我们讲的英语第269期:Crash course 速成班

Helen is looking for an adventure holiday in a faraway country, one thing worries her is the language, how can she learn the basics within a short time? Neil has an idea.
海伦想去一个遥远的国家探险度假，可是她担心语言问题，她如何在短时间内学会基本用语呢？尼尔给她出了个主意。

Neil: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I'm Neil.
尼尔：大家好，欢迎收听地道英语节目。我是尼尔。

Helen: Hello everyone. I'm Helen.
海伦：大家好。我是海伦。

Neil: I saw you looking at a travel magazine earlier. Are you thinking about a holiday?
尼尔：我之前看到你在看旅游杂志。你是想去度假吗？

Helen: Yes, I have actually booked a holiday in the Amazon rainforest.
海伦：对，实际上我已经定好去亚马逊雨林度假了。

Neil: Really, that sounds amazing. When are you going?
尼尔：真的吗？听起来太棒了。你什么时候出发？

Helen: In a month's time, I'm really looking forward to it. Have you been there?
海伦：一个月以后，我非常期待这次旅行。你去过那里吗？

Neil: No to the rainforest, but I've visited Brazil with my friends. It's a beautiful country. Can you speak Portuguese?
尼尔：我没去过亚马逊雨林，不过我和朋友一起去过巴西。那是一个美丽的国家。你会说葡萄牙语吗？

Helen: No, not at all. I was hoping English is enough.
海伦：不会，一点儿也不会。我希望用英语能搞定。

Neil: Erm, if you are visiting the big cities, you can get by with English. But out of the cities, it's good to know a bit of Portuguese and about the local culture.
尼尔：额，如果你去大城市，你说英语是没问题。不过要是去一些小地方，你最好学点儿葡萄牙语和当地的文化。

Helen: Oh dear, I am hopeless with languages. They are so difficult to master and take years to learn. I don't have years. I’ve got weeks to sort out my adventure.
海伦：哦，天哪，语言方面我是彻底无望了。语言太难掌握了，要花好几年去学。我没有那么长的准备时间。我只有几周时间来准备这次冒险旅行。

Neil: Don't worry, you can go on a crash course.
尼尔：别担心，你可以报个速成班。

Helen: What course?
海伦：什么班？

Neil: A language crash course! When you are on a crash course, you learn about something in a very short period of time.
尼尔：语言速成班！就是在很短的时间学习一些事情。

Helen: But will it work for me?
海伦：那对我有用吗？

Neil: Well, that depends on your learning ability. I think you'd master the basics without any trouble. Here are a few more examples of crash courses on offer:
尼尔：这要看你的学习能力了。我想你掌握基本用语没有任何问题。下面是一些有关速成班的例句：

Examples
例句

Peter applied to train as a teacher, but he had to complete a compulsory crash course in maths first.
彼得申请了教师培训，不过他首先要完成数学速成班。

Alison did a crash course in French before her trip to Paris.
艾丽森去巴黎旅行前参加了法语速成班。

I booked Nathan on a video editing crash course, so we've got at least one person who can operate the camera.
我为纳山报了个视频编辑速成班，这样我们至少有一个人可以操作相机了。

Julie took a crash course in cooking to prepare for her wedding.
为了准备婚礼，朱莉报了个烹饪速成班。

Helen: Can you recommend a Portuguese crash course for me?
海伦：你能给我推荐一个葡萄牙语速成班吗？

Neil: Just have a look online, there are loads of them and some of them are free.
尼尔：去网上搜搜吧，有很多葡萄牙语速成班，其中有一些是免费的。

Helen: Perfect! Thanks Neil!
海伦：太好了！谢谢你，尼尔！