字神帝國英語天地

 今日主題：The commute 通勤路上那點事

 凱妃老師&派老師共同推薦：雅思聽力最好的課外教材：BBC
 康康精選雅思會考的主題，堅持每天精聽一定會進步的哦!!

 建議方法：
1. 先聽兩三遍 (不看文稿)
2. 再一句一句聽寫 (每句都要聽寫數遍，直到寫出85%以上的字)
3. 最後check文稿，看哪聽不出來，單字沒背過，還是發音不熟。
4. 堅持天天聽，就能每天進步哦。

 MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：喜歡的同學，幫忙推或按讚哦~~
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/1023.mp3

 只有音檔怎夠，聽不懂地方，不用怕，康康幫你準備好中英文稿了：

 中英文稿：
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Neil...
大家好，歡迎收聽六分鐘英語，我是尼爾。
… and I’m Alice. Now Neil, how do you get to work?
我是愛麗絲。尼爾，你是怎麼來上班的呢？
I cycle.
我騎自行車。
I didn’t know that! Somehow I hadn’t imagined you as a cyclist. And where’s all your bike gear?
我都不知道！不知怎麼，我想不到你騎自行車的樣子。你的騎車裝備在哪？
Well, I sneak in the mornings, have a shower, and get changed. That’s my bike in the corner over there.
每天早上我偷偷進來，沖個澡，換個衣服。自行車就放在那個角落。
Oh, you’ve got a foldaway bike – which means it folds up so it’s easy to carry or put away. Do you wear lycra, Neil?
哦，你有一輛折疊自行車啊，折疊自行車可以折疊起來，易於攜帶和存放。那你穿萊卡了嗎？
Yes, I do… it’s very comfortable. I wear lycra as often as I can.Lycra by the way is a stretchy fabric used in tight-fitting sports clothes.
當然，穿上非常舒服。只要有機會穿我都穿萊卡。萊卡是緊身運動衣常用的一種彈性纖維。
Well, I’ll have to see if I can catch you on your way into the building– I’m intrigued about this sporty Neil I didn’t know about!
我一定要在你偷偷溜進大樓時抓住你一次。我很好奇你穿運動衣的樣子，之前我都不知道。
’Intrigued’ means to be very interested in something. Well, Alice, I’m flattered. And today’s show is about commuting – or travelling between your home and your work. So how did you commute this morning, Alice?
好奇是指對某事感興趣。愛麗絲，我表示受寵若驚。今天的節目是關於通勤，也就是來往於家和辦公室的這段路程。所以今早你是怎麼來的呢？
I got the Tube – that’s the subway system here in London, also known as the underground – and it was a nightmare. We stopped in a tunnel for so long that people started talking to each other.
我乘地鐵來的，倫敦的地鐵系統簡直是噩夢。我們在一段隧道裡停了好長時間，人們不得不開始互相交談。
And for those of you who aren’t Londoners, that’s unusual! Do you ever talk to people on the train?
對於你們這些非倫敦人來說，這太不正常了。你之前在火車上有跟其他人聊天嗎？
No. People think you’re crazy if you talk to strangers.
沒有。和陌生人聊天，其他人會覺得你瘋了。
Well, maybe now’s a good time to talk about today’s quiz question, Alice.What question do you have for me?
也許我們現在應該談一下今天的問題。你準備了什麼問題給我？
Alright then. I know you like my questions, Neil. So here we go: What did the word ’commuter’ originally describe? Was it someone who…a) travelled with other people? b) paid a reduced fare to travel? Or c) travelled by train to work?
好吧。我知道你很喜歡我的問題。今天的問題是：’commuter’這個詞最初是指什麼？a)和其他人一起出行的人?b) 買打折車票出行的人?還是c) 乘火車上班的人?
Oh, that’s easy. I’m going to go for c) travelled by train to work.
這很簡單。我選c) 乘火車上班的人。
Well, we’ll find out later whether you’re right or not. Now let’s listen to a commuter in Nairobi who takes a matatu to get to work. These are minibuses used as shared taxis in East Africa. Can you spot a word that means being quick to notice things going on around you?
之後我們再看你回答得是否正確。現在我們聽一聽在奈洛比乘馬踏途（matatu）上班的人怎麼說。馬踏途是東非一種小型公交，類似共用的士。注意聽一個詞，表示快速留意周邊事物。
When I’m stuck in the matatu there is a lot of strange things happen around you, so you have to be alert in Nairobi. When you open… when you leave your window open somebody can run away with your belongings. You may be speaking… using the phone… somebody just snatch your phone… you may expect the unexpected!
困在馬踏途上，周邊會有很多奇怪的事情發生。你在奈洛比必須保持警惕。當你窗戶開著時，會有人拿著你的東西跑掉。你講電話時，可能會有人搶走你的手機……你會遇到各種不可思議的事。
The word used by this commuter in Kenya is alert. And in these noisy, crowded buses you need to be alert in case someone runs away with your belongings– belongings are the things that you own.
這個肯亞的上班族所說的詞是警惕。在嘈雜擁擠的公交上，你必須保持警惕，以防有人拿走你的所有物，也就是你擁有的東西。
Right. Somebody might snatch your phone – snatch means to take something quickly.
沒錯。有人還有可能搶走你的手機，搶走是指快速拿走某物。
Public transport in Nairobi sounds stressful! If I was taking the bus I’d want to have a nap – or short sleep.
奈洛比的公共交通讓人緊張兮兮的。我乘公車都想小睡一會。
Yes. Well, people have done research on commuting and stress levels – and interestingly women are more likely to experience stress during their journey than men.
有調查研究人們的通勤情況和壓力水準，有意思的是，上班途中女性比男性更容易感受到壓力。
Why’s that?
為什麼呢？
Well, they’re more likely to do something which is being called ’trip chaining’ – where they make one or more stops on the way to work or going home – for example to drop off or pick up the kids from school– and this makes it more likely that something will go wrong with their journey.
女性通常採用“一行多得”的外出方式，她們會在上班或回家途中停幾次做其他事情，例如接送孩子上學等，這使得一路上發生事情的可能性增大了。
Even if you aren’t trip chaining it’s no fun being stuck in a traffic jam – that‘s a large number of vehicles close together moving slowly– or being packed into a crowded train like sardines.Let’s face it – travelling by car or by public transport can be really miserable!
即便沒有“一行多得”的習慣，遇到交通堵塞也令人不快。交通堵塞是指大批車輛緊挨著緩慢前行。還有像沙丁魚罐頭一樣擁擠不堪的擠在火車裡也讓人不快。我們還是面對現實吧，無論乘坐汽車還是公共交通出行都很悲慘！
Yes. Packed in like sardines describes people standing so close together that they can’t move – like fish in a can! So let’s hear how longer commutes can affect your health from US researcher Christine Hoehner.
沒錯。像沙丁魚罐頭一樣擁擠是指人們緊挨著站，不能移動，就像罐頭裡的魚一樣。我們聽聽美國研究人員Christine Hoehner講述多長的通勤路程會影響我們的健康。
My study found that adults who commuted longer distances from home to work were less physically active,less physically fit, weighed more and had higher blood pressure than those people who had shorter commutes.
我的研究發現，上班路程較長的成年人，身體活動較少，身體健康程度較差，體重頗重，血壓較高，與那些上班路途較短的人相比。
The American researcher must be talking about commuters who aren’t engaged in active travel, mustn’t she? Because if you cycle a longer distance then you’re being more physically active.
美國研究學者說的是不參與主動出行方式的上班族，是吧？如果上班路途較遠，選擇騎自行車的話，身體活動很多。
I think you’re right, for once, Neil!
這次，你說的沒錯。
Yeah.
必須的。
And I’d better start going to the gym more. I don’t like the sound of high blood pressure.
我最好開始去健身館鍛煉。我不想患高血壓。
Why don’t you hop on your bike, Alice? Then we can both wear lycra to work.
為什麼不騎你的自行車呢？然後我們都能穿著萊卡上班了。
That’s a fantastic idea, Neil! Moving on! Here’s the answer to today’s quiz question. I asked: What did the word ’commuter’ originally describe? Was it someone who… a) travelled with other people? b) paid a reduced fare to travel? Or c) travelled by train to work?
這主意不錯！還是繼續說別的吧。現在公佈之前問題的答案。我問你：’commuter’這個詞最初是指什麼？a)和其他人一起出行的人?b) 買打折車票出行的人?還是c) 乘火車上班的人?
And I said c) travelled by train to work. It must be right.
我選的是c) 乘火車上班的人。一定沒錯。
And you were wrong I’m afraid, Neil!It’s b) someone who paid a reduced fare to travel. The Oxford Dictionary says the word ’commute’ comes from from Latin commutare, from com- ’altogether’ + mutare ’to change’. The word was used in the US in the 1840s, when people paid a reduced or commuted fare to travel by rail from the suburbs into the city.
你回答錯了，尼爾。正確答案是b) 買打折車票出行的人。牛津字典顯示 ‘commute’這個詞來自拉丁文commutare，com-表示“一起”，mutare表示“改變”。這個詞於19世紀40年代在美國使用，那時人們購買打折車票從郊區乘車去市內。
OK. Can you tell us the words we heard today again, Alice?
好吧，你能再複述一下今天聽到的單詞嗎？
Of course I can. Here they are:
當然，今天聽到的單詞有：
foldaway bike / lycra / intrigued / commuting / the Tube / alert / belongings / snatch / nap 
折疊自行車 / 萊卡 / 好奇的 / 通勤 / 地鐵 / 警惕的 / 所有物 / 搶走 / 小憩
traffic jam / packed in like sardines / commuted.
交通堵塞 / 像沙丁魚罐頭一樣擁擠 / 打折的(車票)。
Well, that’s the end of today’s journey with 6 Minute English. Please do join us again soon.
今天的六分鐘英語就到這裡。我們下期節目再會。
Bye.
再見。