The english we speak(BBC教學)第247期:Across the pond 大西洋彼岸

Feifei and Neil are in the park talking about places they enjoyed visiting. She likes the park and he… well, he loves going to the other side of the pond. But can they reach the other side easily?

菲菲和尼爾在公園裏談論他們想去的地方。菲菲喜歡公園而尼爾喜歡……他想去大西洋彼岸。但是他們能輕易到達對岸嗎？

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript

注：音頻與文本並不完全對應。

(In a park by a pond)

（在池塘旁邊的公園裏）

Feifei: What a pleasant day, Neil! I love this park. Some of my best memories are from walking around here, feeding the ducks…

菲菲：尼爾，真是愉快的一天！我喜歡這個公園。我最美好的回憶就是在這裏散步，餵鴨子……

Neil: My best memories are… well, from across the pond.

尼爾：我最美好的記憶……在大西洋彼岸的美國。

Feifei: Really? What sort of thing did you do over there?

菲菲：真的嗎？你在那裏都做什麼了？

Neil: Shopping! They have all sorts of products over there which are cheaper than here!

尼爾：購物！那裏有各種各樣的商品，而且比英國要便宜！

Feifei: Good shops with cheap stuff… mmm… I want to go there, but I can't really see from here!

菲菲：出售便宜貨品的好商店……嗯……我想去那裏看看，不過我從這兒看不見啊！

Neil: I'm talking about across the pond. And the food there is so delicious! Big portions and all very tasty! I love Mississippi mud pie!

尼爾：我說的是大西洋彼岸的美國。那裏的食物也非常美味！份量大，而且非常好吃！我喜歡密西西比軟泥蛋糕！

Feifei: That's a chocolate cake, isn't it? I want some! Where is the restaurant? I want to go there now!

菲菲：那是巧克力蛋糕，對吧？我也想來點！餐廳在哪裏？我現在就要去！

Neil: But I told you — it's too far away. It's across the pond!

尼爾：可是我要告訴你，距離太遠了。在大西洋彼岸呢！

Feifei: Don't be lazy. We can just go walk around the pond. But all I can see are ducks!

菲菲：別懶了。我們可以繞過池塘，走去那裏。可是我除了鴨子什麼都沒看到！

Neil: Here in Britain, when we say 'across the pond' or 'the other side of the pond' we might be referring to the Atlantic Ocean and the United States. Because there's so much contact between the two continents, we compare the ocean to a pond.

尼爾：在英國，我們用across the pond和the other side of the pond來指大西洋彼岸的美國。因爲兩個大陸的接觸很多，所以我們將海洋比作池塘。

Feifei: So the cake and the shops are… in America!

菲菲：所以你剛說的蛋糕和商店都在美國！

Neil: Yes! Let's hear some examples of how this expression is used.

尼爾：對！我們來聽些例句，看看這個短語如何使用。

Examples

例句

The latest Woody Allen movie was very popular on both sides of the pond. It was praised by critics and popular among cinemagoers.

伍迪·艾倫的新片受到了大西洋兩岸的歡迎。這部電影得到了批評家的稱讚，在電影觀衆中很受歡迎。

Many American actors are starring in plays in London's West End. But this is Shakespeare's territory and I think the best theatre is still on our side of the pond!

倫敦西區上演的劇目中有很多美國演員出演。但是這是莎士比亞的領土，我認爲英國的劇院仍是最好的劇院。

Neil: You look disappointed, Feifei. It's the chocolate cake, isn't it?

尼爾：菲菲，你看上去很失望。因爲吃不到巧克力蛋糕，對吧？

Feifei: Yes, it is.

菲菲：對，沒錯。

Neil: Come on. Let's find a nice coffee shop and I'll buy you a tasty dessert. We don't have to go to New York for that.

尼爾：走吧。我們去找家不錯的咖啡店，我請你吃好吃的甜點。我們不用去紐約也能吃到。

Feifei: No we don't. London is a great city!

菲菲：對，我們不用去紐約。倫敦是座很棒的城市！

Neil: Come on, let's go!

尼爾：我們走吧。

Feifei: Bye!

菲菲：再見！

Neil: Bye!

尼爾：再見！

譯文屬僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載

重點講解：
1. all sorts of 各種各樣的；形形色色的；
例句：All sorts of difficulties cropped up.
各種各樣的困難意想不到地出現了。
2. refer to 指的是；
例句：It can refer to an academic subject or a practical skill.
這一詞既可指某一學科也可指某種技能。
3. compare to 把…比作；
例句：Don't compare your life to others, you have no idea what their journey is all about. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
不要拿自己的生活跟別人比，因爲你無法瞭解別人的經歷。沒人能主宰你的幸福，除了你自己！
4. star in （在戲劇或電影中）擔任主角，主演；
例句：He's starred in dozens of films.
他主演過很多部影片。