英语访谈对话 305 England

 　　Todd: So, Eli, can you talk a little about England and maybe about it's climate and it's weather, it's leaders, what people eat?

　　Eli: Well, I'm not going to talk about leaders right now because that's a bit of a sore point but England weather, hmm, that is a bit of a sore point to. It's not the greatest weather in the world, especially compared to Japan where I am now, which the weather I just love. England is always cold, almost always cold even through the summer it's quite cold I hear. This summer it's been sort of jacket weather all summer with only a few days of sunshine and it rains a lot, so it's pretty miserable¹ as far as weather's concerned.

　　Todd: Now, you're from Bristol right. What's your hometown like?

　　Eli: Bristol's a great town. I used to live in London which is the capital of England and it's very gray and big and unfriendly but when I moved to Bristol it was just great. It is a city but it's a very small city so you can always bump² into your friends, um, always meet people. It's got big green areas. It's got a place called the downs which is a big park, and it's the architecture³ of the city is very old. It's very near Bath, which is a very famous old Roman town, where the Roman baths were, so all the sort of architecture of the citythe houses, all of it's very pretty.

　　Todd: OK. What are the Downs like? You said the downs. Is that a park?

　　Eli: The downs. It's, it's a big area of green basically⁴. It's not a park as in lots of trees and trees and sort of shrubbery and stuff⁵. It's just a big wide spread of greenery where you can play football. I mean there'sfootball matches sort of every week. You can go fly your kites. You can take your kids there. And that joins on to the Avon-gorge⁶, which is where the Bristol suspension⁷ bridge is, which is very famous as being I think the first ever suspension bridge built, and from standing⁸ on the bridge and looking out into the gorge, I mean you'd think you're in the middle of the mountains, not in the middle of the city. It's a really pretty area.

　　Todd: Sounds like a nice place.

1 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

2 bump   

v.（against,into）碰，颠簸；n.碰撞，隆起物

参考例句：

• I heard a bump in the next room.我听到隔壁房间传来“砰”的一声。
• He got a bad bump on his forehead.他碰得前额隆起一个大包。

3 architecture   

n.建筑学，建筑术；建筑物；组织，结构

参考例句：

• I'm interested in classical architecture.我喜爱古典建筑风格。
• She studied architecture and art history at the university.她在大学里学习建筑和艺术史。

4 basically   

adv.基本上，从根本上说

参考例句：

• His heart is basically sound.他的心脏基本上健康。
• Basically I agree with your plan.我基本上同意你的计划。

5 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

6 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。

7 suspension   

n.悬挂，悬浮液，暂缓，未决，中止

参考例句：

• The local authorities decided to build a suspension bridge over the river.地方当局决定在这条河上建一座吊桥。
• A four-day suspension was imposed on her.她被勒令停职4天。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。