美語情景對話 第929期:Protests 抗議

Todd: OK, so Julia, I thought we would talk about social unrest.

託德：朱莉婭，我們來談談社會動盪吧。

Julia: OK.

朱莉婭：好。

Todd: So recently in the news there has been a lot of protest, there's been some riots and I believe in your country you actually had riots recently.

託德：最近新聞報道了很多抗議和騷亂事件，你的祖國也有騷亂髮生，實際上最近就發生了騷亂。

Julia: We did, yeah, in the summer last year, yeah.

朱莉婭：對，去年夏天。

Todd: That was in London?

託德：是在倫敦發生的嗎？

Julia: That was in London and in a few of the other cities around the UK as well. It spread to other cities but mainly centered in London, yeah.

朱莉婭：在倫敦和英國一些其他城市。那場騷亂擴散到了其他城市，不過主要集中在倫敦。

Todd: So what was your perspective of the riots?

託德：你怎麼看那些騷亂事件？

Julia: Well we, actually, we were just visiting home and so we just arrived in London right as that all kicked off. So actually I was quite shocked and of course a lot of my friends here were a little bit worried because they knew we were flying into London and London is suddenly all over the news and not in a good way. A lot of violence and quite shocking imagines. You don't think, when you think of London you don't think of people wearing balaclavas and smashing windows and behaving in this violent way.

朱莉婭：實際上，當時我們正好回家鄉探望，我們剛抵達倫敦就爆發了騷亂。我非常震驚，我在這裏的朋友很擔心，因爲他們知道我飛去了倫敦，而倫敦突然成爲了新聞焦點，而且還是發生了不好的事情。當時有很多暴力事件，非常令人震驚。當提到倫敦時，你不會想到人們戴着巴拉克拉法帽，亂砸窗戶，做出暴力行爲。

Todd: So it was pretty shocking?

託德：非常令人震驚？

Julia: It was quite shocking but after being there I think within a week it had calmed down and I think the response from the police was very good and from the public was very good and from the media generally it was also very good so it wasn't such a big deal in the end. It was, it wasn't a political movement, it wasn't people protesting anything specific, it was just a kind of unbridled violence so it didn't gain any support.

朱莉婭：非常震驚，我想大概一個星期以後，事態平息了下來，我認爲警方、公衆的應對都很好，總的來說媒體的反應也很好，所以最後並沒有造成嚴重的後果。那並不是一場政治運動，人們沒有具體的抗議目標，只是極端的暴力事件，所以沒有得到任何支持。

Todd: Right, so it was just basically kind of releasing maybe youthful angst or kind of built up aggression?

託德：好，基本上來說， 就是年輕人的焦慮，或是累積的攻擊行爲？

Julia: Tensions of some, yeah, some kind but because it was all focused around consumer goods and a desire to rob stores of products like shoes and TVs and nobody really took it very seriously. You know, I want a pair of Nikes so I'm going to smash this window doesn't really gain much momentum as a movement.

朱莉婭：形勢有一些緊張，因爲他們的焦點是消費品，他們想搶劫商店，獲得鞋和電視這樣的商品，沒有人把這當回事。就像，如果我想要雙耐克鞋，那我就砸了櫥窗，這種行動並沒有發展下去。

Todd: So there was a lot of opportunism?

託德：有很多投機主義？

Julia: Absolutely. I think that's pretty much all it was, yeah.

朱莉婭：沒錯。我認爲基本上是這樣。

Todd: So do you think it's going to happen again in the future?

託德：那你認爲以後還會發生嗎？

Julia: No, I don't think so, no, because of the way the public responded and the way it was handled, I don't think it's the kind of thing that would gain momentum again. I don't, I think it was a one off.

朱莉婭：我認爲不會，因爲公衆的應對方式以及事件的解決方式，我認爲這類事件不會再發生。只會發生這一次。

Todd: Yeah, a one and done deal?

託德：好，一次性的？

Julia: I think so, yeah.

朱莉婭：我是這樣認爲的。

Todd: Well that's good.

託德：這很好。

Julia: I hope so.

朱莉婭：我希望如此。

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重點講解：
1. kick off (事件、比賽或討論等)開始；
例句：The network construction will kick off within one month.
一個月之內網絡建設將正式啓動。
2. think of 想到；想起；想出；
例句：She was hurt to think of them left in such a state.
想到他們處於這樣一種狀態，她很難受。
3. calm down (使)平定；平息；
例句：The tempest seems to be calming down.
暴風雨似乎正在平息下來。
4. in the end 最後；終於；
例句：He debated buying a new car, but didn't in the end.
他思量很久是否買輛新汽車，但最後還是沒買。