美国总公司代表Pete来北京视察，由中国雇员Jack接待。
Jack: Good evening, Pete. I trust you had a nice siesta. 皮特，晚上好。我相信你午休得很好。
Pete: Yes. It was just what the doctor ordered. 是的。这是医生要求的。
J: I'd like you to meet Henry Johnson. Mr. Johnson has been working at our Beijing office for over a year now. I think you two are from the same city. 我希望你去见亨利·约翰逊。约翰逊先生在北京工作超过一年了。我想你们两个来自同一个城市。
P: Hey there, Henry. Call me Pete. A New Yorker, eh? 嘿，亨利，叫我皮特吧。是纽约人吧？
Henry: Born and raised in Brooklyn. Good to meet you, Pete. 在布鲁克林出生和长大的。皮特，很高兴见到你。
Jack问Pete休息得怎么样，siesta is spelled s-i-e-s-t-a, siesta指午饭后的短暂休息。Pete的回答，it was just what the doctor ordered. 说一件事情is just what the doctor ordered，意思是这正是最需要的。Jack给Pete引见Henry, Henry在北京办事处工作。Pete和Henry都是纽约人，New Yorker. Henry说自己是born and raised in Brooklyn，土生土长的纽约布鲁克林区的人。
P: Brooklyn...that's a great neighborhood. I'm originally from Queens but moved down to Manhattan a while back. So...you're an expat in China...how's life over here working out for you? 布鲁克林，真是个不错的邻居。我很来住在皇后区后来搬到曼哈顿。所以你在中国是个老外……你在这儿的工作怎么样？
H: You know—I really love it. There are frustrations of course, such as traffic, pollution and the language barrier, but all in all, I give China a big thumbs up. 你知道的，我很喜欢这里。当然也有些不如意的地方。比如，交通，污染，语言障碍，但是我还是要给中国竖大拇指。
J: Before you two get carried away in conversation, let's finalize our plans for the evening. I was thinking of dining at a well-known dumpling restaurant and then hitting a Karaoke bar for some fun! 在你们得意忘形地交谈之前，让我们把晚上的计划定下来吧。我在考虑在非常知名的饺子店里面吃饭，然后去卡拉OK消遣一下！
Henry说，在中国生活，all in all, 总的说来非常棒，I give China a big thumbs up. give something a thumbs up，意思是高度评价。Jack建议晚上先吃饺子，然后去K歌。
P: Everything sounded good until I heard the word "Karaoke." If there's one thing you don't want to hear, it's me singing. 在说卡拉OK之前我觉得都还不错。如果说你有什么是不愿意听到的话，我想那就是我唱歌了。
H: (Chuckle) I sound like a frog that's suffering from a bad cold! But Karaoke is so popular in Asia that I've been dragged to at least two dozen of them so far. I've even learned a Chinese song or two. （咯咯笑）我唱歌听起来像是感冒的青蛙！但是卡拉OK在亚洲很受欢迎，我到目前为止，我已经被邀请去二十多次了。也学会了一两首歌了。
Pete和Henry都不是K歌高手，不过，Henry入乡随俗，已经被拽着去唱过很多次歌了，甚至学会了几首中文歌曲。
J: Hey...no Karaoke...no problem! We're here to have fun and if singing isn't fun...then forget it! I assume you like beer. 嘿……卡拉OK……没有问题！我们到这儿唱着玩的，如果觉得不好玩就别玩了呗！我猜你喜欢啤酒。
P: Beer is quite possibly my very favorite liquid. 啤酒是我很喜欢的饮料之一。
H: Chinese beer is actually pretty good. I've sampled all of them so I should know! 中国的啤酒确实不错。我差不多都尝过。
J: Great! So we'll have dinner and then we'll go down to the bar district. In Beijing there are literally thousands of bars. 很好！我们先去吃饭然后去酒吧吧。在北京不夸张地说有上千个酒吧。
P: Sounds like a plan. 听起来像是个计划。
Jack说，不去K歌没关系，可以去酒吧。Henry则说，中国啤酒味道不错，因为I've sampled all of them，他尝过所有牌子的。最后大家一致决定，晚上去酒吧喝酒。 |