美语情景对话 第442期:Life in Wales 威尔士的生活

Todd: So, Steven, where did you go to college?

托德：史蒂文，你在哪里上的大学？

Steve: I went to the University of Wales, um, the College of Cardiff there, so it the United Kingdom, obviously we have England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland and so I spent three years over in Wales.

史蒂文：我上的是威尔士的卡迪夫大学，英国包括英格兰、威尔士、苏格兰和爱尔兰四个部分，我在威尔士度过了三年的时间。

Todd: Wow. Sounds fun. So what's university like in Wales? Is it different than University life in Britain?

托德：哇，听起来很有意思。威尔士的大学怎么样？和英国其他的大学生活有什么不同吗？

Steve: Yeah, it is. Um, for example Wales has it's own distinguished, distinctive language and culture as well, so if you go to Wales you'll see street signs written not only in English, but above that you'll have the Welsh language there and Welsh people are very, very proud of their language, and their heritage and there culture and it made it just a slightly different experience from studying over the border in England.

史蒂文：有。举例来说，威尔士有自己独特的语言和文化，所以如果你去威尔士，你会看到街上的标志不仅仅是用英语写的，在英语上面还有威尔士语，而且威尔士人对他们的语言、传统和文化感到非常自豪，这和在英格兰边界学习的经验有所不同。

Todd: So they speak Welsh? Is that the language?

托德：那他们说威尔士语吗？这是那种语言的名称吗？

Steve: That's correct. Yeah. Yeah, they do. It's not spoken by everybody in Wales. Since the middle ages, the usage of the language has declined somewhat but there has been a revival over the last 30 or 40 years, and now about, maybe about 40% of the Welsh population speak it as either as their first of second language.

史蒂文：没错。他们说威尔士语。但是并不是威尔士的所有人都说威尔士语。威尔士语在中世纪的使用有所减少，但是过去三四十年以来，威尔士语又再度复兴，现在威尔士大约有40%的人口把威尔士语当成第一或第二种语言来使用。

Todd: Did you learn it while you there?

托德：你在那里的时候有学威尔士语吗？

Steve: No, no, I didn't, no. Everybody speaks English there. but there is a lot of good music coming out in Welsh now. There's lots of cultural festivals and when I was at Cardiff, there's lots of pubs where it's Welsh speaking only and it was quite good fun to go in there and try to order a beer and stuff in the Welch language, but that was about as far as I got.

史蒂文：没有，我没学。那里所有人都说英语，现在威尔士有很多不错的音乐。那里有很多文化节，卡迪夫有许多只说威尔士语的酒吧，去那里试着用威尔语点一杯啤酒和其他东西真的很有趣，不过我也只会那点威尔士语。

Todd: Could you say that there's any, it's a stereo type, that's there's any difference between the Welsh people and the British people?

托德：有没有那种刻板印象，威尔士人和英国人有什么区别吗？

Steve: There is yeah, because they've had a different history and obviously that affects how people have evolved over many centuries. They like different sports for example. They're more into rugby than they are into football. They tend to look slightly different than they do to English people. They tend tohave sort of redder hair and darker eyes than English people, but also they're very, very loyal, they're very, very fierce, they're very passionate people. They're very nice people.

史蒂文：有，因为他们的历史不同，而历史影响着人们数个世纪以来的发展方式。举例来说，他们喜欢的体育运动就不同。相较于足球，威尔士人更喜欢橄榄球。他们总是会看起来和英国人的做法有些不同。他们的发色比英国人更红、眼睛的颜色也比英国人深，但是他们也同样踏实又坚定，他们是充满热情的人，他们是非常棒的人。

Todd: Well, it sounds like a nice place to go. I'd love to go someday.

托德：听起来那是个不错的地方。我希望有一天能去看看。

Steve: Yeah it was nice!

史蒂文：当然了，那里很不错！

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重点讲解：
1. be proud of
为…而感到骄傲；自豪；
eg. He was justifiably proud of his achievements.
他有理由为自己的成就感到骄傲。
eg. He is proud of his great success in scientific researches.
他为自己在科研方面所取得的巨大成就而自豪。
2. come out
（书或光盘）出版，发行；
eg. The book might come out in paperback soon.
这本书不久可能以平装本出版。
eg. These new products will come out before long.
这些新产品不久将要上市销售。
3. tend to do sth.
往往会；经常就；
eg. Television companies tend to censor bad language in feature films.
电视公司往往会在审查故事片时删去其中的粗话。
eg. Like causes tend to produce like results.
类似的原因往往产生类似的结果。