Dialogue 1
Jingjing: So, Mark, have you decorated your house with rats for the coming new year?
京晶：嗨，馬克，迎接鼠年，你用各種老鼠裝飾家里了嗎?
Mark: Well, I'm on the lookout for a plush Jerry toy—you know, from Tom and Jerry.
馬克：嗯，我正在找一個杰瑞鼠的毛絨玩偶，你知道的，《貓和老鼠》里面的。
Jingjing: That one's pretty adorable. Jerry's a mouse, though, isn't he?
京晶：那個很可愛啊。杰瑞是個老鼠，不是嗎?
Mark: Yeah, he is. Mice are considered cuter. Americans expect to see rats only in poor areas of a city.
馬克：是的,它就是。人們覺得小家鼠更可愛。美國人覺得田鼠之類只會出現(xiàn)在城市的貧困地區(qū)。
Jingjing: Really? Rats aren't omens of good luck in the west?
京晶：真的嗎?老鼠在西方不是好運氣的象征嗎?
Mark: Definitely not. They're not really bad luck either. It's not like when you see a black cat. Some people even keep rats as pets, but not many. Most people prefer hamsters, even mice.
馬克：當(dāng)然不是啊。他們也不代表霉運。它不像你看到的黑貓。有些人甚至養(yǎng)老鼠當(dāng)寵物，但不普遍。大多數(shù)人更喜歡倉鼠，甚至小老鼠。
Jingjing: Yeah, hamsters are lovely. A friend of mine had one. She thought it was getting fat. But it turned out to be pregnant and had a lot of babies. She still doesn't know how that happened.
京晶：是的，倉鼠很可愛。我的一個朋友養(yǎng)了一只。她以為倉鼠長胖了，結(jié)果竟然是懷孕了還生了很多小崽。她一直都不知道怎么回事。
Mark: A wild hamster could have paid a visit during the night.
馬克：可能是一只野生小倉鼠在晚上來拜訪過吧。
Jingjing: A wild hamster? That's a hoot! Let's get back to talking about rats as symbols. Did you ever see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? That movie has a rat as the master of four heroes.
京晶：一只野倉鼠？太有意思啦。讓我們說回到老鼠的象征意義吧。你看過《忍者神龜》嗎?那部電影里有一只老鼠是四個英雄的師父。
Mark: Right, it's kind of ironic that a rat would turn into a wise old character. I think the key word there is mutant.
馬克：是的，有點諷刺老鼠竟然會變成一個睿智長者的角色。我認為重點是突變體。
Jingjing: Yeah, I guess that's an odd case. What about the rat in Charlotte's Web? You know that story by E.B. White?
京晶：是的，我想這是有點離奇。那夏洛的網(wǎng)里面的老鼠呢?你知道E.B.懷特寫的那個故事嗎?
Mark: Yeah, I read the book as a kid. I was pretty happy with the movie too—the one with Julia Roberts. Steve Buscemi did the voice of Templeton, the rat.
馬克：知道，我小時候就讀過這本書。我對改編的電影也很滿意——就是有茱莉亞·羅伯茨的那部。史蒂夫·巴斯米為老鼠坦普爾頓配音。
Jingjing: So, is that more along the lines of how westerners see rats, as pesky and selfish?
京晶：那么，這是否更符合西方人對老鼠的看法，討厭又自私?
Mark: That's a more common conception. Now that I think of it, though, there are a few other famous stories that put rats in a very positive light.
馬克：那是一個更普遍的概念。既然我現(xiàn)在想到了，還是有一些其他著名的故事把老鼠塑造成非常積極正面的角色。
Jingjing: Are you suggesting them to me?
京晶：你在給我推薦嗎？
Mark: I will. Let me do a quick IMDB search and grab a cup of coffee. I'll be right back.
馬克：我會的。讓我趕快去IMDB（互聯(lián)網(wǎng)電影資料庫）搜一下，還要去弄杯咖啡。馬上就回來。
Jingjing: Ok. See you in a few.
京晶：好的，一會見。


New words : 習(xí)語短語
on the lookout 尋找
looking for something
omen 預(yù)兆；征兆
a symbol, often unexpected, seen as
good or bad luck
That's a hoot. 有趣的，好玩的
That's very funny.
Ironic 諷刺的，反語的
when something is the opposite of
what people expect, often in a funny
and thought-provoking way
along the lines of 類似于
like something (people think of A along
the lines of B; people think A is like B)

Dialogue 2
Jingjing: There you are with your steaming coffee, Mark. Did you find out anything about those movies you wanted to recommend?
京晶：馬克，喲，熱氣騰騰的咖啡喝上了。你找到那些你想推薦的電影了嗎?
Mark: Yeah, and I'm glad I checked. I would have given you the wrong information otherwise.
馬克：是的，我很高興我核對過了。否則我就會給你錯誤的信息了。
Jingjing: It sounds like you're pretty serious about them.
京晶：聽起來你對這件事很認真。
Mark: They're both kids' stories, but good for adults also. The first is one of my favorite cartoons. I think it's the best cartoon feature film from before digital animation.
馬克：它們都是兒童故事，也適合成年人讀。第一個是我最喜歡的卡通之一。我認為這是數(shù)字動畫出現(xiàn)之前最好的卡通電影。
Jingjing: Alright. I'm ready for you to tell me the title.
京晶：好吧。我已經(jīng)準備好聽你告訴我它的名字了。
Mark: It's called the Secret of NIMH. It's about these rats that were super smart and had a huge city underground, and how they helped a family of common field mice.
馬克：名字叫《勇敢鼠媽媽》（鼠譚秘奇）。講的是一群超級聰明的老鼠生活在一個巨大的地下城市，它們?nèi)绾螏椭粋€普通的田鼠家庭。
Jingjing: I'll have to look for that. I haven't heard of it. Is it a Disney movie?
京晶：我得找來看看。我沒聽說過。是迪斯尼的電影嗎?
Mark: Nope. It was made by Don Bluth Productions in 1982.
馬克：不。它是由唐·布魯斯制作公司1982年出品的。
Jingjing: That's an old movie. But some cartoons don't show their age. What's the other one?
京晶：那是老電影啊。但有些動畫看不出年齡。另一個是什么?
Mark: It hasn't been made into a major movie. It's a great book, though: Wind in the Willows.
馬克：它還沒有被改編成大電影。但它是一本偉大的書:《柳林風(fēng)聲》。
Jingjing: And it has a rat as one of the characters?
京晶：那其中有老鼠的角色嗎？
Mark: Yeah. There are four friends: a mole, a rat, a badger and a toad. The rat is smart and practical.
馬克：有啊，有四個朋友:一只鼴鼠，一只水鼠，一只獾和一只蟾蜍。老鼠聰明又實際。
Jingjing: Well, it sounds like those two stories give rats a good image.
京晶：聽起來這兩個故事都給賦予了老鼠一個好形象。
Mark: They do. They're not as cute as mice, but noble in their own way.
馬克：的確是這樣。它們沒有小家鼠那么可愛，但有自己的高尚之處。
Jingjing: As for mice, I still like Stewart Little.
京晶：至于小老鼠，我還是喜歡精靈鼠小弟。
Mark: Oh, I totally forgot about that one. What a delightful book and movie!
馬克：哦，我完全忘了那一部。真是一部非常有趣的書和電影啊!

New words : 習(xí)語短語
digital animation數(shù)碼動畫 數(shù)字動畫
cartoons and realistic videos made with computer software
noble 卓越的 高貴的
honest and good to others, well-educated