英语口语畅谈世界文化之澳大利亚08:Boomerang 回飞棒

英语口语畅谈世界文化

之澳大利亚08:Boomerang 回飞棒

T: Tim    A: Alan
T:蒂姆    A:艾伦

T:  I'm giving a lecture next week at the Aus位alia Society ,  would you be interested in coming?
T:下周我会到澳大利亚社团做一次演讲，你有兴趣参加吗？

A: Yes, of course.  What are you going to talk about?
A:哦，当然有了。你打算讲点什么？

T: Well, I'd thought of talking about boomerangs.  What do you think?
T:嗯，我想谈谈回飞棒，你觉得怎么样？

A: A great topic! I know quite a lot about it too, so I can give you a hand.  How are you going to star?
A：选题不错！我对这个也很熟悉，所以我可以帮帮你。你准备从哪儿开始讲起？

T: Like this ... the real question is where do they come from? Most people would say Australia, and they would be correct, for the most pan.
T：是这样的……真正的问题是回飞棒的发源地在哪里：大多数人说是澳大利亚，他们的说法基本上是对的。

A: Open with a question! Great! You must also establish the difference between a returning boomerang and a non-returning boomerang. Many people, even today, get the two confused. Non-returning boomerangs were used for hunting.
A：由问题人手，不错！不过你也要说明一下返回式回飞棒和非返回式回飞棒的区别。即使到今天，还有很多人把两者弄混。在过去，非返回式回飞棒是打猎用的。

T: Yes, they are called -Kylies", like the Australian singer. Kylie Minogue.  They are about three feet long and have a chord width of three to four inches across, being about one and a half inch thick and similar in shape to a banana.
T：是的，非返回式回飞棒又被称为“凯利”，就像澳犬利亚女歌手凯利•米诺格的名字。它大约3英尺长，1.5英寸厚，上面横放着一根三四英尺宽的弦，形状如香蕉。

A: And they don't return to the thrower. A thrown stick can fly great distances. One hundred to one hundred and fifty yard flights are not uncommon.
A：这种回飞棒并不飞回到抛出者身边。扔出的棒子可以飞出去很远，大约100到150码是很正常的。

T: True. Then, I thought I'd go on to why they made boomerangs.
T:确实是这样。接卜．来，我想谈一下制作回飞棒的原因。

A: So, tell me, why did they make "the Kylie"?
A:那你给我讲讲，以前人们为什么要制作“凯力”？

T: The best thinking is that prior to throwing sticks people used clubs to settle their differences, but later they realized that a thin club flew further. At this point the basic concept of a throwing stick was established.
T：最恰当的解释是在此之前，人们用扔棍棒的方式来解决分歧，但后来人们意识到棍棒越细飞得就越远。由此，扔棍棒的这一基本想法就这样产生了。

A: In Australia it was handed down from generation to generation. The oldest one is around 20, 000 years old!
A：在澳大利亚，人们一代代地把这一发明传承下来。最早的回飞棒大约有两万年的历史。

T: Next, I will talk about how the returning boomerang was developed. The story goes that an Aboriginal person was shaping a smaller, lighter slightly more bent throwstick than he normally used. When he tested it he was very surprised to observe that it didn't fly straight at all, but came turning back to him.
T：接下来，我会谈到返回式回飞棒是怎么产生的。故事是这样的：一位土著人正在做一根比他平常用的更小、更轻、更弯的扔棍，在试用那棍棒时却发现棍棒根本不是一直向前飞的，而是飞回他的身边。

A: Was it created by chance or skill? No one really knows.  What we do know is they made it and passed the technique down through generations of time and we have it today, thankfully ..
A：那这个发明到底是偶然发现的呢，还是依靠技术呢？没有人真正知道。我们所知道的是土著人发明了它，然后把这一技术世代相传，直到今天，我们因此幸运地拥有了回飞棒。

【单词词组讲解】
boomerang回飞棒   
give you a hand帮你的忙
hand down from generation to generation —代代的传承
The story goes 故事是这样的

【背景介绍】
回飞棒，一种弯曲的投掷棍棒。“回飞棒”一词源于澳大利亚，是当地土著人一种狩猎和战斗时使用的木制投掷武器的称呼。最早的回飞棒至少可追溯到1万年前，又粗又重，可以扔200码（180米）远。澳大利亚土著人最终发明了一种可以飞回到投掷者手中的回飞棒。这种回飞棒起初也许是用于猎取小型猎物，不过后来都用它做游戏。回飞棒投掷在当今的很多国家里流行。