VOA慢速英语2014 Play for Millenials? Board Games 棋盘游戏在年轻人中日益普及

 

Play for Millenials? Board Games 棋盘游戏在年轻人中日益普及

Welcome to American Mosaic¹ from VOA Learning English.  I’m June Simms. Today on the show, we hear about the increasing popularity of board games among young people.

Toy industry experts say some people in the United States are turning off their electronic devices to play with classic toys like board games.  This is especially true among the so-called millennial² generation. People of this generation were born in the 1980s and 1990s.  One coffee shop in Los Angeles is making profitable use of the increase in popularity of board games.

GameH?us Café opened in November of 2013. The café is dedicated³ to board games. It has more than 750 games available for its customers. The business does not feature wireless⁴ Internet connection. 

Many customers like Roxanne Lee and her husband Agassi Lai think that is good. Ms. Lee praises the atmosphere of the café.

“I think it’s very interesting for spending quality time together so that’s why I like it.”

Agassi Lai used to like playing video games.  But everything changed when he discovered board games a few years ago.  Agassi Lai likes to play a board game called “Escape the Curse of the Temple.”

“You keep rolling the dice⁵ and try to move to different places and try to escape the temple.”

Mr. Lai and almost all the customers playing board games at the café are millennials.  Market research company Euromonitor International says the new interest by millennials in the games is expected to increase U.S. sales.  But sales of video games are expected to grow more.

Twenty-three-year-old Weland Bourne is one of those board-game-loving millennials.

“I think more with my generation, they’re wanting to take time. They’re wanting to take it slowly and I think, too, video games have kind of lost their glamour⁶.”

Millennials are not playing the classic American games they know and love. They are choosing new games from Europe.  Terry Chiu is an owner of GameH?us Café. He says many “Euro games” have become popular around the world. He believes this is because the games are not based in language.  Instead, they use symbols and have simple rules.

“Because of the rise of European games, or Euro games, or German games as they might also be known, in the last 15 to 20 years, it’s actually become sort of universal. There are certain titles that have really crossed a lot of cultures to really capture the imaginations of different people.”

Many millennials, including Kristie Nehme, say there is one thing a board game can offer that a video game cannot provide.

“The more personal aspect of just being with friends and seeing each other in person and that’s probably the main difference, the main appeal.”

 

Adrienne Appell is with the Toy Industry Association.  She says the new generation just wants to put down the telephone and Tablet and connect directly with other people.

1 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

2 millennial   

一千年的，千福年的

参考例句：

• Both Russia and America looked to the future to fulfill their millennial expectations. 俄国和美国都把实现他们黄金时代的希望寄托于未来。
• The millennial generation is celebrating the global commons every day, apparently unmindful of Hardin's warning. 千禧一代显然对哈丁的警告不以为然，每天都在颂扬全球“公地”。

3 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

4 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

5 dice   

n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险

参考例句：

• They were playing dice.他们在玩掷骰子游戏。
• A dice is a cube.骰子是立方体。

6 glamour   

n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住

参考例句：

• Foreign travel has lost its glamour for her.到国外旅行对她已失去吸引力了。
• The moonlight cast a glamour over the scene.月光给景色增添了魅力。