【话匣子英语】新成员莫拉格

话匣子英语迎来了一位新的主持人，她的名字叫莫拉格。本来安德鲁已经和莫拉格录制好了一期节目，就因为他不小心犯了个低级错误，导致录音整段都要重新录。好吧，这期节目还是来认识一下莫拉格吧。

 

Andrew: On today’s episode, I will be interviewing the newest member of the Culips family, Morag. Morag will be helping¹ co-host with me, and I couldn’t be happier about this, and I can’t wait to introduce her to you. So that’s what we’ll be doing today.

  Before we start, I’ll tell you a little story about the problems I had recording² this episode. It really turned out to be quite the ordeal³. Morag and I recorded this interview, actually, several weeks ago. But then when I tried to edit that episode, I realized that I made a mistake—and this is actually quite a rookie mistake.

  I forgot to hit the record button. And so I ended up with blank audio files, and that was disappointing. So what you’ll hear today is the make-up interview that Morag and I rescheduled. But, while we were recording this interview today, suddenly my microphone died and I had to switch microphones half-way through the interview.

  So you’ll notice a change in the quality of the audio when this happens. And I apologize for that. It’s less than perfect sounding. But I think you’ll be able to hear and understand me OK. So, please, let it slide just this once.

  OK, so now it’s time for the interview. Here it is: Introducing the new Culips co-host, Morag.

  Hi Morag, how are you?

Morag: I’m doing pretty well, Andrew. And how about you?

Andrew: I am good. I am super excited to have you on Culips.

Morag: Oh, thanks so much. I’m excited to be here.

Andrew: Yeah. And the reason that I’m talking to you today is because you are the newest member of the Culips team. You are going to help me co-host some episodes in the future. So this is very exciting for me.

Morag: And for me, too. I’m really excited to start out and get to know all you guys.

Andrew: Awesome⁴, awesome. OK, so, since you are new, I am going to interview you today, if that’s OK, so that our listeners can get to know you a little bit.

Morag: Absolutely.

Andrew: Very good, OK. So I have a lot of questions for you. I’m a very curious person.

Morag: Well, that sounds like fun. I’ve never been interviewed before.

Andrew: There’s a first time for everything.

Morag: Yes.

Andrew: OK, so Question One: Your name is very interesting to me. I’ve never met anybody with the name Morag before. So could you tell me a little bit about your name?

Morag: I definitely can. It’s quite normal to not have met a Morag before. It’s a Scottish name. So it’s not actually English language at all. It’s Scottish Gaelic. And I have it because my mother is Scottish.

Andrew: OK, I was thinking it might be Scottish. Interesting.

Morag: Apparently⁵, it used to have an H on the end. So… used to be even more confusing.

Andrew: I was curious about that, because it looks like a word that would have an H on the end. I just thought that in my head, and I was almost going to ask you that question. And do other family members, like, I don’t know if you have a brother or sister, do they also have interesting Gaelic names?

Morag: I actually think that I’m one of the only ones on the actual Scottish side of the family with a Gaelic name. Well, I guess there’s my mom, Fiona, but that’s not actually… that’s not Gaelic. That was made up in the 19th century in a romance novel, so.

Andrew: Funnily enough, my mom is also named Fiona.

Morag: Really?

Andrew: Yeah.

Morag: That’s quite odd.

Andrew: Yeah, the Scottish connection. But that’s interesting. I didn’t know that that’s where that name came from.

Morag: Yeah, no, it sounds like it could be Gaelic, but it is not.

Andrew: Yeah, interesting. I’ll have to tell that to my mom. I’ll see if she knows.

  Do people call your mom Fi?

Morag: Yeah, her family does. My grandmother definitely calls her Fi.

Andrew: That’s my mom’s nickname too.

Morag: Yeah, very, very Scottish.

Andrew: Cool, OK. So we know your mom is from Scotland, but where are you from originally?

Morag: I am originally from the West Coast of Canada, on Vancouver Island, little place called Victoria.

Andrew: Victoria, yeah. I like Victoria.

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

3 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

4 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。