Part 3 What’s the point?

April： Isn’t K-pop awesome？

Rain： ①I wouldn’t go that far. But those guys in Big Bang are pretty cool， with those Asian-1）fusion hip-hop moves.

April： With a 2）sleek urban-Seoul style that’s all their own.

Rain： Oh， I see what you did there with the word Seoul—very 3）punny！ So do you mean the Korean capital Seoul or the spiritual soul？

April： I meant both！ I thought you’d appreciate the joke， seeing as we have equally 4）cheesy senses of humor.

Rain： True. But speaking of those K-poppers， how come all their Facebook pages always show shot after shot wearing different colored Yankee hats？

April： Maybe they just like baseball.

Rain： Doubtful， although baseball is very popular in South Korea.

April： ②Why are you making such a big fuss about a few pics？

Rain： Because I can’t seem to figure out why anyone would want a hundred identical photos of themselves wearing the exact same hat in different colors.

April： ③If I were to venture a guess， I’d say it has something to do with artistic expression. Perhaps a way of letting color tell the story of what mood they’re in.

Rain： ④Not a bad guess， but I think you give people too much credit. I think it’s more of a “look at all the hats I’ve got for no apparent reason！”kinda thing…

April： Jealous much？

Rain： Ha ha…

April： ⑤But honestly， those Koreans have kicked the whole selfie craze up a notch in recent years.

Rain： How so？

April： They actually created their own word for selfie， called selca， derived from the words “self” and“camera”.

Rain： That is pretty clever， but it still doesn’t explain why people take all these selfies that are practically identical to begin with.

April： Who knows？

Rain： Maybe they’re trying to create a kind of flipbook with instant memories， the way we used to with Polaroid pictures， but for free because all the photos are digital.

April： That’s actually a really cool way of looking at it. But I actually miss the whole 5）Polaroid process； watching a distorted rainbow of shapes 6）morphing into the eventual snapshot， while occasionally blowing on the picture to make it develop faster.

Rain： Me too！ The same way I miss blowing on my Nintendo games when they weren’t working properly.

April： I think we’ve still got plenty of old-school style， at least more than most tweetsters and Instagramians.

Rain： Are you making words up again？

April： What？ It’s fun. I bet whoever made up the word selfie never imagined it would be Webster’s Word of the Year a decade later.

Rain： And I’m sure Shakespeare never imagined that thousands of his original 7）verbal creations would still be uttered in everyday speech four centuries later.

April： ⑥That’s because art and language go hand in hand.

Rain： And I’ve heard that life imitates art.

April： So whatever art forms start to trend， like selfies， relevant language follows.

Rain： ⑦And the rest of us just sorta catch on slowly， repeating what we hear.

April： Wow. For a discussion on K-pop and selfie culture， this sure got deep and philosophical in a hurry. Rain： I guess the act of taking a selfie isn’t nearly as superficial as I once thought.

Smart Sentences

① I wouldn’t go that far. 我還不至于這樣認為。

I wouldn’t go that far： used to indicate you only agree with what the other person has said to a certain extent （用于表明你只在某個程度上同意對方的話）。例如：

—It’s not fair Leo DiCarprio didn’t get the Oscar. He is definitely the best actor in the world.

李奧納多·迪卡普里奧沒贏得奧斯卡獎太不公平了，他是世界上最好的演員。

—Well， he is a great actor， but I wouldn’t go that far.

這個嘛，他確實是個出色的演員，但我不會那么說。

② Why are you making such a big fuss about a few pics？ 你為什么對幾張照片那么大驚小怪呢？

make a fuss： become agitated about sth. （因某事激動，大驚小怪）。例如：

Jerry， don’t make a fuss about the subway breakdown. Things happen.

杰里，別為地鐵故障那么大驚小怪。發生這種事很正常。

③ If I were to venture a guess， I’d say it has something to do with artistic expression. 如果要我猜測，我會說那是一種藝術的體現。

venture a guess： provide an uncertain guess（提出一個不確定的想法）。例如：

Finally， she ventured a guess， “You got a promotion？”

她終于說出了一個猜測，“你升職了？”

④ Not a bad guess， but I think you give people too much credit. 不錯的猜測，只是我認為你把別人想得太好了。

give sb. credit： believe sb. has achieved sth.（承認某人的功績）。例如：

I give Jim credit for fixing the machine in such a short period of time.

我覺得這么快把機器修好是詹姆的功勞。

⑤ But honestly， those Koreans have kicked the whole selfie craze up a notch in recent years. 但是老實說，那些韓國人最近幾年把整個自拍熱潮推向了更高一層。

kick sth. up a notch： improve sth.（讓某事上一個臺階，改進某事）。例如：

Everyone was waiting to see if Apple could kick the iPhone up a notch after Steve Jobs was gone.

所有人都對在喬布斯之后蘋果公司能否讓iPhone再上一個臺階拭目以待。

⑥ That’s because art and language go hand in hand. 那是因為藝術和語言是密切相關的。

go hand in hand： two things are connected closely（密切關聯）。例如：

It’s believed that satisfaction from work and one’s happiness go hand in hand.

人們相信，工作帶來的滿足感與人的幸福感是密切相關的。

⑦ And the rest of us just sorta catch on slowly， repeating what we hear. 而我們其他人就會慢慢弄明白并重復我們聽到的語言。

catch on： understand or realize what’s happening（搞明白、弄清楚事情原委）。例如：

Many elderly are really trying to catch on to the whole online shopping frenzy among young people.

許多老人努力想搞明白年輕人的網購狂熱。