評論
打印
Narrator:Listen to a conversation between a student and a professor.
獨白:聽下面一段學生和教授的對話。
Student:Professor Martin?
學生:馬丁教授?
Professor:Uh, hi, Lisa, what can I do for you?
教授:啊，嗨，麗莎，有什么我能幫你的嗎？
Student:Well, I've been thinking about, you know, what you were saying in class last week,
學生:嗯，我一直在想您上周在課上說的那些話，
about how we shouldn't wait until the last minute to find an idea and get started working on our term paper.
就是對于學期論文我們不應該等到最后一分鐘才找到想法并開始著手。
Professor:Good, good, and have you come up with anything?
教授:很好，很好，你有什么想法嗎？
Student:Well, yeah, sort of.
學生:嗯，有點吧。
See, I've never had a linguistics class before,
是這樣的，我以前從沒有上過語言學的課，
so I was sort of, I mean, I was looking over the course description and a lot of the stuff you described there,
我有點，我是說，我仔細的看了這個課程描述以及您描述的很多東西，
I just don't know what it is talking about, you know, or what it means.
可我就是不懂在說些什么，不懂什么意思。
But there was one thing that really did jump out at me.
不過倒是有一個事真的下子吸引住了我。
Professor:Yes?
教授:是什么？
Student:The section on dialects, cos…like, that's the kind of thing that's always sort of intrigued me, you know?
學生:方言的那個章節，因為方言之類的事兒總是能吸引我的興趣。
Professor:Well, that's certainly an interesting topic.
教授:嗯，那的確是有意思的一個話題，
But you may not realize, I mean, the scope...
但你可能沒注意到，我是指它的范圍。
Student:Well, especially now, cos I've got like one roommate who is from the south and another one from New York.
學生:嗯，特別是現在，因為我有一個南方的室友，還有一個紐約的室友。
And we all talk like totally different, you know?
而我們幾個說話完全不一樣。
Professor:Yes, I understand. But…
教授:是的，我能理解，但…
Student:But then I was noticing, like, we don't really get into this till the end of the semester, you know. So I…
學生:但是我注意到，直到學期末我們才真正習慣，您知道所以我…
Professor:So, you want some pointers where to go for information on the subject?
教授:所以，你想得到些指示告訴你上哪兒找關于這個科目的相關信息？
Well, you could always start by reading the chapter in the book on social linguistics.
嗯，你可以通過社會語言學書里的方言這一章節開始著手，
That will give you a basic understanding of the key issues involved here.
這樣你就能對所涉及的有關重點問題有一個基本了解。
Student:Yeah, that's what I thought.
學生:是啊，我也是這么想的，
So I started reading the chapter,
所以我開始讀這一章了，
you know, about how everyone speaks some dialect of a language.
關于每個人是怎樣說著同一種語言的不同方言的。
And I'm wondering like, well, how do we even manage to understand each other at all?
并且我也在想，我們大家都是怎么設法聽懂彼此的話的？
Professor:Ah, yes, an interesting question. You see…
教授:啊，是啊，這個問題很有意思，你看吶…
Student:So then I read the part about dialect accommodation.
學生:所以接著我看了書中關于方言順應的部分，
You know, the idea that people tend to adapt their speaking to make it closer to the speech of whomever they're talking to,
您知道的，就是人們在聊天時，會刻意調節他們的口音，使得他們的口音更接近聽話者。
and I'm thinking, yeah, I do that when I talk with my roommates, and without even thinking about it or anything, you know.
我在想，我的確在跟我室友聊天時是這樣的，也沒有多想。
Professor:OK, all right. Dialect accommodation is a more manageable sort of topic.
教授:嗯，好的，方言順應是一個更容易控制的話題。
Student:So I was thinking like, I wonder just how much other people do the same thing.
學生:所以我在想啊，我想知道有多少人在做一樣的事兒。
I mean, there are students here from all over the place.
我是說，這兒有很多來自各地的學生。
Does everyone change the way they talk to some degree depending on whom they are talking to?
是不是每個人都會在跟人聊天的時候都會不同程度的改變他們的說話方式？
Professor:You'd be surprised.
教授:你會有驚奇的發現的。
Student:So, anyway, my question is, do you think it'd be OK if I did a project like that for my term paper?
學生:嗯，我的問題是，您覺得如果我做一個這樣的項目作為我的學期報告怎么樣？
You know, find students from different parts of the country,
找一些來自這個國家各個地方的學生，
record them talking to each other in different combinations, report on how they accommodate their speech or not, that kind of thing?
記錄下他們說話的不同方式，寫一個關于他們是如何根據不同的說話者調節自己口音的報告，這之類的研究報告。
Professor:Tell you what, Lisa, write me up a short proposal for this project, how you're going to carry out the experiment and everything, a design plan.
教授:麗莎，這樣吧，你寫一個關于這個項目的簡短方案給我，你打算怎么樣實施這個實驗等等，我要一個設計方案。
And I think this'll work out just fine.
我覺得這個會很好的實施的。
