美 语 咖 啡 屋 (American Cafe)
这个节目生动活泼，以对话形式介绍美国各方面的文化和风俗，
并给听众们提供很多机会听到真正美国人的讲话。

52. Jason, A Cafe Visit

51. Rick, Lead Singer of SCOTS

50. Shannon, Acupuncture Student

49. Ann & Bella

48. Erica, Skills For Web Design

47. Heidi, The Animal Lover

46. Jen & Sharrin, Life After Peace Corps

45. Draft Script: Jen, Small Town to Big City

44. 44 Lara & Eric, School Plays

43. Yemi, Musician Poet

42. Liz, Graphic Design to Pastry Chef

41. Eric, Day of a Teenager

40. Jason on Sierra Club

39. Erica, Art and Science of Web Design

38. Mark, Bee Keeper & Other Jobs

37. Jeannie, Spinning Wool(2)

36. Jeannie, Spinning Wool(1)

35. Erica, Starting Your Own Business

34. Sandy, Women Running for Office

33. Sandy's Women's History Alive

32. Marty's Favorite Bonfire

31. What is a Bonfire?

30. James Millard on Teaching Hongloumeng

29. Diana Crespi, Festive Italiano Organizer

28. Dianne, the Italian Opera Lover

27. Mary Huff, Woman in Rock

26. John, A Scuba Diver

25. John's Carpentry

24. Sean & Natasha

23. DC Politics & Culture

22. Garrett the Stylist

21. Campaign Manager

20. Flamenco Dancer

19. Pfeiffer's Hardware

18. Bluegrass Music

17. Young At Heart Tap Dance Troupe

16. Biker Culture

15. Daytona Bike Week

14. Studying Chinese

13. Stand-up Comedy

12. Vince on Jim Hendrix

11. Valentine's Day

10. Scuba Diving

9. Brunch

8. Powerball Lottery

7. Grassroots Campaign

6. New Year's Resolutions

5. Restaurant Culture

4. Secondi Consignment Store

3. Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree

2. Scottish Bagpipes

1. Kramer's Cafe

第1课：Kramer's Cafe

引用:

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 capitol, 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!

第2课：Scottish Bagpipes

引用:

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!

[学习资料]VOA美国之音---美国习惯用语

第三课Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree

引用:

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。

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.

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。

第四课 Secondi Consignment Store

引用:

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。

第五课 Restaurant Culture

引用:

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: 咱们走吧！

第六课 New Year's Resolutions

引用:

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.