英语访谈对话 422 Canada and the U.S.

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

　　Mike: Right!

　　Todd: How would you compare the two counties?

　　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.

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

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

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

　　Mike: Sure.

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。