【英语趣味课堂】在亚洲哪里工作-Where to work in Asia

Todd: So, I'm here with Dan, and Dan lives in Bali, Indonesia where he runs his business operations. And we’re going to talk about good cities to do business.

 

So Dan what are your favorite cities or cities that do you think would be a good place to start up an international business?

 

Dan: Well, it really depends what kind of business you're doing, I suppose. If you are an English speaker and you like to hire other English speakers, the Philippines is a famous place for going to hire English speakers. A good city to do that would be like Cebu City in the south of the Philippines, or Davao in the south of the Philippines. You can also look at Manila but it’s not such a nice city, and the workers are a little bit more expensive there.

 

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If you’re looking for lifestyle like a great lifestyle, maybe you’re not hiring so much or doing financial things but it’s just on your laptop, say, Bangkok is a great place. Some of the best food in the entire world, you’ve got great night life, and you can travel anywhere from Bangkok.

 

Bali obviously¹ is a great place, if you’re not such a city person and you like a more relax environment but it’s still very developed. I mean, you can eat a hundred different nationality of food, walk down the street and you can get food from all around the world, whereas² if you want something a little bit more of an adventure and secluded³, sort of off the beaten track, you could select Nha Trang in South Central Vietnam.

 

Todd: Now, you have connections in China, could you recommend any places in China?

 

Dan: Well, unfortunately for me in China is that a lot of my travel there has been super business focused. And I'm always going to the place where there’s the factory or the bank or the connection. And so I haven’t really gotten a great chance to explore places that you might go for lifestyle. But off the top of my head, there’s two places that stick out. One is Shanghai.

 

And really to me—you know, I’ve been to a lot of big cities, but Shanghai is a whole another level of big. It’s like the movie Blade⁴ Runner mixed with the movie The Matrix. I mean, it is so futuristic and I just—it really blew me away to be in the city. And it also has hints⁵ of Europe. I mean, Shanghai is famous for being famous in the 1920s and '30s with ex-patriots coming there, and it’s very international. And it really does have sort of a charm⁶ that a lot of places in China lack because cities in China are so new; a 10 million person city just sort of pops up overnight⁷.

 

Another place that sticks out for me is Shaman, and that’s close to Taipei and it’s one of the nicer big cities in China. There’s a lot of more nature-oriented green park stuff⁸ like that. So those would be the two places, but especially Shanghai, I feel like I could live there for a few years.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson!

hire

 

You like to hire other English speakers.

 

When you hire someone, you give them a job. Notice the following:

 

Our company is now hiring.

He was hired and then fired.

secluded

 

The house is very secluded.

 

A secluded place does not have many visitors. Notice the following:

 

We stayed on a secluded island.

My town is secluded in the moutains.

off the beaten track

 

The town is off the beaten track.

 

The beaten track is the route most people take. Off the beaten track refers to places few people visit. Notice the following:

 

When I travel, I try to stay off the beaten track.

We found a great village off the beaten track.

Off the top of my head

 

Off the top of my head, there’s two places

 

We say 'off the top of my head' when we say ideas without much thought. Notice the following:

 

Do you know what companies are hiring?

Off the top of my head, I think Sony is hiring.

stick out

 

There’s two places that stick out.

 

Here stick out means comes to mind. Notice the following:

 

For fashion, one place that sticks out is Paris.

Another place that sticks out is New York.

pop up overnight

 

A big city just sort of pops up overnight.

 

The phrase 'pop up' means to appear, and 'overnight' means very rapidly. Notice the following:

 

In spring, flowers pop up overnight.

In a recession⁹, homeless people seem to pop up overnight.

1 obviously   

adv.显然；明白地

参考例句：

• Obviously they were putting him to a severe test.显然他们是在给他以严峻的考验。
• Obviously he was lying.显然他是在撒谎。

2 whereas   

conj.而，却，反之

参考例句：

• They want a house,whereas we would rather live in a flat.他们想要一座房子，而我们宁愿住在一套房间里。
• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。

3 secluded   

adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• Some people like to strip themselves naked while they have a swim in a secluded place. 一些人当他们在隐蔽的地方游泳时，喜欢把衣服脱光。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This charming cottage dates back to the 15th century and is as pretty as a picture, with its thatched roof and secluded garden. 这所美丽的村舍是15世纪时的建筑，有茅草房顶和宁静的花园，漂亮极了，简直和画上一样。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 blade   

n.刀刃，刀片；叶片

参考例句：

• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。
• He is a good blade.他剑术高明。

5 hints   

n.建议( hint的名词复数 )；细微的迹象；征兆

参考例句：

• This list of hints help the new students a lot. 这一系列的建议对新生帮助很大。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Don't give him any hints when he answers the question. 在他回答问题时，不要给他提示。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 charm   

vt.使着迷，使陶醉；n.招人喜欢之处，魅力

参考例句：

• With all imperfections the short play has a real charm.尽管有不少缺欠，这出小戏仍颇具魅力。
• He could resist her charm no longer.他再也抗拒不住她的魅力。

7 overnight   

ad.前一天晚上，一夜间 a.前一天晚上的

参考例句：

• She stayed overnight in the hotel. 她在旅馆过了一夜。
• Our success is not won overnight. 我们的成功不是一夜之间得来的。

8 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

9 recession   

n.（工商业的）衷退（期），萧条（期）

参考例句：

• Manufacturing fell sharply under the impact of the recession.受到经济萧条的影响，制造业急剧衰退。
• A rise in interest rates plunged Britain deeper into recession.利率的提高导致英国经济更加萧条。