英语访谈对话 499 International Marriage

 　　Todd: So, Mark, um, you mentioned that your wife is Japanese.

　　Mark: That’s right.

　　Todd: Ok, and how long have you been married?

　　Mark: We finally got married in April of 1998 but it took us a while to get to that stage.

　　Todd: Ok, well,what’s it like being in an international marriage?

　　Mark: I really enjoy it. There are different challenges¹, I mean any marriage has got challenges, and just having different cultures and different backgrounds and different languages, despite the fact that we both speak both our first languages. Yeah, it has different challenges but that makes it fun.

　　Todd: You said that your wife speaks to you in Japanese and you speak to her in English?

　　Mark: No it’s fifty-fifty really. It really depends on what we’re talking about: if we’re watching an English movie or something on TV in English we’ll speak in English; if we’re reading the Japanese newspaper and we find something interesting we will probably speak in Japanese.

　　Todd: Ok, well, actually, how did you meet?

　　Mark: Through my room mate² in Japan, how many years ago now, probably about 15 years ago…

　　Todd: A while back

　　Mark: …introduced us. Yeah, it’s been a long time.

　　Todd: That’s cool. Is there anything that’s hard about having an international marriage?

　　Mark: I suppose it means³ that you’re always away from one person’s family. I suppose that’s the hardest thing. I’m in Japan now so I’m a long way from my family; when we lived in New Zealand before, my wife was a long way from her family.

　　Todd: That’s tough, that is tough. So how long did you live together in New Zealand?

　　Mark: We were there for about 4 years,…I think. Yeah, yeah, approximately⁴ 4 years in New Zealand.

　　Todd: Now, have you lived in any other countries together?

　　Mark: No, no, not together, it’s either been Japan or New Zealand.

　　Todd: Do you have any plans as to which country you’re going to settle⁵ in?

　　Mark: Now that sounds very permament to me!

　　Todd: So you never know?

　　Mark: Never know.

　　Todd: Alright, thanks a lot, Mark.

1 challenges   

n.挑战( challenge的名词复数 )；要求；（警卫等）查问口令；怀疑

参考例句：

• Many challenges, abroad and at home, have arrived in a single season. 国内和国外的众多挑战出现在同一个时刻。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• The new democracies face tough challenges. 这些新兴的民主国家面临着严峻挑战。 来自辞典例句

2 mate   

n.伙伴，同事；配偶；大副；v.(使)交配

参考例句：

• Where is the mate to this glove?这副手套的另一只在哪儿？
• She has been a faithful mate to him.她一直是他忠实的配偶。

3 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

4 approximately   

adv.大约，大致，近乎

参考例句：

• Our English teacher is approximately in her forties.我们英语老师有40岁模样。
• There are approximately one million people in the city.全市人口估计大约有一百万。

5 settle   

vi.安家；定居；停留；vt.使定居；安排；解决

参考例句：

• I have to settle my affairs before leaving here.离开这儿以前，我得把一些私人的事情安排妥当。
• She has decided how she should settle the matter.她已做出决定如何来了解这件事。