VOA流行美語 Unit 140: boonies/country bumpkin

Larry和李華兩人正開著車，準備到鄉下的一個農場去騎馬。今天李華會學到兩個常用語：boonies和country bumpkin.

(Car driving on country road)

LH: Larry，我們要去的那個農場到底還有多遠啊？

LL: Unfortunately, it's way out in the boonies. It will take at least two hours to get there.

LH: 兩個小時？我的天啊！還要那么久啊？我在車上已經坐的腰酸背痛了。對了，你說這個農場在boonies, 那是一個小鎮的名字嗎？

LL: No, "boonies" is a slang term for any place that is very far from any major city or town.

LH: 噢，boonies就是指離城市很遠的鄉下地方，也就是很偏僻的地方，我們中文里說那些地方是“前不著村，后不搭店”。

LL: This farm is in the boonies, but I've heard that it's very beautiful and that they have really nice horses.

LH: 哇，那兒風景很好，還有很好的馬，真是太棒了！要到這樣的地方去，車開多遠都無所謂！

LL: Yeah, I'm kind of excited about going horseback riding, too.

LH: 嘿，說真的，Larry，幸好我給我們兩個人準備了午餐，要不你想，在那種地方 - in the boonies - 大概連麥當勞都沒有噢！

LL: I'm not sure that's such a bad thing, Li Hua.

LH: 我知道，像麥當勞這種快餐店的東西還是少吃為妙。不過我的意思是，在那么偏僻的地方恐怕很難找到吃午飯的餐館吧。嘿！Larry，你看，那片田野好美噢！

LL: Yes, it is. It's really nice to get out of the city once in a while. I especially like driving on country roads. There's hardly any traffic out in the boonies.

LH: 就是啊！在鄉下開車，既能欣賞景色，享受新鮮的空氣，又不必擔心塞車。我已經好一會兒沒看到其他車了。偶然出一次城真讓人心情開朗。

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LH: Larry, 你覺不覺得那個在農場工作的女孩和城市女孩很不一樣？她的穿著很樸素，臉上也沒有化裝，一點都沒有特意打扮的樣子。

LL: Yeah, she was definitely a country bumpkin. Were you able to understand her? She had a bit of a country accent.

LH: 嗯，我是有點聽不太懂她說的話；她有一點鄉村口音。你說她是個country bumpkin，那是什么意思?

LL: A country bumpkin is someone who is from the countryside. The term usually refers to someone who is relatively simple and unsophisticated.

LH: Bumpkin就是生活在農村那些很純樸的人。那Larry，你有沒有在城市里碰過從農村來的人？

LL: Sometimes. The other day, there was a guy on the subway who was such a country bumpkin that he couldn't figure out how to buy a ticket. He said that he'd never been on a subway before!

LH: 那人又沒有乘過地鐵，第一次當然不知道怎么買地鐵票嘍！我剛來美國的時候，我也不知道怎么買地鐵票啊！

LL: That's true. Hey, Li Hua, do you know any country bumpkins?

LH: 我有一個住在鄉下的表姐。她和我那些住在大都市里的親戚很不一樣。我想她應該算是個country bumpkin吧！

LL: I have an uncle who owns a farm in Idaho. He's really a country bumpkin. He hates the city and he prefers to wear jeans and a cowboy hat. I think he'd rather ride a horse than the subway.

LH: 我還不知道你有個叔叔在愛達荷州。他還有個農場，真有意思！說不定，下回我們可以去你叔叔那兒玩，過過農村生活，做個country bumpkin!

今天李華學到兩個常用語。第一個是boonies,指的是離都市很遠的農村。另一個常用語是：country bumpkin 是形容生活在農村的那些很純樸的人。