Rose: I didn't say I liked it. A man bought it for me.

　　Sue:You met a man! What is his name?

　　Rose: His name is Herbert and he was just being 1) polite.

　　Sue: When a man buys a drink for you, he isn't just being polite.

　　Rose: This man was.

　　Sue: But he wanted to talk to you, right?

　　Rose: Yes. But all he wanted to talk about was computers, baseball, and 2) heavy metal.

　　Sue: He was probably trying to 3) make conversation.

　　【参考译文】

　　柔丝：我没说我喜欢喝啊。是一个男人请的。

　　苏：你还碰到一个男人！他叫什么名字？

　　柔丝：他叫赫伯特，他只是客气罢了。

　　苏：当一个男人请你喝饮料，就绝对不只是客气而已。

　　柔丝：这个人就是。

　　苏：但他想跟你聊聊，对吧？

　　柔丝：是啦。但他只想谈谈电脑、棒球和重金属。

　　苏：他大概是想找话题。

　　【Listening skills】

　　【make conversation 找话题聊天】

　　“找话题聊天”make conversation，有助于减少你与他人彼此相处时的尴尬，至于要如何“破冰”break the ice，避免僵局以及冷场的情况出现，这里提供一些小小的技巧。建议你可以从询问吃喝玩乐的去处开始，让他人提供你建议，也顺便满足一下他们小小的成就感。以下的问句用法一旦娴熟于心，包你吃香喝辣，玩到腿软。

　　A: Can you recommend a place to eat/go?

　　你可以推荐我吃东西/好玩的地方吗？

　　B: There is a great spot just around the corner. If you don't mind, I'd like to join you.

　　转角就有很棒的地方。若你不介意，我可以跟你一道去。

　　1) polite (a.) 客气的

　　2) heavy metal 重金属摇滚音乐

　　3) make conversation 找话头，想办法聊天。