英文ICQ狂聊记录§2.1
Nikky:how are u doing , Brian, long time no see, how is it going on there with u(最简单也是最地道的打招呼方法).
Brian:I am just fine, and u?
Nikky:not good actually, u know what happened to us, the world now surely knows what happened in the USA(不是很好,整个世界都知道美国发生了什么).
Brian:Well, where were you on the morning of September 11?
Nikky:I had just
gotten up very early at my home in nyc and I made myself a cup of tea and I had turned on NPR(美国的一个广播电台,全称为国内公用无线电台,大概相当于我们的中央人民广播电台) and heard that a commuter plane had rushed into the Trade Towers, so I didn't pay much attention to it(第一架飞机撞上世贸时,我并没有引起注意). And then, a good friend of mine from Manhattan(曼哈顿) called up and told me it was more serious than that(更严重的事情发生), and that I should turn on the news. And then, I began
calling people in New York to find out what happened.
Brian:what NPR mean, is that the National Public Radio?
Nikky:u bet.
Brian:it seems that the president W. Bush also heard the news that morning too when the first plane case happened, but just like u, he didn't pay much attention to it too, just thought some fool pilot doing that (第一架飞机撞上时,你们总统小布什好象也没有引起注意,以为是飞行员技术太糟糕)
Nikky:yeah, he then was not in Washington, he was visiting a little school(他当时正在参观一个小学校) Brian:and then the secret worker(特工) leaned his ear and told him that your America was just under attack(美国遭受袭击了).
Nikky:but he is calm, more calm than the most Americans later can expect.
Brian:what do u think immediately , what was your feeling at that time, do u think that the world changed forever since?
Nikky:I did. I remember
calling someone -- I got through on one of the first calls to New York, and someone said "the world has changed." And I think I realized in that moment everything was different(我在那一刻意识到世界从此会不一样了).
Brian的小结:这是9.11后第一次和Nikky相见,其间事隔很长时间。事实是自从8月29日和她聊完以后,我在网上就再也没有见到过她,美国出了这个事情,全世界的人都震住了。但好歹也过去2个多月了,和他们聊天知道了一个普通美国人对美国遭受袭击的看法,WTC这次真的是美国近代史上遭受的最严重的一次恐怖性灾难,其中也有部分中国同胞。在随后的几个月里,一见到美国人,我问的第一句话就是:"where were you on the morning of September 11?"
第二句就是:"what was your feeling at that time"
他们十有八九会说:"I realized in that moment everything was different"
Brian:u know, I have been
trying to contact u as much as I can(我想方设法联系你) and I even hope that u can show up there in the icq but u seem just sort of evaporate(蒸发) from the earth, I even thought of the worst about u, the only thing that I know about u is that u are living in nyc(你住在纽约,我还以为你也....)
Nikky:thank u, my friend, I am just ok, I am here and I show up to tell u that I am the same but just believe that the whole Americans want to know what the hell is going on here, what have we done, is this a retribution(报偿)?
Brian:I don't want to say anything, I just want u know that in China, Chinese was shocked by the deadly attack as well(我们中国人也感到震惊), u know, more than 5,000 lives were ended by evil(5000多条生命就这样没了,<后来经统计是3100多人>)
Nikky:well, they are elites(精英) from all works of life in the world.
Brian:yeah, they are elite, A lot of people in the financial business, stock brokers, insurance forms (都是一些金融、证券和保险公司)and a whole lot of people lost their entire companies, including some Chinese companies and Chinese people as well, the news in the yahoo! just brought up the names of companies in the wtc, I can see a lot of Chinese forms(网上已经公布了世贸大楼里的公司,有很多是中国公司).
Nikky:that's just one man stood up, he was Afghanistan
Brian:and Taliban
Nikky:yeah
Brian:the Afghanistan and the Taliban are the most frequently searched words nowadays in the mainly Chinese web site, probably in the world web site too(阿富汗和塔利班现在是热门搜索词汇)
Nikky:I still don't understand what happened, it's just like a
nightmare, u know, Brian, we don't want war, but it just like the novel or some movie, but ----(这种事情一般在小说或者电影里出现的)
Brian:yeah, it reminds a lot of people what's going on to the America's naval and air base----u know that----the Pearl Harbor(珍珠港) , probably one of the most successful surprise attacks(突然袭击) in the history of modern warfare(战争).
Nikky:I was not ever born but it's the largest
humiliation in the American history, and the aircraft
carriers helped them a lot(我那时还没出生呢,航空母舰起了很大作用)
Brian:the American forces were so surprised that they were, how to say, they were unable to fight like what they used to do, but in just half an hour, everything had changed, that's what I told u that I do NOT like the Japanese guys.
Nikky:this time, was different, u know, the Pearl Harbor, we can see it in the film, the Vietnams War, we can have the novel about it, it's something we can not control
Brian:and a great deal of pain(巨大创痛)maybe it just
diversity(文化不同带来的冲击)
Nikky:no, it's not, it's not the
diversity, it's hatred(仇恨) , it's surely the hatred which can not simply defined as some culture or religion(宗教) like that. (注:美国人认为这是一种不可以用文化不同来定义的,也不是用宗教就能解释了的)
Brian的小结:很多好的用法要记住: His promise evaporates like dew in July(他的誓言就象7月的露水一样蒸发的无影无踪) It's just like a
nightmare, u know, Brian, we don't want war, but it just like the novel or some movie, but ----(这种事情一般在小说或者电影里出现的)
China doesn't have a aircraft
carrier ourselves(中国现在还没有一艘属于自己的航空母舰)
Nikky:so to your question, it is hard for me to make an answer, cuz I don't know what is really like when I really have the circumstances, maybe I just need to call my parents or have them together and all of my friends to talk, talk everything we
experienced, whatever(相当no matter what,口语), or talk with my students, u know, I love them, and wish they can love me the way I do to them, that's it, who ever knows that(天知道呀).
Brian:well, I know, nikky, u're hurt , and the whole Americans get hurt by this, and this war will never end until u get the Osama Bin Laden, right? Since I heard a lot of social and militant experts say u Americas will not call it a triumph if didn't catch Laden(逮不着他就不能算胜利).
Nikky:i doubt it, even we have him, who is now the most wanted man in the world, the war will never end, we will have another Bin Laden, one of another.
Brian:how about Sadam?
Nikky:he is ok, but currently I think, for a long period to come, the Osama will be the one that should be responsible for those dead soul, for the children who lost their parents, he got to pay that, and that's it.
Brian:there's a woman who left New York City 45 minutes before this happened, u know, Nikky, not in these two planes.
Nikky:on an earlier plane?
Brian:on an earlier plane, and she landed in Detroit, as soon as she saw the news, she really got into a state of panic(特别慌乱), cuz her son was on a United flight, she had thought, that from Newark to Los Angeles
Nikky:the one that---well, that was Newark to Los Angeles made it, right?
Brian:no, no , it didn't make it, she just later found out---well, he---the woman's son was actually on a Delta flight, so she found out seven hours later. But for the seven hours, she was feeling like---- like had been hit by a truck(在漫长的7个小时的等待消息过程中,她感觉就象被火车撞了一下似的), but then, u know
Nikky:when she heard the good news that he was alive.
Brian:when she hear that her son was still alive, her worry and her anguish(极度痛苦) didn't decrease, u know what?
Nikky:cuz she could feel now what everyone else must have been going through(她在想一定有别人的母亲也像她一样难过痛苦)
Brian的小结:这一小节中有不少长句子,很多人一看就觉得有点累,实际上这里有不少可以直接拿过来向外国朋友试验的好句子: Maybe I just need to call my parents or have them together and all of my friends to talk, talk everything we
experienced, whatever(口语:相当no matter what), or talk with my students(我问Nikky如果知道自己生命只剩下一个星期她会做什么)
Who should be responsible for this? (谁该对此事负责?)
He is one of the most wanted men in China because of the bank robbery(他因为抢银行成为中国首要通缉犯之一)
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