美語情景對話 第237期:Fatherhood 父親

Todd: Norm, you have three children, right?

託德：諾姆，你有三個孩子，對吧？

Norm: Yes, I do. I'm very lucky.

諾姆：對，是的。我非常幸運。

Todd: What do your Children do? What kind of jobs do they have?

託德：你的孩子們都是做什麼工作的？是做哪種工作的？

Norm: Well, my oldest one, he works for Frito lay, which is a company owned by Pepsi Cola. He's a regional manager, which means he has the whole province of Ontario, and he is responsible for distribution for, he handles big budgets, we're talking about millions of dollars here, and he is a problem solver. When an area does not make profit, or if they have problems then they send him there to fix the problems. He's very good at that. He has very good human communication skills and he sees problems and he sees solutions that please everyone, so he's very successful. I have, my daughter, who does many things. She works in the circus industry. She teaches at L'arc de cirque in Quebec, and she's also has her own busker act with a friend and she also teaches trampoline at the circus school, and she also competes. She's an international athlete. She came in 7th at the world competitions in Hamburg last fall, and synchronized trampoline. And my youngest son, he's in computers. He enjoys it very much. He works for a big consulting company. They have contracts, government contracts, and he sets up the data base and trains the government people so that they can use the computers to, for example, monitor medical files of the people and the province.

諾姆：嗯，我最大的孩子在菲多利公司上班，這是百事可樂旗下的一家公司。他是區域經理，就是說他負責公司在整個安大略省的運作，他要負責分銷、處理大筆預算問題，這裏指的是數百萬的預算，當然他也是那個解決問題的人。當一個地區不營利時，或者某個地區出現了問題，這時他們就會派他去解決問題。他很擅長處理問題。他有優秀的人際溝通能力，他能看到問題，又能解決問題，而且會讓所有人都滿意，所以他是一個非常成功的人。我女兒做許多事情。她在雜技產業工作。她在魁北克的L'arc de cirque雜技團教學，她還要和一個朋友一起表演節目，她還在雜技學校中教授蹦牀技術，她也會參加比賽。她是一名國際級運動員。她參加了去年秋天在漢堡舉行的國際比賽，在雙人同步蹦牀比賽中獲得了第七名的成績。我最小的兒子從事與計算機有關的工作。他非常喜歡這份工作。他在一家大型諮詢公司工作。他們有政府合同，他建立數據庫，培訓政府人員，讓他們能用計算機監控民衆和該省的醫療文件。

Todd: Wow, you must be really proud. You have three amazing kids.

託德：哇，你一定非常自豪。你有三個非常棒的孩子。

Norm: Thank you. Thank you. They worked very hard. Yes, and they're, they like also to experience different things so there all in that kind of field where they can change job when they find that the job is not as interesting anymore, so they ask for transfers and, that's the way they like it.

諾姆：謝謝。謝謝你。他們工作非常努力，他們都喜歡經歷不同的事物，所以他們在發現所從事的工作不再有樂趣，他們會在相關領域更換工作，所以他們會辭職，他們喜歡那種方式。

Todd: Well, you're one cool guy Norman. I'm not surprised that you have three successful children.

託德：嗯，諾姆，你是一個很酷的人。所以我並不驚訝你有三個這麼成功的孩子。

重點講解：
1. be responsible for
負有責任的；應承擔責任的；
eg. I tried to make clear to him that I'm not responsible for this.
我再三跟他解釋這事與我無關。
eg. You've got to be responsible for your own action.
你要爲自己的行爲負責。
2. make profit
獲利；營利；謀利；
eg. We hope to make great profit in the long term.
我們希望長期獲利。
eg. The man privately admits that his motive is to make profit.
那人私下承認他的動機是爲了謀利。
3. set up
創建；建立；安排；組建；
eg. The two sides agreed to set up a commission to investigate claims.
雙方同意組建一個委員會來調查那些索賠要求。
eg. Tell us when and why you started your business and how you went about setting it up.
告訴我們你是何時出於何種原因開辦了自己的企業，又是如何着手創建的。