Dialogue 1
Jingjing: Mark, did you hear about the fire in Paris?
京晶：馬克，聽說巴黎那場火災了嗎？
Mark: I saw some posts about it, but I haven't read any actual news articles yet. What happened?
馬克：我看見了一些社交媒體的發布，但還沒看任何新聞，發生了什么？
Jingjing: Well, Notre Dame, the cathedral nearly burned to the ground.
京晶：哎，巴黎圣母院啊，差點燒毀了。
Mark: That's terrible! Does anyone know what started it?
馬克：太可怕了！有人知道是怎么著火的嗎？
Jingjing: Apparently, it was an accident. There's nothing to suggest arson.
京晶：很明顯，是場意外事故。沒有任何縱火的跡象。
Mark: That's a relief, at least. Wait, isn't Notre Dame made of stone?
馬克：這倒是讓人松了口氣。等等，難道圣母院不是石制建筑嗎？
Jingjing: Yes, but the inside is all wood. Once that got going, it took some of the structure with it.
京晶：是的，但內部都是木頭啊。火一旦燒起來，肯定要連帶燒到里面的結構。
Mark: I saw the video of the spire falling. That's hard to un-see.
馬克：我看了尖頂倒塌的視頻，真是可怕又令人難忘的景象。
Jingjing: Yeah, it's really tragic! It was already a $170 million restoration project—and that was before the fire.
京晶：是的，非常悲劇了。這已經是個花費了一億七千萬美元的重建工程，當然是在火災發生前。
Mark: What's it going to cost now? Any idea?
馬克：那現在呢？還要花費多少？有想法嗎？
Jingjing: I read that it would cost $339 million now. But experts are still assessing the damage. A project like this will take 10 years or so.
京晶：我了解到現在要花費三億三千九百萬美元。但專家們還在繼續評估損失，一個這樣的工程得花十年左右。
Mark: It must be painstaking work.
馬克：那一定是個十分艱苦的工作。
Jingjing: To say the least. It took 100 years to build Notre Dame. With today's technology, it still can't be rushed.
京晶：那還是低估了，建造巴黎圣母院花了一百多年，就算用如今的工業技術，也是不能一蹴而就的。
Mark: Who's going to pay for all that work?
馬克：誰來出這筆修繕費啊？
Jingjing: UNESCO is raising money already. A few French billionaires have already made large donations.
京晶：聯合國教科文組織已經在籌款了。還有一些法國的億萬富翁們也已經捐了不菲的款項。
Mark: Really? Any names I would know?
馬克：是嗎？都有哪些人？
Jingjing: Francois-Henri Pinault: he pledged to give 100 million Euros immediately. Also, Bernard Arnault is giving 200 million Euros.
京晶：Francois-Henri Pinault 承諾立即出1億歐元。還有Bernard Arnault 要給2億歐元。


New words : 習語短語
arson 縱火
starting a big fire on purpose
spire 尖頂
a thin pointed tower on top of a castle or a cathedral
hard to un-see 可怕且難忘的景象
a terrible image (like the sinking Titanic)
assess 評估
expert opinion on how much something will cost
painstaking (adj.) 困難的，艱苦的
difficult, must be carefully done

Dialogue 2
Jingjing: My WeChat moments are full of posts about Notre Dame.
京晶：我朋友圈里全是巴黎圣母院的消息。
Mark: Mine too. A lot of people have found their photos of when they visited the cathedral—however many years ago—and are posting those.
馬克：我的也是。很多人都找出了他們曾經去這座教堂的照片，不管多久前的，都發上來了。
Jingjing: I could probably do the same. I know where I've saved those pictures. It's just so sad though.
京晶：我也可以做同樣的事。我知道我在哪里保存了那些照片，只是再看見它們時挺難過的。
Mark: Jingjing, I didn't know you went to Paris!
馬克：京晶，我不知道你去過巴黎呢！
Jingjing: Yeah, I went there in 2011. I went inside Notre Dame and everything.
京晶：是啊，我2011年去過。我進去了巴黎圣母院，然后里面都逛了。
Mark: I hear it's really breathtaking.
馬克：我聽說這建筑很震撼啊。
Jingjing: It definitely is. The cathedral sits on a small island in the middle of the Seine. That accentuates its size.
京晶：確實是。大教堂坐落在塞納河中的一座小島上。這更凸顯了它形態的獨特之美。
Mark: How big is Notre Dame?
馬克：巴黎圣母院有多大？
Jingjing: It's 48 meters wide and 128 meters long. With the spire, it stood at a height of 35 meters.
京晶：48米寬，128米長。算上尖頂，有35米高。
Mark: That's pretty impressive. It was built nearly a thousand years ago, wasn't it?
馬克：很令人敬畏的。它是在近一千年前修建的吧，不是嗎？
Jingjing: Right. Construction began in the year 1163.
京晶：是的，建設從1163年就開始了。
Mark: Wow. I hope the restoration goes smoothly. It's really important to keep those world heritage sites in good condition. Thousands of young people every year get inspired to become architects at places like Notre Dame.
馬克：哇哦。我希望整修一切順利。讓這些世界文化遺址保存完好是非常重要的。在巴黎圣母院這樣的地方，每年有數以千計的年輕人在此受到激勵想成為建筑師。
Jingjing: Well, 400 firefighters came to the rescue. And it's a good thing, too, because the edifice was saved.
京晶：還有，400多名消防員參與了營救工作，這也是一件好事，因為主體建筑部分給救下來了。
Mark: Let's keep Notre Dame in our hearts and hope it can be restored.
馬克：讓我們將圣母院常記于心，祝福它早日重建成功。

New words : 習語短語
breathtaking 了不起的，震撼的
amazing, beautiful, awesome
accentuate 讓某物凸顯得更加美麗
make something look larger or more beautiful
world heritage site 世界文化遺址
one of 1092 landmarks selected by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
edifice 大廈，建筑的主體部分
the face of a building