VOA流行美語 Unit 45: PACKED / HYPE

今天Michael和李華二人到了紐約一個公園去看煙火，李華學到了兩個新詞：packed和 hype。

L: 我老天，這個公園可真擠，但愿我們能夠找到個地方坐下。

M: Yeah, it's really packed today. I've never seen this many people here.

L: 你是怎么說的？你是說人好多嗎？

M: Yes, I said the park is packed. That means it is crowded, there are a lot of people here.

L: 噢，我懂了，你說的 packed，P-A-C-K-E-D 這個字，就是通常你 說打包的pack那個字吧？

M: That's right. Here we say "be packed" to show that a place is full of people, just like a box packed full of stuff.

L: 我想我懂了，那中國人口很多，我是不是可以說China is packed？

M: No, that's not really right: China has a lot of people, but China is also a very big place. We usually use packed to describe a small place full of people.

L: 嗯，原來如此，好像在中國春節期間，每班火車都擠的滿滿的， 那我就可以說：在春節前那個星期the trains are packed，對不對？

M: That's right. Around Spring Festival, the buses are packed as well, right?

L: 那當然了，事實上，中國的公共汽車永遠都是擠的滿滿的， 很 難找到個座位，至少在各個大都市都是這樣。

M: So, in China what other kinds of places might be packed with people?

L: Well，我記得我去看[泰坦尼克號]那部電影時，電影院是擠的很 滿，好像每個人都要看哪部電影似的。

M: Ewww. I don't really understand why people liked that movie so much. I thought it was boring.

L: 管它是啥原因，Michael，反正中國各地的電影院總是很擠就 是了。

M: Hey, the show is starting.

L: 哎，Michael，你覺得今天的煙火如何？

M: Well I guess they were ok, but I was hoping they would be better.

L: 你覺得還可以更好一些？可是我覺得已經很好了。

M: But there was so much hype about this show! Every newspaper said it was going to be the greatest fireworks display in New York history!

L: 你說太多什么？你說這次煙火怎么了？

M: I said there was a lot of hype, H-Y-P-E. Hype means a lot of excitement or praise about something that you might hear about before you see it.

L: Oh，所以hype就是指大家總是把一件事說的比實際情況還要好。 對不對？

M: Yeah, that's right. For instance, there was a lot of hype about Titanic, but I don't think it was as good as the hype said it would be.

L: Hmm，你說the hype about Titanic，因此我們就應該說 there is hype about something，對不對?

M: That's right. For example, I remember hearing a lot of hype about the Forbidden City in Beijing, but I didn't think it was very interesting.

L: 你說什么？你居然說北京故宮不好，那可是中國保存歷史古跡的 一顆 明珠哎。

M: I didn't say it wasn't important to Chinese history. I just didn't think it was very fun to visit, at least not as fun as all the hype said it would be.

L: Michael，誰管你怎么想的呢。哎，你說報上對今天的煙火作了很 多宣傳，到底是怎么說的呢？

M: Well, the newspapers said it was going to be larger and more exciting than anything ever shown in the city before. But really I think that was just hype. This year wasn't much different from last year.

L: Michael，要是你總是聽人宣傳的話，你一定會失望的。

M: I guess you are right.

今天Michael 和李華到紐約一個公園去看煙火， Michael說這個公園是packed，也就是十分擁擠的意思。另外Michael也不是太喜歡這次的煙火表演，因為他說報紙作了過多的渲染，也就是hype這個詞的含義。