美语情景对话 第389期:Teen Life 青少年生活

Mark: Hey, Mike. Here's a question. Do you think teenagers these days, have a better life than say we did when we were teenagers?

马克：嘿，迈克。我有个问题。你认为现在的年轻人是不是比我们年轻的时候生活得更好？

Mike: Well, it's, that's a debate that's been going on since the days of Socrates and Plato, I think, but again, and probably like Socrates had said himself, "You know kids today are a lot different than they were when we were younger", that's for sure. Whether it's better or not, I personally think we had it better because we weren't stuck behind a computer or behind a TV set all day. I think we tended to do things More outside, but I think whether you're a teenager now or then, probably the same kind of issues went on in your head.

迈克：这是苏格拉底和柏拉图那个时代就开始的争论，我认为，就像苏格拉底说的，“你知道，现在的孩子和我们小的时候有很大的不同”，这是肯定的。无论是不是更好，我个人认为我们那时的生活更好，因为我们没有整天都待在电脑前或是电视前。我想我们那个时候会做更多的室外活动，不过无论你是生活在哪个时代的年轻人，你们的脑中都会思考共同的问题。

Mark: Yeah, that's the way I feel about it, actually.

马克：对，实际上这也是我的感觉。

Mike: Think so.

迈克：我也是。

Mark: Well, these kind of, these kind of debates or these kid of issues, I feel like there is no better or worse, it's just different, you know.

马克：这种争论，或者说这些有关孩子的问题，我觉得并没有好坏之分，只是不一样。

Mike: How do you think it's different?

迈克：你觉得有哪些不一样的地方呢？

Mark: Well, in obvious ways, like the technology now. Like I can remember the first, my first microwave and my family's first VCR, and those were, you know, pretty exciting moments, yeah, absolutely.

马克：嗯，明显的不同就是技术。我记得，当我有了第一台微波炉，我家有了第一台录像机的时候，那真是非常令人激动的时刻。

Mike: How's about going to the library to have to get research.

迈克：那去图书馆做研究呢？

Mark: Yeah! That's interesting, but people don't do that much anymore and I don't even realize that, but yeah the technology is definitely better now, but it's more addictive. I mean kids don't play outside. They just play video games all day and you know, I wasn't allowed to stay inside so much when I was a kid.

马克：对！这很有趣，不过人们做得并不多，我甚至都没意识到，不过现在的技术绝对更好了，但同样也更容易上瘾。我是说，孩子们不再去外面玩了。他们只是整天打游戏，而你知道，我小的时候不能总待在家里。

Mike: Same here. Same here. I was sort of forced to go outside, but also, although, I guess you could make an argument and say the kids do kind of play with each other when they get on those, the internet gaming sites, and there's a whole group of them from Morocco to Mexico to Canada to the States, all playing online, of course, they never see each other but they're all trying to kill each other.

迈克：我也是，我也是。我有点儿像是被迫去外面的，不过我想你可以提出一个论点，孩子们在玩游戏的时候也是在一起玩耍，而且孩子们来自不同的国家，比如摩洛哥、墨西哥、加拿大、美国等等，他们都一起玩线上游戏，当然，他们从来没有见过对方，但是他们试图在游戏中杀死对方。

重点讲解：
1. go on
进行；发生；
eg. I don't know what's going on.
我不知道发生了什么事。
eg. While this conversation was going on, I was listening with earnest attention...
这场对话进行的时候，我聚精会神地听着。
2. for sure
无疑；肯定；
eg. Even to this day we don't know what happened for sure.
即使到现在我们也不确定究竟发生了什么。
eg. If we could by any possibility manage to do it, we would for sure.
如果我们有办法做那事，我们一定会做的。
3. allow sb. to do sth.
允许；容许；准许；
eg. This should not be allowed to happen.
我们不应允许这种情况出现。
eg. He promised to allow justice to run its course unimpeded.
他承诺要让司法正义不受阻碍地得到伸张。
4. force sb. to do sth.
强迫；强制；
eg. The enemy surrounded the town trying to force them to surrender .
敌人围困了这个城，想逼他们投降。
eg. He was forced by the scandal to resign the office to which he had been elected.
他因丑闻而被迫辞去他已当选的职务。