英语访谈对话 37 England and Japan

 　　Todd: Clare, you're from England.

　　Clare: That's right.

　　Todd: How would you compare England and Japan?

　　Clare: Well, I think, let's take price-wise, they're actually quite similar. Well, not, maybe not England as a whole but, say Japan and London is very similar, I found in supermarkets, in housing¹, and things like that. In other respects, the people are certainly different. I mean, British people are renowned² to be very polite as Japanese people are too, and Japanese people are very helpful as well, probably more so than British people I would say. Mm, what else?

　　Todd: What about the weather?

　　Clare: The weather? Well, it's been raining a lot in Japan recently so we could say that it's quite similar, although actually, when I was e-mailing my parents, they've been going on about how there hasn't been much rain the past couple of months and how they think there is going to be a drought³. That typical British stereotype⁴ of the weather is not true at the minute and it's probably wetter in Japan, but yeah, I think that climate wise it's quite similar in terms of temperature. It's definitely⁵ much more humid here than at home.

　　Todd: OK. Thanks a lot.

1 housing   

n.房屋，住宅；住房建筑；外壳，外罩

参考例句：

• Do you think our housing sales will turn around during this year?你认为今年我们的住宅销路会好转吗？
• The housing sales have been turning down since the summer.入夏以来，房屋的销售量日趋减少。

2 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

3 drought   

n.旱灾，干旱，久旱

参考例句：

• The plants are growing in again,despite the drought.尽管干旱，植物又长出来了。
• The ground is as hard as stone after the drought.长期干旱后土地硬得就像石头一样。

4 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

5 definitely   

adv.一定地，肯定地；明确地，确切地

参考例句：

• The team will definitely lose if he doesn't play.如果他不参加比赛，这个队肯定会输。
• I shall definitely be home before six o'clock.6点以前，我一定回家。