各位聽眾,大家好!今天我們為您播出“美語三級跳”節目“帶孩子”單元的中級課程。
Hannah 晚上要和老公出去看電影,所以雇了臨時保姆Elliot來家里照顧女兒Amber。
Professor: During the last episode at the playground Amber hit another child and stole the ball he was playing with. She sounds like a troublemaker, doesn't she?
可不是嘛! 看來Elliot今晚有得忙了!
Hannah: Hi there, Elliot. Thanks for being on time. We're just about to leave for the movie.
Elliot: Hi Hannah. You know, I love kids. I think I will have a lot of fun with Amber.
Hannah: That's great, but I should warn you: Amber can be a handful.
Elliot: Don't worry, I'm a very patient person. Even if Amber misbehaves I'm sure she won't get on my nerves. Professor, Hannah 提醒 Elliot, 說 "Amber is a handful," 這是什么意思呢?
Professor: You can say someone is "a handful" if he or she gives you lots of trouble. For example, "Paul's girlfriend is really a handful. He has to call her 10 times per day or she complains he doesn't care about her." 原來,a handful 就是那些非常難伺候,總惹麻煩的家伙。不過,Elliot說,自己很有耐心,即便Amber不聽話,也不會get on his nerves--惹他生氣。
Hannah: First, let me give you some basic rules. Amber has to finish all her dinner. If she doesn't, she can't watch TV.
Elliot: What should I cook for her? Is she a picky eater?
Hannah: I left her dinner in the refrigerator. Make sure you stand on the other side of the room when she eats.
Elliot: Why do I have to do that?
Hannah: Sometimes if Amber doesn't like the food I make her, she screams and throws it at me. 天呀,Hannah說, 如果Amber不喜歡吃什么東西,就會大喊大叫,還會把吃的扔出去! 如果讓我看這種孩子,我每小時得要100美金!
Professor: I agree. But Winnie, can you guess what a "picky eater" is? Hmm...picky是 “挑剔”的意思,所以 "picky eater"應該是“挑食的人。”
Professor: Correct. And what does Hannah say will happen if Amber doesn't eat her dinner?
她說,如果Amber不把飯吃完,就不許看電視。
Elliot: She might throw her food at me? Alright ... what should I do with her before dinner?
Hannah: Before dinner you have to help her do her homework. But watch her very carefully when she is holding the pen.
Elliot: Why?
Hannah: If she doesn't know the answer she gets really mad and draws all over the wall.
Elliot: What? Well it's good she is so serious about doing her homework, I guess....
啊?Amber不會做作業,就會發脾氣,在墻上亂畫?! 這孩子太可怕了,我要是Elliot,現在就拍屁股走人!
Professor: I agree. She definitely doesn't sound like an angel.
An angel? 小天使?
Professor: Yes. Sometimes if a child is really well behaved and nice, you can say that he or she is "an angel."
還天使呢,我看,Amber根本就是個小惡魔!
Elliot: What should I do if she misbehaves?
Hannah: Amber can be really stubborn, so it's probably best to just give her whatever she wants.
Elliot: You mean I shouldn't discipline her at all?
Hannah: No, don't try to discipline her. If things get out of hand, just call my cell phone.
Elliot: What time will you be home? Very soon, I hope?
Hannah: We will be back by midnight. Make yourself at home!
Elliot 有點打退堂鼓了。也是的,Amber聽起來好象一點規矩都沒有。
Professor: That's right, when parents don't discipline their children, they can get really "out of hand."
可不是么,對于這種不聽話的孩子,家長更應該discipline——嚴格管教,否則,他們就會out of hand——管不了了。對了,Professor, Hannah 讓Elliot “make himself at home”,這是什么意思?
Professor: When you have guests at your house and you want them to feel relaxed, you can tell them to make themselves at home. It means "to act as if you are in your own house."
哦,就是把這里當自己家,不用客氣的意思。如果我家有個Amber這樣的小魔王,我就……
Professor: What would you do?
趕快搬走!
B: Poor Elliot! It looks like he's got himself a really tough job!
A: 可不,連媽媽都承認自己的孩子是 a handful——難伺候的家伙。She's a picky eater─愛挑食,very stubborn——很擰,而且家長never tries to discipline her ——從來不怎么管教她。真是個令人頭疼的小孩兒!
B: Indeed. Kids can be so annoying sometimes!
A: Yes! Parenting is not easy! 希望以后我的孩子是個聽話乖巧的小天使,嘿嘿!
B: Did you tell me you were quite a handful when you were little? If that's the case, the chances of your kids being "an angel" would be slim.
A: 嘿!你別打擊我了!
B: Okay. I was just kidding! Now let's move on to our next show─business etiquette!
禮節美語——BE-220 Internet Security II
公司電腦系統遭到駭客入侵,Dylan跟同事Cory和Brenda一起討論,Dylan說:
D: We may never be able to trace the origin of this attack. But what we can do is work harder to make our systems impenetrable.
B: Yes, a lot of people are quite lazy with computer security.
D: That's true. For example, many people almost never change their passwords.
B: Or they use ridiculously easy-to-guess passwords.
C: Um....I guess I'm guilty of that. I don't think I've ever changed my password.
Dylan說,他們可能永遠都查不到這次駭客襲擊是誰干的,但他們可以吃一塹長一智,加倍努力 to make our systems impenetrable. 讓我們電腦系統的安全滴水不漏,impenetrable is spelled i-m-p-e-n-e-t-r-a-b-l-e, impenetrable 是無法進入的意思。Brenda說,很多人太大意,不重視電腦安全,從來不換密碼,或是用的密碼太簡單。Cory說,I'm guilty of that. 我就是這種人,從不換密碼。Dylan 說,
D: And let me guess...your password is, "1234."
C: Well, it's not quite that simple...
B: Let me take a guess... It's your wife's birthday.
C: That's incredible! How did you guess that? Have you been spying on me?
B: Nope. It's just that you selected one of the most common passwords on the planet. Are you a member of any social networking websites?
C: Yes, a couple.
B: Then your wife's birthday is probably public knowledge.
D: That's right! In the Internet age, very few things are private anymore. If I do a little research on you, I'll bet I can find out where you were born, what school you went to, your wife's maiden name....even the name of your dog!
Dylan和Brenda一下子就猜到了Cory的密碼,原來他用的是太太的生日,one of the most common passwords on the planet 最常見的密碼之一。由于Cory業余時間用社交網站,所以實際上,他太太的生日簡直就是public knowledge 公開的信息。Dylan還說,在互聯網和社交網站如此發達的今天,沒有多少信息是真正保密的,稍微上網找一下,出生地,上過的學校,太太的名字等等都能找到。Cory說,
C: Wow, I hope I wasn't responsible for this recent attack. What's a good password then?
D: A good password uses a mixture of letters and numbers. For example, think of a simple sentence such as, "I like ice cream on Sundays." Take the first letter from each word in the sentence...and, because Sunday is the first day of the week, add the number 1 at the end.
C: So my password would be, "I-L-I-C-O-S-1?"
B: Yeah! That's a pretty difficult password to break...and it's easy to remember.
D: And...don't forget to change it every couple of months.
C: Good thinking. I'm going to go change my password right now!
Dylan說,密碼最好是用字母和數字的組合。他舉例說,可以想一句話,I like ice cream on Sundays. 用這句話每個單詞的首寫字母,最后面再加個1,因為星期天是一周的第一天。這樣的密碼又好記,又難破譯。Cory 高興地說,他現在就去改密碼。
B: Tricky passwords are difficult to hack, but they're easy to forget!
A: Tell me about it! 我就給自己設置過特別難猜的密碼,太難猜了,連我自己都想不起來了!
B: You should probably write it down.
A:那不行啊,寫在紙上,萬一別人發現了呢?
B: Hide the paper in a secrete place.
A: (sarcastically)對!放在秘密得連我自己都找不到的地方……
B: 哈哈!In that case, just use your birthday as your password and pray that it doesn't get hacked.
A: 嗯?我聽出來了,你損我呢!
B: 好了,不開玩笑了。Let's relax and watch hockey!