英語趣味課堂：社交媒介怎樣影響生活-How Social Media Affects Our Life

Alex: Hi, Katia, how are you?

Katia: I'm doing good and you Alex?

Alex: I'm doing good thank you. I have a question for you. Are you on Facebook?

Katia: Yes, I am in Facebook but I really do not check very often.

Alex: OK, how often do you check it usually?

Katia: I actually try not to check it very often. It's been taking a lot of my time so right now I check it about, I try once a week during the weekends.

Alex: OK. I used to be on Facebook a lot before. I was like checking it every day and, you know, posting on my friends' walls and trying to catch up with everybody on Facebook. But then I realised that I was losing a lot of time on it. I was, I don't know if investing is the word, but I was spending a lot of time on it and I kind of like decided to close my wall, because I thought that I was just spending too much time, and it was not really adding anything so, but I don't know if that's the right thing, because sometimes I feel that I need to communicate stuff to my friends and since my wall has been closed for so long, I don't want to kind of like just communicate something there and then just stopped communicating through my wall any more so I don't know how to do it.

Katia: It has really become an issue hasn't it? You can get lost from what is actually happening around you and live in a virtual world so I'm actually a little bit worried about that, about what is happening and how we live our lives and how we present ourselves to others. I believe that it should be handled differently than it has up to now so maybe you're doing good by closing or, you know, thinking about it at least.

Alex: Yeah.

Katia: But how much, that you might have to consider.

Alex: Yeah, that's right. It's very funny how all this communication has changed in the last few years. I remember just four years ago or even five years ago I wasn't on Facebook and all the communication I used to have with my friends was through email or by phone or by meeting you know. But now with Facebook everybody spends so much time on Facebook. Sometimes if you don't publish something on Facebook, it seems that you didn't do anything so I don't know it's just weird.

Katia: Well the question is are you actually more in communication now than you were four or five years ago?

Alex: I am more in communication with people that I haven't been in touch with for the last ten years let's say. Like all my friends from elementary school that I wasn't really in touch and everybody's now on Facebook and now everybody is updated on what I'm doing or why I do this, what I'm going to do on next vacation, what about my plans for anything so that's a good thing I think. It really depends on how much importance you give to it.

Katia: That is true.

重點詞匯：

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

catch up

...trying to catch up with everybody on Facebook.

'Catch up,' used like this, refers to finding out recent information about a friend. When you get together to talk about what is new, you are catching up. Notice the following:

I feel like I have no idea what's going on in your life. We really need to catch up.

We should go out for coffee and catch up sometime soon.

an issue

It has really become an issue, hasn't it?

Here, 'issue' can be replaced with 'problem.' Notice the following:

They are going to have a crazy wedding, because money is not an issue for them.

Transportation will definitely be an issue.

virtual world

You can get lost from what's actually happening around you and get lost in a virtual world.

A 'virtual world' refers to the world of the internet or a world created by technology, instead of the real world. Notice the following:

His parents are concerned, because most of his social interaction happens in a virtual world, instead of in real life.

Most communication now happens in a virtual world, instead of between real people.

present

...how we present ourselves to others.

The way that we 'present' ourselves to others includes our physical appearance, as well as social interaction. Notice the following:

It is important to present yourself in a professional way.

Even though she is still quite young, she presents herself as a responsible adult.

consider

...That you might have to consider.

'Consider' is another way to say 'think about.' Notice the following:

Did you consider the fact that this might become a problem?

You should consider all the possibilities before you make a decision.