廣交各路朋友

獨(dú)在異鄉(xiāng)為異客，但如果有些“同病相憐”的朋友是不是會(huì)感覺好多了呢。Mark看來深諳此道。瞧他，多會(huì)搭訕??！

Mark: Mind if I join you?

Sally: Not at all. Hi， I’m Sally.

Mark: Mark. Nice to meet you. What a beautiful night.

Sally: Yeah， there are so many stars out tonight. ①Carol really scored getting the rooftop apartment.

Mark: And the advantage of living out of the city is the clear skies.

Sally: For sure. When I lived in Beijing， it was pretty smoggy every day.

Mark: How long were you in Beijing?

Sally: Just six months， then ②I packed up and headed here. But I’ve been in China almost five years.

Mark: Whoa. You’re from…America?

Sally: Yes.

Mark: Sorry， ③just trying to pick the accent. I didn’t want to say Canada if you are American.

Sally: That’s cool. I get it a lot.

Mark: So do you get home often?

Sally: ④Once in a blue moon. China’s like a different world， you know. Everything is so different from the States. So， it’s easy to forget about things back home. I don’t really miss anything though， except family and friends， of course.

Mark: I’m still easing into it. I’ve only been here about

a month.

Sally: Ah， how are you finding it so far?

Mark: Well， I have to be honest; ⑤there have been times when I’ve thought about throwing in the towel. It can get a little overwhelming， I’m sure you understand. Not speaking the language， having everyone point and stare at you， adjusting to the food and all that—I get a bit frustrated sometimes.

Sally: Oh， ⑥we’ve all been there. ⑦M(jìn)y friend， Jess， is in the same boat as you. She arrived about two weeks ago.

Mark: Oh， is she coming tonight?

Sally: Yeah， she’ll be here later on. She was waiting at home for her parents to call her.

Mark: Cool. I’ll have a chat with her. We can let it all out to each other. So， what brought you here in the first place?

Sally: Originally I came just for a one-month holiday. I did a tour across some of the western provinces and the big cities—Beijing， Shanghai， Hong Kong—and it flew by. When it was time to go， I didn’t want to leave. It was just a case of being in the right place at the right time， because just before I was supposed to fly back to America， a company offered me work and got me a visa， so I decided to go for it. And here I am， five years later.

Mark: That’s amazing.

Sally: It’s a pretty common story actually. You might find the same thing happens to you.

Mark: You never know. I am open to anything. ⑧I need to wet my whistle. I’m just going to grab a drink. Do you want one?

Sally: That’d be great.

馬克：我能加入嗎？

莎莉：當(dāng)然可以。嗨，我是莎莉。

馬克：馬克。很高興認(rèn)識(shí)你。多么美麗的夜晚。

莎莉：是的，今晚天上星星很多?？_爾得到了這個(gè)頂層單元真的很棒。

馬克：住在市郊的好處就是能看到明朗的天空。

莎莉：這當(dāng)然了。我住在北京的時(shí)候，每天都灰蒙蒙的。

馬克：你在北京住了多久？

莎莉：只有6個(gè)月，然后我就收拾行裝到這里來了?？墒俏以谥袊?guó)呆了差不多5年了。

馬克：哇。你來自……美國(guó)？

莎莉：是的。

馬克：很抱歉，我是單單從你的口音來判斷。如果你是美國(guó)人，我不想說成是加拿大人的。

莎莉：沒關(guān)系。我習(xí)慣了。

馬克：你經(jīng)?；貒?guó)嗎？

莎莉：極少。你知道，中國(guó)就像個(gè)完全不同的世界。每樣?xùn)|西都跟美國(guó)很不一樣。所以，我很容易就忘了老家那邊的事情了。那里沒有任何東西令我掛念，當(dāng)然家人和朋友除外。

馬克：我還在慢慢適應(yīng)生活。我來這里只有一個(gè)月。

莎莉：啊，那你覺得目前生活怎樣？

馬克：嗯，我得老實(shí)說，有好幾次我曾想過要放棄。生活的方方面面都會(huì)有點(diǎn)應(yīng)付不來，我想你應(yīng)該明白。不會(huì)說中國(guó)話，每個(gè)人都對(duì)你指指點(diǎn)點(diǎn)和盯著你看，適應(yīng)飲食，還有其它所有的問題——我有時(shí)會(huì)有些挫敗的感覺。

莎莉：呵，我們都經(jīng)歷過那段時(shí)期。我的朋友杰西跟你同病相憐。她來這兒大約才兩個(gè)星期。

馬克：哦，她今晚來嗎？

莎莉：會(huì)的，她晚些時(shí)候會(huì)來這里。她在家等父母給她打電話。

馬克：太好了。我要和她聊一聊。我們可以向彼此發(fā)泄一下。那么，一開始是什么令你來這兒呢？

莎莉：我原本只是想到這里度過一個(gè)月的假期。我去過西部一些省份和大城市，如北京、上海、香港等地旅游。時(shí)間過得飛快。當(dāng)是時(shí)候要走的時(shí)候，我不想離開。恰逢這時(shí)，就在我準(zhǔn)備坐飛機(jī)回美國(guó)之前，一間公司向我發(fā)出工作邀請(qǐng)，還給我辦了簽證，所以我決定接下這份工作。這么一干就干了5年。

馬克：太神奇了。

莎莉：其實(shí)這是個(gè)很平常的故事。你或許會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)相同的事情會(huì)在你身上發(fā)生哩。

馬克：誰也不知道。我樂于接受任何變化。我想喝點(diǎn)東西。我現(xiàn)在去拿點(diǎn)喝的，你要嗎？

莎莉：太好了。

Smart Sentences

① Carol really scored getting the rooftop apartment. 卡羅爾得到了這個(gè)頂層單元真的很棒。

score doing/getting sth.: a successful move or achievement（成功地完成某事）。例如：

She scored giving that outstanding presentation.

她演示很出色。

② I packed up and headed here. 我就收拾行裝到這里來了。

pack up: put possessions or things in a case/bag before leaving（收拾行李）。例如：

Give me 10 minutes to pack up and we are out of here.

給我十分鐘收拾行李，然后我們就出發(fā)。

③ Just trying to pick the accent. 我是單單從你的口音來判斷。

pick an accent: to determine a particular accent（確認(rèn)口音）。例如：

I couldn’t quite pick the accent in her speaking.

我從她說話中不太能判斷出她的口音。

④ Once in a blue moon. 極少。

once in a blue moon: used to emphasize sth. that doesn’t happen very often at all（極難得，千載難逢）。例如：

Once in a blue moon， I would get an e-mail from her.

我很難得收到她的電子郵件。

⑤ There have been times when I’ve thought about throwing in the towel. 有時(shí)候我曾想過要放棄。

there have been times…: sth. has happened several times before（曾經(jīng)有）。例如：

There have been times when John thought his wife was hiding something from him.

約翰曾經(jīng)幾次以為妻子有事瞞著他。

throw in the towel: stop trying to do sth.， believe things won’t be successful（投降，認(rèn)輸）。例如：

It seems like my brother has thrown in the towel and stopped learning English.

我弟弟似乎已經(jīng)認(rèn)輸，不再學(xué)英語了。

⑥ We’ve all been there. 我們都經(jīng)歷過那段時(shí)期。

we’ve been there: used to express sympathy for sth.（用以表達(dá)同情與理解）。例如：

—It feels terrible that I’m caught between my mother and my husband over the Thanksgiving vacation.

就感恩節(jié)假期一事我夾在母親和丈夫之間，太難受了。

—I understand. I’ve been there before.

我明白，我也曾有過這種經(jīng)歷。

⑦ My friend， Jess， is in the same boat as you. 我的朋友杰西跟你同病相憐。

in the same boat: in the same unpleasant situation（處境相同，面臨同樣的危險(xiǎn)）。

例如：

If you lose your job， I’ll lose mine; so we’re in the same boat.

假使你失業(yè)，我也會(huì)失業(yè)，所以我們是患難與共。

⑧ I need to wet my whistle. 我想喝點(diǎn)東西。

wet sb.’s whistle: have a drink， an old-fashioned use（喝酒，一種比較老套的表達(dá)方式）。例如：

Joe likes to wet his whistle on his way home from work on Friday nights.

喬總愛周五晚上在下班回家的路上喝上一杯。