美語情景對話 第497期:ELLLO Mail Bag 網站的信件袋

Mark: So, Todd, you run and operate this site, , yeah?

馬克：託德，你運作ello這個網站，對吧？

Todd: Yes.

託德：對。

Mark: How long have you been doing that?

馬克：你運營這個網站多長時間了？

Todd: I've been doing it now for about two years.

託德：我現在大概做了兩年的時間。

Mark: Two years. OK, and I've been on the site and there's a place where I can send a comment to you, right? (Right) Do people ever send, send you comments, or?

馬克：兩年。好，我一直在用這個網站，我可以在網站上發佈評論，對吧？（對）人們有沒有發佈過評論？

Todd: Yeah, actually, I get, I do, I get about five letters a day, usually, from people all over the world, some days more, some days less, and usually people are very sweet and they say, oh you know, "Nice Job" and sometimes they give me suggestions for how to improve the site.

託德：實際上，我每天會從世界各地收到五封信，有時候多一些，有時候少一些，通常人們都很友善，他們會說，“幹得好”，有時他們會提出一些改進網站的建議。

Mark: Really! Do they ever, is anyone ever critical or say any negative things?

馬克：真的嗎？那有沒有人曾經提出過批評或說些負面的事情？

Todd: Well, the one, the main critical thing I get a lot, often is, "Why don't you have real authentic speech?" Like, why don't you have people talking natural. And actually, there's quite a few reasons why?

託德：嗯，我收到的批評主要是問：“你們爲什麼沒有原汁原味地道的演講？”或者是“你們爲什麼沒有那種自然的談話？”類似於這種問題，實際上他們會問這種原因。

Mark: OK, well, I don't understand exactly because right now, you and I are talking (right) and this is not scripted, we're basically talking (right) we're talking off the top of our head, so how is this not natural?

馬克：嗯，其實我不太理解，因爲現在你和我就在談話，（對），而且我們沒有照稿子念，我們就是在自然的談話（對），我們在即興談話，這樣怎麼會是不自然的呢？

Todd: Well, this conversation actually probably is more natural because I'm really explaining why I don't have natural conversations. It's kind of ironic, but I think because a lot of the conversations are staged. They're unscripted, but I do just sit down and ask two people to talk about something, and because I tell them to talk about it, it's not as natural as it would be in real life.

託德：對，現在這個對話實際上要更自然一些，因爲我一直在解釋爲什麼我們沒有自然談話的原因。這有點諷刺，我想是因爲許多對話都有設定。那些對話是有文本的，不過我只是坐下來讓人們談論一些事情，可能因爲我給他們設定了談論的主題，所以看起來不像現實生活中那樣自然。

Mark: Ah, I see, because they're not, they didn't think of that topic on their own. They're given the topic and then, sort of, they must say something about that topic.

馬克：啊，我明白了，因爲不是他們自己想的主題。你給了他們主題，而他們必須要談論那個主題。

Todd: Right. And also there's a problem with just the recordings. You know when you record audio, you have to have the mic equal distance to both speakers, and so that means both people have to sit down and put on the headsets to get good quality audio, so in order to get people speaking naturally in real life, I would have to follow them around with a microphone, and it's, technically it's just too hard to do.

託德：沒錯。還有個問題就是錄音。你知道你在錄製音頻時，麥克風離兩個談話者的距離要一樣，這意味着兩個人必須要坐下來，而且要戴上耳機，以保證音頻的高質量，爲了讓人們像在日常生活中那樣自然的說話，我必須要拿着麥克風在他們之間不斷傳遞，從技術上來講這非常難。

Mark: So what do you do to try to, is that, well let me ask you, actually, is that the only criticism that you get?

馬克：我想問你，你就收到過這一種批評嗎？

Todd: Ah, no, there's, well, there's quite a bit. The other criticism is that, this is the funny part, it's either too easy, or it's too difficult, so usually.

託德：不是，實際上還有一些。有的批評很有意思，有人說我們的內容太簡單了，也有說太難的。

Mark: So you need more intermediate.

馬克：所以你要進行更多的平衡。

Todd: Well, I guess that's what they say, they say that there's not enough stuff for low level listeners, and there's not enough stuff for the advanced listeners.

託德：我想這就是他們的想法，他們認爲供低級別聽衆和高級別聽衆學習的材料都不夠。

Mark: So what do you think your gonna do in the future to address those needs?

馬克：那你要如何滿足這些需求？

Todd: Well, hopefully by next year, I'll be able to have enough that I can do both. For the people who really want high listening, or more advanced listening I think they should just go to the links page and listen to authentic stuff, because if you're listening is that good then, that's probably the best thing to do, but I do need to start working on stuff for beginners soon.

託德：我希望明年我能爲這兩類人提供更多的材料。我認爲那些想進行高級聽力訓練的人可以點擊網站鏈接，聽一些更地道的材料，因爲如果你的聽力水平很好，那可能是最適合你的事情，我馬上會開始爲初學者準備更多材料。

Mark: Thank you for answering us questions.

馬克：謝謝你回答我們的問題。

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譯文屬僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載

重點講解：
1. off the top of one's head
不加思索地；來不及思索地；
eg. It was the best I could think of off the top of my head.
這是我一時所能想到的最好的辦法。
eg. Jane can tell you the correct amount off the top of her head.
簡可以一下子把準確的數量告訴你。
2. on one's own
獨立地；依靠自己地；
eg. John quit his job and struck out on his own as a traveling salesman.
約翰辭掉工作去做旅行推銷員，獨立闖新路。
eg. I'm well able to manage on my own.
我完全能夠獨自處理。
3. quite a bit
相當多，很多；
eg. He has got quite a bit salted away .
他攢了不少錢。
eg. He has knocked about quite a bit.
他經歷過很多漂泊不定的生活。