LESSON 3
DO YOUR FAMILY A FAVOR THIS WEEKEND.
这个周末带你一家出去玩
I'm Connie Swife,and today"Hello America"is visiting a restored New England farm.
我是康妮.斯威夫特.今天"你好,美国"节目将带大家支参观一个修葺过的新英格兰式农场。
A few years ago,this old barn was falling apart.
几年前，这个旧谷仓散架了。
The question?What to do about it?
问题来了，该怎么办？
Many people thought the barn was too old to restore.
许多人认为这个谷仓太旧，已经不能修复了。
Others thought it wasn't important enouth to save.
而另外一些人认为，这个谷仓不那么重要，不值得修复。
The Stamford Nature Center thought the barn was too important to lose.
斯坦福德自然中心则认为这个谷仓太重要了，不能丢弃，
and they did a good job of restoring it.
他们的修复工作做得不错。
Bard Burnham is Assistant Director here.
白兰德。贝克没姆是这儿的副主管。
I can see you did your best to keep the original features.
我看得出来，你们尽力保持了谷仓的原貌。
Yes,we did.
是的，我们尽力了。
Why did you save the barn?It was too good to lose.
为什么你们要保留这个谷仓呢？它太棒了，不能丢弃。
It looks wonderful.
它看起来真棒。
We did our best to restore it.I think we did a good job fixing it.
我们尽力进行修复，我认为修复工作还是做得不错的。
Life on this farm two hundred years ago was difficult.
两百年前，这个农场的生活很苦。
The men did the farm work.They did the plowing.
男人们做农活。他们耕地。
The women did the housework.They did the cooking.
女人们做家务。她们烧饭，
They did the cleaning.They made the clothes.
搞清洁，做衣服。
If the children were big enough to work,they fed the animals.
如果孩子长大能干活了，他们就要喂牲畜。
In the summer,the women did the laundry in the pond.
夏天，女人们在池塘里洗衣服，
But in the winter,it was too cold to do the laundry there.
但到了冬天池塘的水太冷了，
They had to heat water over a fire.
她们就得在火上把水烧热。
To do ironing ,they heated an iron over a fire.
要熨衣服的话，先得在火上把熨斗烧热。
To make meals,they made a fire inside an iron stove.
做饭了要先在炉子里生火。
The men and the women had to do all their work before sunset.
男人和女人必须在太阳下山前做完所有的工作，
After the sun went downk,it was too dark to do farm work or housework.
太阳下山后天就黑了，不能再做农活和家务了。
They used oil lamps.And that's how the children did their homework.
人们晚上点油灯。孩子们也借助油灯写作业。
They did their compositions with ink pens.
他们用钢笔写作文，
If they made a mistake,they had to do their homework all over again.
如果写错的话，就得全部重写一遍。
Life wasn't easy then,wasit?Do your family a favor this weekend.
那时的生活不容易，是吧？这个周末，
Visit the farm!You don't need to make reservations.
给家里人找点乐趣，到农场来玩吧，你不需要预定
You don't need to make an appointent,
也不需要预约，
just make a phone call to check the opening and closing times.
只需打个电话来查一下开门和关门的时间。
This is Connie Swift reporting for WEFL.
我是康妮。斯威夫特，WEFL为您报道。
Connie,you did a good job on that farm story.
康妮，那个农场的新闻做得不错呀。
I'm making plans to go back to the Center this weekend on my day off.
我正准备趁周末的休息时间到农场去看看。
Maybe you and Anne would like to come with me.
你和安妮也和我一起去，怎么样？
You can bring the baby.
你们可以把孩子也带上。
No.The baby isn't old enough to go to the farm.
去不了，孩子太小，去不了农场，
And Anne and I are too busy to go.
我和安妮也太忙了，去不成。
Too busy to take a Staurday afternoon off?
忙得连周六下午都抽不出时间？
If we go out on Staurday afternoon,
如果周六下午出去玩，
when will we do teh grocery shopping?When will I do my exercises?
我们什么时候去买东西，我什么时候锻炼呢？
Come on.Just a couple of hours.We also have to
哎呀，只要几个小时就够了。
make appointments to interview baby-sitters.
我们还得约保姆来见见，
And when will we make dinner and do the dishes?
再说，如果去了，什么时间做饭洗碗呢？
I'm sorry,Steven.I think you are too busy to take an afternoon off.
真遗憾，史蒂文。我想你们真是忙得连个下午都抽不出来了。 |