Y: 各位听众好,欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。
J: And I’m Jody! Welcome to American Cafe! Thanks for dropping in. Summer is just around the corner.
Y: 没错,夏天要来了,我想夏天水上运动应该是最受欢迎的吧。
J: Oh yea! Water sports! I love it! Swimming, rafting, boating…
Y: …嘿,别忘了潜水。
J: Oh, that’s right. I thought you would forget about it, since last time when the topic of scuba diving came up, you sounded kind of ify about it.
Y: Ify? 我才不ify呢! 哎, “ify” 到底是什么意思啊。
J: “Ify” means you’re not sure about something. You’re full of ifs, “if this happens…” or “if that happens…”
Y: Oh. 就是不太确定的意思。没错,我 是有点ify,因为我怕水。
J: Well, whether or not I’m afraid of the ocean, this year I’m going to try it! I’ve had a strong feeling lately of wanting to leave the Earth. Do you know what I’m talking about?
Y: 我看你又有点异想天开, 想离开地球可不好办。你又不能去太空,那剩下的选择就只有到水底下了。
J: You got it! So, I thought I should meet some people who scuba dive. Today we’re going to meet John.
John : My name is John. I’m from the Dive Shop in Fairfax, Virginia. Well, I started scuba diving in 1957 so I’ve been diving longer than most people I know have been alive. I have almost 10,000 scuba dives in my life and this is what I do for a career.
Y: Wow, 他从57年就开始潜水了,那时候我还没出生呢。
J: Me either.
Y: 那你说John 为什么热衷于潜水呢?
J: Let’s have John answer the question “Why do you love scuba diving?”
John: Well, most everyone that you know doesn’t dive, so that separates you from most people. What I find is it’s an opportunity to go ahead and appreciate a portion of the Earth that most people will never get a chance to see. An opportunity to go out into a relatively pristine and wild environment is quite fascinating.
Y: 他刚才说的pristine这个词很好听,是什么意思呢,Jody.
J: Pristine. Pristine is spelled P-R-I-S-T-I-N-E and it means that something is pure and untouched. Usually, pristine is used to describe a natural environment or landscape.
Y:就是原始,或者说没有被污染的意思。
J: But you know, Yang Chen, simply going underwater is not the end goal of scuba diving. There’s much more to it than that.
Y: 那么潜水的真正目的是什么呢?
J: Well, John says that scuba diving is not the end activity. It’s all about underwater recreation, you know fun activities. Again, here’s John.
John: Scuba diving itself is not the end activity here. It’s underwater recreation whether or not it’s exploration, whether or not it’s photography, whether or not it’s examination of sunken ships, or whether or not it’s just simply a walk in the woods.
Y: 听他这么一说,水下还真的有那么多有意思的活动呢。不过对我来说,幻想一下还可以,真要到水底探险,那我还真的先克服怕水的心理。
J: Okay, we’re going to try something here. Yang Chen, I want you to join me in a little exercise to get over your fear of water. Okay, close your eyes.
Y: 在这儿?
J: No, really close ’em. Just close your eyes. In fact, everybody out there close your eyes with us.
Y: 哎,你怎么没闭上眼睛啊?
J: Hey, just listen. Okay, just close your eyes, Yang Chen. Trust me.
Y: Okay.
J: First, we’re stepping into the cold ocean water.
Y: 我们现在走进了冰冷的海水。
J: We’re slowly sinking down, down, down
Y: 沉下去,一直往下沉。
J: You’re breathing is relaxed.
Y: 在宁静的大海里你仿佛能听到自己的呼吸声。
J: You hope.
Y: Jody, 不要开玩笑,我们现在可是在水底下呢。
J: Sorry, sorry. Okay, let’s go back. Let’s go back. Let’s go back. Suddenly, a dark image obscured behind a school of fish and seaweed becomes clearer.
Y: 突然之间,你看一个巨大的黑色怪物,越来越清晰地出现在你面前。
J: It’s a ship long sunken and long forgotten.
Y: 原来是一艘沉睡了好几百年的船。
J: Forgotten treasures awaits you!
Y: 哇,船上有那么多金银珠宝,我们发财了!!!
J: No, no, no. We have to go back!
Y: 这时候,你还念什么诗啊 。快点帮我拿个大口袋来!