英语访谈对话 344 Daily Routine

 　　Eli: At the moment I'm living in Japan and life here is pretty different to anything I've really experienced before. I think just because the daily routine is so different. In England, in England, basically I was really lazy. I'd probably get up at you know 8:30 in the morning. Leave ten minutes later, cause I always brush my teeth at work, eat breakfast at work, get to work for 9 o'clock, come home from work at 5:30, probably lie on the sofa, watch the Simpsons, cook some food, go to bed, and that was the sort of daily routine in England, a very lazy one. I mean, even if I needed to get to the supermarket which was probably what, like 3-400 meters away, I'd get on my scooter to do it. Walking anywhere would be just a massive¹ hassle and so it was a bit of a shock when I got to Japan and all that changed, I mean, the one thing you have to do a lot of in Tokyo is walk. You have to walk everywhere. I mean the train systems are absolutely amazing but you need to walk to get to the train. You need to walk between the trains and like when I first arrived, I walked my feet into the ground. After a week they were aching so badly after two weeks. They were just I don't know, it took me at least a month to like wear my feet in. They're still, still like now, after long walks, but it's just apart from the walking, you just, it's just a business of life here, I mean cause no one actually lives in Tokyo cause it's so expensive.

　　We all live out sort of in the suburbs in what we call bed towns, and so actually getting into school every morning, I'm studying Japanese here, I have to get up pretty early just to get onto the train, to then travel, commute², an hour in, to get to school on time, which of course I never do. I'm meant to be at school at about nine, which would mean, sort of leaving my house at about 8, getting up at 7. I know this is not shocking for a lot of people, but after the routine I had, it's a pretty shocking experience for me, especially the hour of commuting³ on the train where you're kept in like sardines⁴, you just would never have in sort of London and London underground in England where I'm from. On the London Undeground if the trains full people wait for the next train. Here if the train is full, people just push and push until they get on so you can end up being stood, never get to sit down, just standing⁵ for an hour, like squashed⁶ up, like sardines, so by the time you get to school you're totally tired and then there's a school until lunch time and after lunch I always say I'm going to come back and study but I never do I always come back and fall fast asleep.

1 massive   

adj.巨大的，大规模的，大量的，大范围的

参考例句：

• A massive sea search has failed to find any survivors.经过大规模的海上搜救仍未找到幸存者。
• He drank a massive amount of alcohol.他喝了大量的烈酒。

2 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

3 commuting   

交换（的）

参考例句：

• I used the commuting time to read and answer my mail. 我利用上下班在汽车中的时间来阅读和答复给我的函电。
• Noncommuting objects are as real to the mathematicians as commuting objects. 对于数学家来说，不可交换的对象与可交换的对象是一样真实的。

4 sardines   

n. 沙丁鱼

参考例句：

• The young of some kinds of herring are canned as sardines. 有些种类的鲱鱼幼鱼可制成罐头。
• Sardines can be eaten fresh but are often preserved in tins. 沙丁鱼可以吃新鲜的，但常常是装听的。

5 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。

6 squashed   

压碎的，压扁的

参考例句：

• The tomatoes at the bottom of the bag had been squashed. 袋底的西红柿给压烂了。
• I squashed a few more clothes into my case. 我往箱里多塞了几件衣服。