美語情景對話 第174期:遠足 Hiking

Todd: Every year my company gives me three weeks holiday, in summer, in August, and usually I go home and I see my family, but two years ago, before I went home, I took a hiking trip in Japan and I went hiking across the "Minami Alps", uh, "Minami" means "south" so they're the Southern Alps in Japan. It was a really good hike. The hike took me five days. Before I went on the hike I needed to buy some gear so I bought a tent, a backpack, some hiking boots, and a good map of the area I was going to traverse. When I did the hike it was really, really hard. I was not prepared for how difficult it was going to be. Each day I had to hike about 12 hours, and the hardest part about each hike was having to carry lots and lots of water because you're walking all day, you have to drink lots of water or else you'll get dehydrated. The mountains were really steep, but once I got over the first mountain, it was just beautiful, really, really beautiful, and I met lots of really nice hikers, especially elderly hikers on the trail and I just had a great time. I just remember the beautiful views from the peaks and at night I could see the stars really clearly, probably more clearly than I ever had before. It was a really really good trip.

託德：每年公司都會給我三週的假期，時間基本是在夏季8月份的時候，我通常會回家看家人，而兩年前，我在回家前，去日本遠足了，我徒步穿越了南阿爾卑斯山，嗯，“Minami”是“南方的意思”，所以就是日本的南阿爾卑斯山。那真是一次非常棒的徒步旅行。這次旅程用時五天。在遠足之前我要買一些裝備，所以我買了一個帳篷，一個揹包，幾雙遠足靴，一張我準備穿越的地區的地圖。當我開始遠足時，我覺得這真的是非常非常艱難。我並沒有爲可能遇到的困難做好準備。每天我都要徒步12個小時，最艱難的地方就是每次徒步旅行都必須要帶大量的水，因爲你要走一天，你必須要補充足量的水分，否則你就會脫水。那些山非常陡，但是當我越過第一座山的時候，那簡直太美妙了，真的非常非常美妙，我在途中遇到了許多很好的遠足者，特別是一些嘗試遠足的老年人，那真是美好的經歷。我記得頂峯上美麗的風景，晚上我可以看見星星，看得非常清楚，可能比我之前看過星星的都要清楚。那真是一次非常愉快的旅行。

重點講解：
1. be not prepared for/to do sth.
沒有準備好；
eg. I'm not prepared to give an opinion.
我沒準備要發表意見。
eg. I was not prepared for all the problems it caused.
我對這事引起的諸多麻煩毫無準備。
2. or else
否則，要不然；
eg. Hurry up or else you'll be late.
快，否則你就要來不及了。
eg. Stop smoking now, or else your health will be ruined.
別再抽菸了，否則你會毀了自己的健康。