实战口语情景对话 第587期:Missing Home 想家

Todd: Hey, Keiko, you lived in The States for five years, right?
托德：嘿，惠子，你在美国生活了五年，对吗？

Keiko: Yep.
惠子：对。

Todd: When you were there, what did you miss about Japan — like what foods or TV shows or stuff like that?
托德：你在美国的时候想念日本吗？比如想念日本的食物或电视节目之类的？

Keiko: I did miss the food a lot — very healthy food, not oily, just simple, grilled fish, miso soup, simple rice, natto. I missed that a lot.
惠子：我非常想念日本的食物，想念那些不油腻，又简单的健康生物，比如烤鱼、味噌汤、米饭和纳豆等。我非常想念这些食物。

Todd: Now did you cook Japanese food in the states?
托德：你在美国有做日本食物吃吗？

Keiko: I lived with parents and my parents and my mom tried to cook as much but obviously it's hard to get those Japanese foods, ingredients in the states. It was pretty difficult at that time and it was also quite expensive, when you could get it.
惠子：在美国时我和父母生活在一起，我妈妈会尽量做日本食物吃，不过在美国很难买到日本的食材和调料。食材很难买，而可以找到的食材又很贵。

Todd: Right.
托德：没错。

Keiko: So, we didn't have it so often or everyday so I missed it.
惠子：所以我们不是经常做日本菜，不是每天都吃，所以我才会想念。

Todd: Now what did you think of the Japanese restaurants in America? Were they up to par or? You can be honest.
托德：你觉得美国的日本餐厅怎么样？那些餐厅能达到标准吗？你可以实话实说。

Keiko: Yeah, it was kind of strange at that time because they came in a very un-Japanese looking dish, and you know, the taste was, it's very quite similar to authentic but it's not quite authentic.
惠子：当时我觉得非常奇怪，虽然他们端上来的菜看上去不像日本菜，可是味道和日本菜很像，不过不是那么正宗。

Todd: Right.
托德：没错。

Keiko: It was very close but still it wasn't the authentic Japanese.
惠子：味道很接近，不过不是正宗日本菜的味道。

Todd: Now was there anything else you missed, like was there television shows or music or radio stations, things like that?
托德：除了食物你还有其他想念的东西吗，比如电视节目、音乐节目或是电台节目之类的？

Keiko: Actually, I didn't think about these things when I moved because I was kind of forced to be adapted to American culture, so I didn't have, almost I didn't have time to really think back, "Oh, I miss this, I miss that" but I wanted to catch up with my friends in American school, I tried to watch TV shows in the states and I tried to talk to my American friends about that, so no, not in terms of TV and radio.
惠子：实际上我在美国时不太想这些东西，因为我的情况有点像被迫去适应美国文化，所以我完全没有时间回想，“哦，我想念这个，我想念那个”我没有这个时间，我希望赶上在美国学校的同学，我努力去看美国的电视节目，和美国朋友谈论这些节目，所以我不太想念电视节目或电台节目。

Todd: OK. Now, actually, what grades were you in school? What level?
托德：好。当时你上几年纪？达到什么水平了？

Keiko: I moved to the states when I was 13, so the end of my junior high school first grade in Japan, so I moved into almost the beginning of the seventh grade in The States.
惠子：我搬去美国时是13岁，在日本念完了初中一年级，我去美国以后上七年级。

Todd: And then you graduated high school?
托德：你在美国待到高中毕业？

Keiko: And then I graduated high school.
惠子：对，待到高中毕业。

Todd: Whoa!
托德：哇！

Keiko: Yeah, it was almost six years.
惠子：对，差不多有6年的时间。

Todd: Man, that must have been something.
托德：天哪，你肯定经历了很多。

Keiko: Yep.
惠子：对。

Todd: Now, American high schools are known to be a lot easier than Japanese high schools. Did you feel like it was a lot easier?
托德：一般人们认为美国的高中课程比日本的简单。你觉得美国的课程简单吗？

Keiko: Actually, it's a good question because I get that asked all the time but I don't think it's true because I think what's hard in Japan is I think the school in Japan is not so hard but you have to study for the entrance exam for university. That's more difficult, but in The States I found it difficult. I mean the school was actually quite difficult because we have, every day we have a homework from all the subjects. We have every chapter test every week from all the subjects and every homework and every little test you do in the states, it counts when you want to get into university so every day you have to work hard, whereas in Japan you don't even have to go to school. I mean you could just go to the certain amount of days to school and you can still graduate but then you just have to do really well on the entrance exam for university, so I think that's a big difference.
惠子：这是个不错的问题，总有人问我这个问题，我不这么认为，因为日本课业比较难的原因是，学校课程并不难，但是你要为准备大学入学考试而努力学习。这很难，可是我发现美国的学校课程很难。美国的课程很难，因为每天所有课都会留作业，美国每周各科都会进行考试，美国所有的家庭作业和考试对考大学来说非常重要，所以每天都要努力学习，可是在日本你不用每天都去学校。只要达到一定的出勤天数，也可以毕业，前提是你在大学入学考试中要取得好成绩，所以我认为这是很大的不同。

Todd: Ok, thanks, thanks, Keiko.
托德：好，谢谢，谢谢你，惠子。