实战口语情景对话 第497期:ELLLO Mail Bag 网站的信件袋

Mark: So, Todd, you run and operate this site, elllo.org, yeah?
马克：托德，你运作ello这个网站，对吧？

Todd: Yes.
托德：对。

Mark: How long have you been doing that?
马克：你运营这个网站多长时间了？

Todd: I've been doing it now for about two years.
托德：我现在大概做了两年的时间。

Mark: Two years. OK, and I've been on the site and there's a place where I can send a comment to you, right? (Right) Do people ever send, send you comments, or?
马克：两年。好，我一直在用这个网站，我可以在网站上发布评论，对吧？（对）人们有没有发布过评论？

Todd: Yeah, actually, I get, I do, I get about five letters a day, usually, from people all over the world, some days more, some days less, and usually people are very sweet and they say, oh you know, "Nice Job" and sometimes they give me suggestions for how to improve the site.
托德：实际上，我每天会从世界各地收到五封信，有时候多一些，有时候少一些，通常人们都很友善，他们会说，“干得好”，有时他们会提出一些改进网站的建议。

Mark: Really! Do they ever, is anyone ever critical or say any negative things?
马克：真的吗？那有没有人曾经提出过批评或说些负面的事情？

Todd: Well, the one, the main critical thing I get a lot, often is, "Why don't you have real authentic speech?" Like, why don't you have people talking natural. And actually, there's quite a few reasons why?
托德：嗯，我收到的批评主要是问：“你们为什么没有原汁原味地道的演讲？”或者是“你们为什么没有那种自然的谈话？”类似于这种问题，实际上他们会问这种原因。

Mark: OK, well, I don't understand exactly because right now, you and I are talking (right) and this is not scripted, we're basically talking (right) we're talking off the top of our head, so how is this not natural?
马克：嗯，其实我不太理解，因为现在你和我就在谈话，（对），而且我们没有照稿子念，我们就是在自然的谈话（对），我们在即兴谈话，这样怎么会是不自然的呢？

Todd: Well, this conversation actually probably is more natural because I'm really explaining why I don't have natural conversations. It's kind of ironic, but I think because a lot of the conversations are staged. They're unscripted, but I do just sit down and ask two people to talk about something, and because I tell them to talk about it, it's not as natural as it would be in real life.
托德：对，现在这个对话实际上要更自然一些，因为我一直在解释为什么我们没有自然谈话的原因。这有点讽刺，我想是因为许多对话都有设定。那些对话是有文本的，不过我只是坐下来让人们谈论一些事情，可能因为我给他们设定了谈论的主题，所以看起来不像现实生活中那样自然。

Mark: Ah, I see, because they're not, they didn't think of that topic on their own. They're given the topic and then, sort of, they must say something about that topic.
马克：啊，我明白了，因为不是他们自己想的主题。你给了他们主题，而他们必须要谈论那个主题。

Todd: Right. And also there's a problem with just the recordings. You know when you record audio, you have to have the mic equal distance to both speakers, and so that means both people have to sit down and put on the headsets to get good quality audio, so in order to get people speaking naturally in real life, I would have to follow them around with a microphone, and it's, technically it's just too hard to do.
托德：没错。还有个问题就是录音。你知道你在录制音频时，麦克风离两个谈话者的距离要一样，这意味着两个人必须要坐下来，而且要戴上耳机，以保证音频的高质量，为了让人们像在日常生活中那样自然的说话，我必须要拿着麦克风在他们之间不断传递，从技术上来讲这非常难。

Mark: So what do you do to try to, is that, well let me ask you, actually, is that the only criticism that you get?
马克：我想问你，你就收到过这一种批评吗？

Todd: Ah, no, there's, well, there's quite a bit. The other criticism is that, this is the funny part, it's either too easy, or it's too difficult, so usually.
托德：不是，实际上还有一些。有的批评很有意思，有人说我们的内容太简单了，也有说太难的。

Mark: So you need more intermediate.
马克：所以你要进行更多的平衡。

Todd: Well, I guess that's what they say, they say that there's not enough stuff for low level listeners, and there's not enough stuff for the advanced listeners.
托德：我想这就是他们的想法，他们认为供低级别听众和高级别听众学习的材料都不够。

Mark: So what do you think your gonna do in the future to address those needs?
马克：那你要如何满足这些需求？

Todd: Well, hopefully by next year, I'll be able to have enough that I can do both. For the people who really want high listening, or more advanced listening I think they should just go to the links page and listen to authentic stuff, because if you're listening is that good then, that's probably the best thing to do, but I do need to start working on stuff for beginners soon.
托德：我希望明年我能为这两类人提供更多的材料。我认为那些想进行高级听力训练的人可以点击网站链接，听一些更地道的材料，因为如果你的听力水平很好，那可能是最适合你的事情，我马上会开始为初学者准备更多材料。

Mark: Thank you for answering us questions.
马克：谢谢你回答我们的问题。