实战口语情景对话 第396期:Venice 威尼斯

 　　When I was living in Pisa, a few friends and I decided¹ to go to Venice for the carnival², so the carnival in Venice, it's usually, usually about February or March, depending on when Easter is that year cause Easter can change every year, it's a different day, so this time it was, I think about, it was about the middle of February, that's right, so we went there about the 11th or 12th of February, and it was so cold. I remember just being bitterly, bitterly cold. I remember a few of us had to buy extra scarves and gloves and jumpers cause it was just so, so cold, especially at night. During the day wasn't so bad, it was still cold but it was really awful at night if you were walking around, but it was an awful lot of fun to be in Venice for carnival because, em, lots of people dress up in really, really elaborate³ costumes and masks. One of my friends there, she goes almost every year to the carnival and she does face-painting on the streets so I met up with her, kind of by chance. We knew that we were both going to be there but it's such a busy time we weren't sure if we were going to meet or not, so it was really good that we met up in the huge piazza⁴, Piazza San Marco. She told me roughly⁵ which side of the piazza she would be and I found her, so that was really great to see her after such a long time and then the other amazing thing we did that weekend or that few days was that my friends and I went on a gondola⁶. So, a gondola, you've probably seen on television or in a book or something, a gondola is the long, kind of, boat that they have in Venice and there's a man who stands at the back with a big, long pole that he steers⁷ the boat with so he drives the boat along by pushing this long stick into the mud on the bottom of the canal, I suppose. It was really amazing because that's one of the, I suppose, the most stereotypical⁸ things when you think of Venice and when I'd been there the first time I hadn't gone on a gondola because I thought aw, it's too touristy, I'm not going to do that, but my friends this time, they really wanted to go on one, so we went and we asked some of the guys, the gondoliere as they're called, by piazza san Marco and asked them how much it would cost but we'd forgotten that that day it was the 14th of February so it was Valentine's Day and, as you can imagine, going out in a gondola is, is usually a very romantic occasion⁹ for a couple and whatever, to go off and be maybe serenaded by, by another gondoliere, so they sing all sorts of, of songs like you've probably seen on TV or heard in television adverts¹⁰ so they wanted an awful lot of money, I remember, just because it was Valentine's Day, so there were a few of us trying to argue with them in Italian and you know, we were saying that it wasn't fair because it was just a group of us and we just wanted the experience so I think eventually they kind of gave us a more reasonable price so we set off in the gondola and went along the canals, the little canals around Piazza San Marco so it was really, really, really nice. We got to see a lot of the, the backstreets, like I say, and lovely old bridges crossing, crossing the canals. It's a really unique experience as Venice is a pretty unique city really. There was, em, our gondoliere was pretty funny in the end as it turned out. He was very nice, and so there was a few of us from Ireland in the gondola he was asking us all where we were from and soas soon as we told him Ireland he started singing us a song by U2 which is a bit strange, not the usual song that you expect from a gondoliere but, em, it was quite funny, anyway. So, like I say, a really unique experience.

　　我住在比萨城的时候，决定和一些朋友去威尼斯参加狂欢节，威尼斯的狂欢节一般在二月或者三月举行，举办时间要取决于那年的复活节在什么时候，因为每年的复活节时间都会变动，每年的时间都不一样，我们参加的那场狂欢节是在二月中旬举行的，所以我们是二月11日或者是12日去的，当时非常冷。我记得当时很冷，非常寒冷。我记得因为当时太冷，我们中有些人不得不再买条围巾、手套和针织毛衫，而且晚上要更寒冷。不过那天还不算太糟，虽然非常冷，但是晚上出去走走还是非常不错的，在威尼斯参加狂欢节非常有趣，因为有很多人穿着精美的服装，戴着美丽的面具。我有一个朋友几乎每年都会参加狂欢节，她通常会在街头做面部彩绘，而我刚好和她偶遇了。我们知道我们都要去那里，可是因为时间太赶了，所以我们不确定我们是否会相遇，而我们在圣马可广场相遇了，那真是太好了。她大概跟我说了一下她会去广场的哪个地方，然后我就在那里找到了她，在那么长时间以后见到她真是太高兴了，而且那个周末或者说那几天我们还做了其他令人不可思议的事，那就是我和朋友们去坐了威尼斯吊船。你们可能在电视上或是在书上和其他地方看到过吊船，吊船是威尼斯一种很长的船，会有个船夫拿着又长又大的船杆站在船尾，他会那支船杆来控制船，我想他把船杆插入河流底部的泥土里来让船前行。那真是太不可思议了，因为我认为那是威尼斯最典型的事物，而我第一次去威尼斯的时候并没有坐吊船，因为我觉得那就是为吸引游客才设计的，所以我不会坐那种船，但是我朋友们非常想试试，所以我们就去了，我们向圣马可广场的一些船夫询问了吊船的价格，可是我们忘了那天是2月14日情人节，你可以想象，乘坐吊船对情况来说会是很浪漫的事情，船夫会吟唱小夜曲，他们会一路吟唱你可能在电视上或是电视广告中听过的那种歌曲，当然他们也会要一大笔钱，因为那天是情人节，我们中有些人试着用意大利语和他们争辩，我们说那并不公平，因为我们是一群人，我们只是希望有这种体验，我想最终船夫向我们要了更合理的价格，所以我们开始了乘坐吊船游览的行程，我们沿着圣马可大广场周围的河流游览，那真是非常美妙的经历。我们看到了一些后街的风景，就像我说过的，我喜欢跨海大桥。那真是次独特的经历，而威尼斯真是一个非常独特的城市。后来证明我们的吊船之旅非常有意思。船夫人非常好，我们中有些人来自爱尔兰，船夫问了我们所有人来自哪里，我们告诉他我们来自爱尔兰之后他就开始为我们演唱U2乐队的歌，那有点奇怪，因为那并不是船夫通常会唱的歌曲，不过不管怎么样说，那确实很有趣。就像我说过的，那真是次非常独特的经历。

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 carnival   

n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演

参考例句：

• I got some good shots of the carnival.我有几个狂欢节的精彩镜头。
• Our street puts on a carnival every year.我们街的居民每年举行一次嘉年华会。

3 elaborate   

adj.详尽的；复杂的；vi./vt.详述；详细制订

参考例句：

• You understand the situation;I needn't elaborate any further.你对情况是了解的，我不必再进一步详谈了。
• He made an elaborate hairstyle.他做了一个复杂的发型。

4 piazza   

n.广场；走廊

参考例句：

• Siena's main piazza was one of the sights of Italy.锡耶纳的主要广场是意大利的名胜之一。
• They walked out of the cafeteria,and across the piazzadj.他们走出自助餐厅,穿过广场。

5 roughly   

adv.概略地，粗糙地，粗鲁地

参考例句：

• If you treat your coat so roughly,it will be worn out soon.你如果这么糟蹋你的外套，它很快就不能穿了。
• The island is roughly circular in shape.这个岛屿大致是圆形的。

6 gondola   

n.威尼斯的平底轻舟；飞船的吊船

参考例句：

• The road is too narrow to allow the passage of gondola.这条街太窄大型货车不能通过。
• I have a gondola here.我开来了一条平底船。

7 steers   

n.阉公牛，肉用公牛( steer的名词复数 )v.驾驶( steer的第三人称单数 )；操纵；控制；引导

参考例句：

• This car steers easily. 这部车子易于驾驶。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Good fodder fleshed the steers up. 优质饲料使菜牛长肉。 来自辞典例句

8 stereotypical   

n.常规

参考例句：

• Personas should be typical and believable, but not stereotypical. 人物角色应该是典型和可信赖的，但不是一成不变的。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Anything could be stereotypical, so I guess it could be criticism. 任何东西都可以变的老套，所以我猜那就是一种批评。 来自互联网

9 occasion   

n.场合，时机，机会，诱因，理由；vt.惹起，引起

参考例句：

• Her dress was too showy for such a formal occasion.在如此正式的场合，她的服装过分华丽了。
• Her tears were fought back on such an occasion.在这种场合下她忍住了眼泪。

10 adverts   

advertisements 广告，做广告

参考例句：

• the adverts on television 电视广告
• The adverts are not very informative. 这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。