美语咖啡屋25 John, A Carpenter

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?

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。

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.  

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.

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。