美語(yǔ)咖啡屋New Year's Resolutions
Y: 各位聽眾好！歡迎您到美語(yǔ)咖啡屋。我是楊晨。
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: 一月份是新年的開始，人們當(dāng)然要快快樂樂地迎接新年。比如說打扮得漂漂亮亮地參加舞會(huì)，走親訪友，還有逛街買東西等等。
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，新年的決心。哎呀，我還沒想好呢！
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: 對(duì)。我們還是給大家解釋一下什么叫New Year's Resolution。
J: Good idea. Here's Chuck from Washington DC with a definition of New Year's Resolutions...
實(shí)錄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 剛才說的clean slate是一個(gè)很有用的說法，你給大家解釋一下它的意思好嗎？
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可以解釋成從頭開始?？墒钦f到要放棄什么壞習(xí)慣，我還真想不出來(lái)。你看我這么老實(shí)，遵紀(jì)守法，根本沒什么壞習(xí)慣啊。
J: What, no bad habits?! Are you sure?! I can think of a couple bad habits you may have.
Y: 可別告訴別人！
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: 我們聽聽Jen有什么打算。
實(shí)錄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說她要多跑步。這個(gè)主意倒是不錯(cuò)。
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: 她還說她要在工作和休閑之間找到更好的平衡。
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。那我們聽聽John有什么打算。
實(shí)錄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。我最不喜歡到健身房和一大堆人一塊兒鍛煉了。
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: 這個(gè)Corby夠貪心的。她說她有好幾個(gè)New Year's Resolutions。我們聽聽她是怎么說的。
實(shí)錄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。他不只有一個(gè)，而是有好幾個(gè)新年的決心。她壞毛病還真不少：喜歡批評(píng)別人，壞脾氣，還抽煙。哎呀，我們又沒有這些壞毛病，所以我們也不用去想什么新年決心了。
J: Maybe you're right. You know, we're both pretty easygoing and neither of us smoke.
Y: 就是，就是，我們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: 我們聽聽Terry是怎么說的。
實(shí)錄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: 還是Terry看得開。她知道自己沒有毅力堅(jiān)持下去，所以也就不去強(qiáng)求自己了。
J: We'll just keep on doing what we're doing.
Y: 沒錯(cuò)。不用改變什么。喜歡作什么就作什么。太好了。這就是我的New Year's Resolution! 只要高興，我們做什么都可以。
J: But good luck with your New Year's resolutions and Happy New Year.
Y: 好。我們今天的時(shí)間就到了。下次再見。
J: See you later.
