实战口语情景对话 第379期:Canada and the U.S. 加拿大和美国

 　　Todd: Now, Mike, you're from Canada but you lived in America for a good period of time.

　　托德：迈克，你来自加拿大，但是在美国生活了很长一段时间。

　　Mike: Right!

　　迈克：对！

　　Todd: How would you compare the two counties?

　　托德：那你会怎么比较这两个国家呢？

　　Mike: Well, the most obvious difference is Canada is a lot colder, I think than the United States in general, that's cause were north of the U.S., but culturally, I think that the US has a lot, many more culturally different areas within the country than Canada does. Canada as a culture, even though it's different from east to west, for people in Atlantic Canada are quite different from, let's say, Ontario, or Quebec, different from the West Coast. In the U.S., there are many more of those cultural pockets like New York for example is very different from Florida, which is very different from Louisiana, or Georgia, which is very different from Texas of course and all of those are very different from California and all of those, again, are very different from the North West part of the U.S., Seattle and that area, so the U.S. has many, many more sort of culturally diverse areas, very, unique, and that's one, I think one significant difference between Canada and the U.S. Another difference is, Canada is obviously, one thing that many tourists point to, is a reason for going to Canada, Canada is safer than the U.S. Again, I think partly cause of gun laws and things like that, but just in general, I think the history of Canada sort of is a lot more, is a lot less, I guess, it was a lot less, there was no revolution really in Canada and there was in the U.S. so I mean I think the roots are a little bit less, more subdued¹, I'd say, so that makes a difference culturally. However, I think that because Canada is more safe, it's also more boring than the U.S., so the U.S., it’s maybe a little bit riskier² but it's a lot more fun. Canada is safer but, again, more boring.

　　迈克：嗯，总的来说，显然最主要的不同点就是加拿大比美国冷得多，这是因为加拿大在美国北边。我认为相比于加拿大，美国有更多文化不同的区域。加拿大的文化是一个整体，虽然东部和西部的文化有所不同，来自加拿大大西洋区的人们和来自安大略省或是魁北克省的人们非常不同，和来自西海岸的人们也有很多不同点。而美国有许多文化区域，像纽约同佛罗里达州的文化就非常不同，同路易斯安那州或是乔治亚州的文化也不同，当然得克萨斯州也有不同的文化，而这些地区同加州的文化也大不相同，当然美国北部地区也有独特的文化，比如西雅图，所以美国有许多文化多样性的地区，它们都拥有独特的文化，我想这就是加拿大和美国其中一个重要的不同点。另外一个不同点就是，显然有许多游客前往加拿大旅行的原因是，加拿大比美国安全。我想部分原因是枪支法律，总体来说，我认为加拿大的历史比美国短得多，其实加拿大没有真正意义上的革命，而美国则经历了革命时期，加拿大的血脉要更温和，所以这就造成了文化上的不同。而且，我想这也是加拿大更安全的原因，当然这样也使加拿大比美国枯燥，在美国生活也许风险更大，但是那里有更多的乐趣。加拿大更安全，但是同样也更枯燥。

　　Todd: That's interesting, I mean, I don't know. I haven't been to Canada but I would like to go.

　　托德：这很有意思，我是说我并不知道这些。我从未去过加拿大，不过我很想去看看。

　　Mike: Definitely come up and visit and you'll know why you enjoy the States so much.

　　迈克：你一定要来游玩，这样你就知道你为什么这么喜欢美国了。

　　Todd: I'm not so sure about that. All right, thanks, Mike.

　　托德：这点我可不能确定。好吧，谢谢你，迈克。

　　Mike: Sure.

　　迈克：不用谢。

1 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

2 riskier   

冒险的，危险的( risky的比较级 )

参考例句：

• Now they are starting to demand higher returns on riskier assets. 而今他们开始在风险更高的资产上要求更高的回报。
• The problem with that: RIM's business is getting riskier every quarter. 不过问题也随之而来：RIM面临的业务风险正逐季增大。