'm Jody! Welcome to American Cafe.

Y: Jody, 你有没有听到什么奇怪的声音？

J: What noise?

Y: 是不是你的手机？

J: I don't have a cell phone.

Y: Well, 可是我看你的书包里好像有什么东西在动，是不是？

J: Um ... ah ...

Y: Jody, 你说实话，你书包里是不是有只猫啊？

J: Shih, Yang Chen, keep your voice down! No one has to know. What I mean is, don't let the cat out of the bag! hahahaha. Get it?

Y: Jody, 我知道这个习惯用语，let cat out of the bag, 意思是泄漏了秘密。可我要说的这里不允许带动物进来。

J: Look, it's a nice day and Ms. Kitty needs some fresh air.

Y: 我倒奇怪，你为什么这么喜欢小动物。

J: Ms. Kitty is a wonderful companion who gives unconditional love.

Y: Jody, 我实在无法理解你。

J: If you think I'm bad, wait until you meet Heidi Holz. She really loves animals! Now, let's meet Heidi!

实录1: Heidi: My name is Heidi Holz and I love animals! They're just the most wonderful companions. They never ask anything of you. They love you unconditionally. When I come in the evening I know that nobody else in the world will ever be as happy to see me as my dog.

Y: 看来Heidi比你更狂热。不过她刚才说她每天晚上回家都觉得，世界上没有任何人会像她的宠物狗那样热情地迎接她回来。我想那是因为那条狗正好肚子饿了吧。

J: Oh, it's more than an empty stomach. Heidi's pets are happy to see for more than just food.

Y: Pets? 你是说她还有别的宠物啊？

J: Oh yeah! Heidi has a dog, three cats, two gerbils, which are similar to mice, and three fish.

Y: Mice! 老鼠？

J: No, I said gerbils, which are like mice. Gerbils are a very common pet for American children.

Y: 我知道， gerbil就是沙鼠，可是依我看任何像老鼠的东西，它就是老鼠！ 不过我想到一个问题， Heidi她养那么多宠物，她不是要花很多钱买食物吗？

J: It costs Heidi about $50 a month and about an hour a day in time. Again here's Heidi.

实录2: Heidi: I have three cats, a dog, two gerbils, they're like mice, and, um, three fish. I would guess it probably costs about $50 a month to feed them and maybe an hour a day taking care of them.

Y: 你说Heidi又是养猫，养狗，养沙鼠，还有鱼，可见她是真的对动物有很深的感情。来你说她是不是从小就和动物打交道啊？

J: Oh, funny you should ask. Heidi grew up on a six-acre farm with all kinds of animals - from common pets like dogs and cats to horses and kangaroos and even monkeys!

Y: 真的? 还有人把袋鼠和猴子当宠物？

J: Now, let's hear it straight from the horses mouth.

Y: 你严肃一点好不好？

J: Okay, okay. I don't want to be accused of beating a dead horse, that's for sure.

Y: Jody ...

J: Okay, I'm sorry. Again, here's Heidi.

实录3: Heidi: I grew up with a lot of pets. When I was small we had six acres in Florida. Um, we had everything from horses to kangaroos. We even had lemurs, which are a type of monkey.

Y: 有一点我的确是可以理解，动物给人的爱是无条件的。

J: Exactly. Unconditional love! But it's so easy to get attached to an animal. Heidi, in fact, got so attached to a cat that she found in China, that she brought it back to the U.S. with her.

Y: 真的？她从中国带回一只猫？

J: Yeah! She found the cat on the street and took it to her university dorm room. Heidi got kicked out of her dorm and had to find another place to live.

实录4: Heidi: When I was living in China I found a kitten on the street and I snuck it into my dorm room. I got kicked out of the dorm and had to find another place to live but I kept my kitten. And I brought him back to the U.S. with me.

Y: 我还真的没有见过像Heidi这么爱动物如命的人。

J: And why not. They are just so loveable and fun. Aren't you Ms. Kitty. Here, do want to hold Ms. Kitty?

Y: Uh uh, put the cat back in the bag, Heh heh. Get it?

J: Hey! You made a funny. Thanks for joining us at American Cafe. See you next time.

Y: 谢谢大家收听美语咖啡屋。我们下次节目再见！

Erica, Skills For Web Design

J: Hello everyone! I'm Jody! Welcome to American Cafe!

Y: 大家好，我是杨晨，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: Hey, Yang Chen, take a look at this logo! I thought we could use it for American Cafe!

Y: 耶，没错，这画的真好，我觉得可以把它放在我们的网页，做我们的logo, 我们的标记。

J: That's a great idea!

Y: 你看它这上面两个人，正在喝咖啡，像不像我们俩啊？一边聊天一边喝咖啡？

J: That's us! I love it! And it really captures the feeling of American Cafe! And that's not easy - using artwork and computers to create a brand for business.

Y: 就是。 现在有成千上万个网页，如果你设计的不好，不吸引人，那你的内容再好都没有人看。

J: Exactly. Hey I have a great idea. Let's invite our friend Erica, the web designer。

Y: 好主意! Erica已经是我们的老朋友了。对于Erica来说，设计一个网页就好比给这个公司或企业创造了一个品牌！

J: And there's much more to it than that. Erica also gives her client a marketing strategy ...

Y: Marketing strategy就是市场策略。

J: She does copyrighting and editing for them...

Y: 她还要负责取得版权以及的编辑工作。

J: She helps them organize all their information. Here's Erica.

实录1: Erica: They hire me give them a website and what I really do for them is give them a brand. I give them a marketing strategy, I do copyrighting and editing for them, I help them organize their information. So, I do so much more than just make a website.

Y: Wow, 听起来，Erica真的是需要具备很多方面的技巧才能胜任她的工作。可是有的时候并不是每一个人都能认识到这一点。

J: You're right, they don't. Her customers who know her and know her process. They appreciate her skills at the end of the day. But the others ... Well, let's hear from Erica.

实录2: Erica: And I think my customers who know me and who have been through the process, they do appreciate it at the end of the day. But I think, a lot of, a lot of people don't really realize all the skills that go into, the skills and time, that go into making a really good professional website.

Y: 她刚才说的 "At the end of the day" 意思是？

J: "At the end of the day" is business slang that means, "When all is said and done." So at the end of the day, most people don't realize all the skills involved in making a really good professional web site.

Y: 我觉得，一个好的web site应该是既方便又实用。

J: To Erica usability, finding information quickly, is a really important aspect of web design. Again here's Erica...

实录3: Erica: Usability is a really important aspect of web design. You know, the whole idea of usability is designing a web site with the user in mind. Um, helping somebody find their way through a page, helping them get their information quickly. Basically it's those two things, finding information - quickly. When I'm designing something, I'm always thinking about my user.

Y: Erica说的没错，设计网页的时候要首先考虑顾客的需求。你觉不觉得Erica的特点就是她能够耐心听取别人的意见，所以她才会那么成功。

J: Erica is a great listener. In fact, her listening skills are so good that she often gets compliments on her ability to talk to a small business owner and capture the feeling of that small business.

Y: 对，你说的small business就是小企业。那么，Erica不仅能够准确地理解这种小企业的精神，而且能够把它转化成一个好的网页。

实录4: Erica: People have complimented me that I have the ability to talk to a person who owns a small business and really get a sense of who they are, the audience that they're trying to reach and transform that feeling into a visual thing and put it up there on the web. Then people from all over the world can go there and get that same feeling. So, yes, it's ... it's about a feeling. Web site design is emotional.

Y: Emotional?设计网页也可以是emotional的吗？

J: To Erica web site design is all about emotion and, like I've been saying, capturing the feeling of a small business.

Y: 你说的没错，你再回头看看我们的logo, 你能联想到什么？

J: When I see that logo I think of two women who like coffee and like to talk! That's us! Thanks for joining us at American Cafe! See you next time!

Y: 谢谢大家收听美语咖啡屋，我们下次节目再见！

Ann & Bella

Y:大家好。我是杨晨。欢迎到美语咖啡屋。

J: Hello everyone! I'm Jody. Welcome to American Cafe!

Y: 我们今天要为您讲一个非常感人的故事。

J: It is a very moving story about two characters: Ann Jones, from Washington D.C. and her friend, Bella.

Y: 里面的主人公一位是Ann Jones一位是Bella.

J: Now, I think it's important to tell people that Bella is a dolphin.

Y: 原来Bella是一只海豚。那Ann和Bella怎么会成为好朋友。

J: Well, it started about four years ago and recently Ann made a trip to see her old friend. Now, it's my pleasure to introduce Ann Jones as she explains the purpose of this special reunion trip.

实录1: ANNIE: I'm Ann Jones and I'm from Washington D.C. in the United States, the capital. The purpose of the trip was to go back and swim again with a dolphin that helped save my life almost four years. It was wonderful. It was very emotional. I cried a lot. I don't know if dolphins cry or not but she was ... she was just so excited.

Y: 四年前海豚Bella挽救了Ann的生命，所以Ann每次提到Bella都非常动感情。我想大家一定很想知道这到底是怎么一回事。

J: It's a wonderful story. And it starts with the fact that a dolphin is very sensitive and can see everything in your body with their sonar.

Y: 是吗？我听说过海豚都很聪明。可是我不知道它们还能用声纳来诊断一个人是否有病。这太神奇了！

J: And also when given a choice between a sick or well person, a dolphin will swim with a sick person. Again here's Ann.

实录2: ANNIE: The dolphin's very sensitive and, um, they can see everything in your body. And they know if you're sick or if you're well. And almost four years the one dolphin, Bella, swan with me all the time to let me know - she was protecting me - that I was sick.

Y: Jody, 那么说Bella选择在Ann的身边游泳。这就说明 Ann 的身体出了毛病，对不对？

J: That's right.

Y: Ann在这之前有没有去看过医生呢？

J: Oh, of course. For years she complained to her doctor about a pain in her chest. And the doctor kept telling her to go home.

实录3: ANNIE: Before I went to swim with the dolphin, I went to a doctor and they told me I was well. I kept telling them I had a pain in my chest. And the doctor kept saying go home. And this went on year after year.

Y: Wow, 真的很难相信。 这个医生一直坚持说Ann没有生病，叫她放心地回家去。

J: Can you believe it? That's why Ann turned to the dolphins. When she came back from swimming with Bella on the first trip, she immediately had - what she calls a medical miracle - a body scan.

Y: Body scan就是全身扫描。那通过这种全身扫描发现了什么问题呢？

J: The body scan revealed that Ann had a cancerous tumor in her lung the size of an egg.

实录4: ANNIE: And it was the dolphin that tried to tell me that something was wrong. When I came back I had one of these new medical miracles called a body scan and there was this tumor, large as an egg, sitting in my lung. And I would've died within possibly six months and Bella the dolphin helped save my life.

Y: 这么说，Ann的第一个医生诊断失误，而Bella是对的。Ann确实有 病，而且是严重的肺癌。 我觉得海豚不仅可爱，聪明，而且非常有爱心，真可以说是人类的好朋友。这个故事最后的结局是什么？

J: Well, I think we should hear that straight from Ann.

实录5: ANNIE: I'm doing great! I've passed all my cancer tests and I go for tests every three months. And I'm doing great. And I think I may make it forever! (laughter) So, that's it. Thanks to Bella the dolphin!

J: Isn't that great! Ann has passed all her cancer tests! I'll tell you what, she is one tough cookie.

Y: 没错，我真的是替Ann感到高兴。她是一位非常坚强的女性，而且这个故事不仅感人，还是一个happy ending!

J: And don't forget, a big "Thank You!" goes out to Bella the dolphin. And thanks to all of you for joining us on American Cafe!

Y: 谢谢大家收听美语咖啡屋。我们下次再见。

Shannon, Acupuncture Student

J: Hello I'm Jody. Welcome to American Cafe!

Y: 大家好！我是杨晨，欢迎到美语咖啡屋！Jody, 你知道吗？我昨天搬东西，脖子今天特别疼！

J: You look like you're in pain.

Y: 没错！

J: You have to be careful when you're moving stuff. What have you done to make it feel better?

Y: 我吃了两颗止疼片儿。不过好像没什么用！

J: Maybe you should think about getting some acupuncture?

Y: No, no, no! 我最害怕针。

J: Well, don't worry. On today's show our guest is Shannon and she is an acupuncture student. And she used to be afraid of needles too.

Y: 好，我们来认识一下Shannon.

实录1: Shannon: Hi, my name is Shannon and I'm currently studying acupuncture in the Washington DC metro area. And it's really different from anything else I've ever done before. And I love it.

Y: Shannon是什么时候开始对针灸感兴趣的呢？

J: Well, she lived in China a number of years ago and there she watched people get acupuncture often.

Y: 没错，因为针灸在中国是很普遍的。所以很多外国人到中国以后就开始对针灸产生了兴趣。

J: That's what happened with Shannon and that's where she got over her fear of needles. Let's hear more from Shannon.

实录2: Shannon: Um, I lived in China a number of years ago and I'd watch people get acupuncture. But I was very scared of needles then. So, it took me a couple of years before I wanted to try, um, getting acupuncture myself. And I had some incredible experiences with it.

Y: 她刚才说的incredible experiences是什么呢？

J: One of Shannon's incredible experiences was after a car accident. She was very shaken up. So she went in and had an emergency acupuncture appointment. Shannon says that it only took five minutes for the seven needles to help her feel like herself again and help her deal with the accident.

Y: Shannon在接受针灸治疗之前是不是就not feeling like herself?

J: Right. She wasn't feeling normal. She didn't feel right. She was crying, shaking and generally just freaking out.

Y: Freaking out在这里是情绪失控的意思。

J: Again here's Shannon.

实录3: Shannon: I was in a car accident a while ago and feeling very shaken up after the car accident. And I went to an emergency acupuncture appointment. And they put just like seven needles in my back. I felt everything swish in and out of me. I had felt very scattered before, and after these seven needles and five minutes I felt like myself again ... I stop crying. I stopped shaking ... stopped freaking out. I felt much more like myself.

Y: Jody 我听说针灸在美国开始流行起来， 不过没有进入主流医学领域。

J: Acupuncture in the United States is not yet considered mainstream. But it definitely is becoming more and more common. According to Shannon, people in the United States are more intrigued than skeptical about acupuncture. Again, here is Shannon.

实录4: Shannon: I think they're more intrigued than skeptical. Um, so many people I've talked to here know of somebody who has been to acupuncture, or they're in it or their child's in it or they want to go. Um, so I think there's definitely high demand in the States for that.

Y: 现在人们对针灸的兴趣的确越来越大了。那从事这一行赚不赚钱？

J: That's the good part. According to Shannon, the medium, or average, salary right out of school is about $70,000 a year! And that's just for a normal, regular schedule!

Y: 真的？一出学校一年就能赚七万美元? 很不错！

实录5: Shannon: I guess the medium salary right out of acupuncture school is like $70,000 a year. And that's not, you know, that much overtime...that's just kind of like a normal schedule.

Y: 针灸现在很热门收入也恨不错。 你说我也去学针灸怎么样？

J: Yang Chen, you faint at the sight of needles!

Y: 这个很容易克服。

J: Yang Chen, I think you should do whatever you are passionate about.

Y: 那Shannon是不是对针灸有很大的热情呢？

J: Let's hear from Shannon.

实录6: Shannon: I've been wanting to do it for years. And now I think this is where I'm going professionally. I had thought I would study acupuncture after having the, like, logical career in Chinese Studies. And then a couple of years ago I had that realization of life is short so why don't I do what I'm really passionate about right now.

Y: Shannon 说的没错，"Life is short."生命是短暂的。所以你想做什么就做什么，千万不要犹豫。好，谢谢大家收听没语咖啡屋，我们下次节目再见！

J: See you next time on American.

Rick, Lead Singer of SCOTS

Y: 大家好，我是杨晨。 欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: Hello everyone, I'm Jody! Welcome to American Cafe!

Y: Jody，我们现在听的是什么音乐？

J: What? I can't hear you?

Y: 我在问你这是什么音乐？

J: Wait a minute. Let me turn the music down. What did you say?

Y: 我问你这是什么音乐，听上去有点儿象乡村音乐，又有点儿象摇滚乐。

J: It's a band called Southern Culture on the Skids. SCOTS for short. And you're right. They mix many styles of music together to make their own original sound. Isn't it great?

Y: 这是他们自己创作的音乐？能不能给我们介绍这个乐队是什么时候成立的？

J: Oh, sure. SCOTS started out in 1984 down in North Carolina at the University of North Carolina - UNC for short.

Y: 我想他们一定是因为非常热爱音乐才成立了这个乐队。是不是？

J: Well, actually Rick, the lead singer, said it was a great way to get free beer and meet girls in college. But I'm sure they love music. Now, let's welcome Rick, the lead singer of SCOTS.

实录1: Rick Miller: SCOTS started out in 1984 as just a way to make, ah, well, actually a way to get free beer and meet some girls while we were in college. Practicing, actually, at the Art Lab at UNC (un)'til the dean of students kicked us out. So, right away, rock-n-roll!

Y: 这帮人，太不像话了。原来是因为喜欢喝啤酒，勾引女孩子才成立了一个乐队。哎，Jody, 这个SCOTS到底是一个什么样的乐队呢？

J: SCOTS is like a garage band that sometimes comes out of the garage to perform around the world.

Y: Garage band, 我喜欢这个名字。Garage Band就是车库乐队。你得解释一下这个什么叫做车库乐队呢。

J: See, many teenagers want to be a rock-n-roll star or any music star. But parents don't want to hear bad music playing in the house.

Y: 没错， 一个初学者他技术肯定不太好；没人想听他们练习的时候那种很刺耳的声音。

J: Exactly, they're just beginning. So, the family garage outside of the house where the car usually goes becomes the place where teenagers practice being a musician without bothering the parents.

Y: 对，车库是一个练习音乐的好地方。这样你就不会吵到你们家里人，因为车库就是停车的地方。

J: Garage band has come to mean amateur, not professional, music.

Y: 对， 一般说起来这个garage band就说他们是业余也不是专业的乐队。这么说起来，这个SCOTS一开始的时候是典型的garage band， 后来他们慢慢儿发展成一个专业的乐队。

J: Exactly. But the members of SCOTS still feel that they are a garage band at heart. The true essence of rock-n-roll. Again here's Rick.

实录2: Rick: We never really got out of the garage. And when we get out of the garage it's, like you know, to drive around the world, you know, to go play. No, I love garage music. I think that's the true essence of rock-n-roll.

Y: Rick刚才提到garage music. 我想我们应该举个例子来说明什么叫做garage music.

J: Sounds good to me! Let's hear a bit of "Soulful Garage," a song Rick calls "a great garage soul song."

Rick: "Soulful Garage" is great 'cause that's a real mix when you think of what we are. It's kinda ... that really is a garage soul song.

Y: 对了，听他们的音乐以后，能更好帮助人们理解什么叫做garage music.

J: I think so.

Y: 那Jody你喜欢他们的 音乐吗？

J: I think it's great especially because it's so fun. It screws with the usual formulas. You know, messes them up. You don't know what to expect!

Y: 对，他们的音乐听起来摇滚的味道、乡村音乐的味道、还有流行音乐的味道，可以说是很多音乐风格融合在一起。

J: And SCOTS takes traditional country sounds and rock sounds and morphs them, or changes them, into something original, something Rick calls "hillbilly surf sound." Again here's Rick.

实录3: Rick: What I like to do is just kinda (of) screw things up a little bit. You know, you gotta screw with the formula and it becomes something else. You know, it morphs into something else. Something that we can kind of call our own. You know, it's that hillbilly surf sound.

Y: Hillbilly surf sound, 这个没法儿翻成中文。我想着一定是Rick自己独创出来的一个名词。

J: You got that right. I think the best way, Yang Chen, is just to play more music.

Y: 喜欢大家喜欢他们的音乐。好，谢谢大家收听美语咖啡屋。我们下次节目再见！

J: Thanks for joining us at American Cafe!

Jason, A Cafe Visit

J: Hello, I'm Jody! Welcome to American Cafe!

Y: 大家好！我是杨晨，欢迎到美语咖啡屋！我们今天要来到了街对面的那架咖啡馆。 我们今天要采访Jason他是这架咖啡馆的一个雇员。我们先谈谈咖啡文化对美国人来说意味是什么。

J: Now we're here with Jason who works at a cafe. And we're to talk to him about what he sees in the Cafe culture in American.

实录1: Jason: My name is Jason and we are in Rockville, Maryland, which is a suburb of Washington, D.C. - the nation's capital actually.

Jody: So, Jason, what do you see people doing when they come into this cafe?

实录2: Jason: There are all sorts of things. We have people that just come in get a cup of coffee and go. We have people that, that linger and talk. Some that read and do crossword puzzles, read books. It's really a wide, wide ... portrait of the community. It's all different kinds of people really. But it gives people vibrancy, friendship, and community. It's a local outreach. It's many many different things to many people.

Y: 就是，我觉得很多人来咖啡馆不仅是来喝咖啡。有的是来跟人聊天儿，还有的人坐在那儿看书，看报纸。其实他们是绝对要享受咖啡馆的气氛。

J: The atmosphere is so important. It's just a great place to hang out. Jason explains that he's only worked here two months after leaving a high-stress consulting job. Let's hear about the reason why he chose to work at a cafe over a high paying, high stress job.

Y: 对，他原来在一家咨询公司工作。工资很高，但是他也说工作是 "high stress" - 就是压力非常大。那么我们就听听在咖啡馆工作有什么享受。

实录3: Jason: You know, I've actually only worked here about two and a half months. And for about 15 years I worked in a very high stress consulting environment. And decided to make a change to specifically come into a cafe atmosphere. You know, while I don't make as much money as I once did, my quality of life and happiness level have certainly increased exponentially.

Y: 我得问问Jason是不是有的人常常到这个咖啡馆来，叫他们是 "regular customer."

J: "Regulars" are people who come everyday or sometimes many times a day. Again, here's Jason.

实录4: Jason: Oh, ab...absolutely! One of the joys of working here is getting to know people. And we have people that come in daily and sometimes multiple times a day. So, it's very fun. It's more than a place to come and get a drink and a muffin. It really is community-oriented in many ways and...and person-oriented. It's more personable than a normal commerce situation.

Y: 我想一定有很多人，特别是在周围工作的人，他们常到这个咖啡馆来。一个是方便，再一个这里给他们一种亲切的感觉。那么这些顾客我们叫他们是regulars。

J: It's a great feeling to become a regular at a place, especially a coffee shop, because the people who work there know your name and they know what you like. And it's easy to become friends.

Y: 对他刚才说有的人一天来好几次。我想这些人一天来好几次，那他们的目的恐怕不光是为了一杯咖啡，可能是想来跟Jason聊聊天儿。

J: And community which is something Jason also talked about - having a place to go where people know your name. That's a great feeling. Now, let's here again from Jason

实录5: Jason: I think it's very important because there's something about a hot cup of coffee, or even a cold one, but especially a hot coffee or hot tea that ... that brings people to just slow down maybe for a few minutes during the day and sit down without guilt and be able to just relax and read the paper or talk to a friend or even a stranger.

Y: 到一个咖啡馆有一种让人轻松的气氛就是Jason刚才谈一谈到- "slow you down." 那到咖啡馆坐一会儿喝一杯自己喜欢的咖啡是一件很惬意的事。

J: Cafes are just a great place to start your day, to come in the middle of your day or to end your day. You can hang out with friends, relax, read a book ... they're just great places.

Y: 没错，这个咖啡馆你可以早上来，你可以午休的时候来，也可以在下午下了班以后回家之前在来，任何时间来都会让你放松。你喝一杯又香又浓咖啡和你的朋友在咖啡馆聊天儿，看一本书，读一读报纸，非常的享受。

J: If you have a cafe, you have community and you a place where you can slow down.

Y: 对，生活是很紧张的。那么这个咖啡馆是一个让你放松的地方。

J: Well, that's it for American Cafe. Thank you so much for visiting our American Cafe.

Y: 谢谢大家收听我们的美语咖啡屋。希望我们有一天能在咖啡馆碰见你！

J: Hope to see you next time at American Cafe.