BBC：解读英国佬为什么爱聊天气

 The weather – and the British obsession¹ with talking about it – has been puzzling outsiders for decades.

　　英国人痴迷于谈论天气，这个问题数十年来一直让外界人士困惑不已。

　　Several features of Britain's geography make the weather the way it is: mild, changeable, and famously unpredictable. Britain's position at the edge of the Atlantic places it at the end of a storm track – relatively² narrow zones over oceans that storms travel down, driven by the prevailing³ winds.

　　英国地理的特点造就了英国天气的现状：温和多变，众人皆知其难以预料。英国位于大西洋边缘，处于风暴轴的末端。所谓“风暴轴”，即海洋上暴风经过的相对狭长的地带。

　　As the warm and cold air fly towards and over each other, the earth's rotation⁴ creates cyclones⁵. Then there is the Gulf⁶ Stream, which makes the British climate milder than it should be, given its northernlatitude, and the fact that the UK is made up of islands, meaning there is a lot of moisture in the air.

　　冷热气流相互对冲，地球旋转引起旋风。英国地处北纬、由岛屿构成，在墨西哥湾流影响之下空气中有许多水分。

　　Many of the day-to-day conversations British people initiate⁷ about the weather, however, are mundane⁸. Comments like “cold, isn't it?” don't even particularly demand a full response; a grunt⁹ of agreement will suffice.

　　然而，英国人发起谈论天气的日常对话枯燥乏味。诸如，“很冷，不是吗?”这样的评论根本不需要完整的回答，咕哝一声表示同意足矣。

　　Weather talk is a kind of code that we have evolved to help us overcome social inhibitions and actually talk to one another.

　　谈论天气是帮助人们克服社交障碍演变而来的代码，让人们可以真真正正相互交谈。

　　In some situations, weather talk is an icebreaker. In others it's used to fill awkward silences, or divert the conversation away from uncomfortable topics. We can also use weather speak to gauge¹⁰ other people's mood.

　　有些情况下，谈论天气可以破冰、活跃气氛;另一些情况下，可以填补尴尬的空白，转移令人不自在的话题。也可以通过谈天气来判定别人的心情。

　　Of course, these kinds of purely¹¹ social conversations also occur in other cultures. But both the nature of the conversation – and their content – will vary. A country like Britain will choose a safe and personally unobtrusive topic – such as the weather.

　　当然，这样纯社交对话在其它文化里也有，但谈话性质和内容不一。英国这样的国家会选择安全低调、不会唐突伤及个人的话题，比如天气。

1 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

2 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

3 prevailing   

adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的

参考例句：

• She wears a fashionable hair style prevailing in the city.她的发型是这个城市流行的款式。
• This reflects attitudes and values prevailing in society.这反映了社会上盛行的态度和价值观。

4 rotation   

n.旋转；循环，轮流

参考例句：

• Crop rotation helps prevent soil erosion.农作物轮作有助于防止水土流失。
• The workers in this workshop do day and night shifts in weekly rotation.这个车间的工人上白班和上夜班每周轮换一次。

5 cyclones   

n.气旋( cyclone的名词复数 )；旋风；飓风；暴风

参考例句：

• The pricipal objective in designing cyclones is to create a vortex. 设计旋风除尘器的主要目的在于造成涡旋运动。 来自辞典例句
• Middle-latitude cyclones originate at the popar front. 中纬度地区的气旋发源于极锋。 来自辞典例句

6 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

7 initiate   

vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入

参考例句：

• A language teacher should initiate pupils into the elements of grammar.语言老师应该把基本语法教给学生。
• They wanted to initiate a discussion on economics.他们想启动一次经济学讨论。

8 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

9 grunt   

v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝

参考例句：

• He lifted the heavy suitcase with a grunt.他咕噜着把沉重的提箱拎了起来。
• I ask him what he think,but he just grunt.我问他在想什麽，他只哼了一声。

10 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

11 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。