ESL Podcast 337 – Reading Comic Books

Lee: What are you reading?

Stan: It’s a graphic¹ novel.

Lee: Graphic novel? You mean a comic book? I thought you were too old for that sort of thing.

Stan: For your information, this is a graphic novel and it’s a literary art form. Graphic novels are written for mature audiences, not kids.

Lee: Really? I don’t know anything about comic books. I like reading the comic strips in the newspaper, but I’ve never read an entire comic book before.

Stan: You might want to check these out. Look at this bound collection, for instance. It has a storyline that’s as complex as a novel, and each panel is a work of art.

Lee: It is pretty impressive looking. I’m not that interested in superheroes, though.

Stan: The Superman and Spider-man comic books are great, but the graphic novels today are even more sophisticated. Some of them are still serialized like the old comic books, but many of them are self-contained like this one.

Lee: Are there ones without too much fighting?

Stan: There are as many genres² of graphic novels as there are movies or books. I’m really surprised that someone who likes to read as much as you do knows so little about graphic novels.

Lee: I’ve come across them in bookstores before, but I had a preconceived notion that they were for kids.

Stan: I guess you were wrong.

Lee: I guess I was. There’s a first time for everything.


Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

2 genres   

（文学、艺术等的）类型，体裁，风格( genre的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Novel and short story are different genres. 长篇小说和短篇小说是不同的类别。
• But confusions over the two genres have a long history. 但是类型的混淆，古已有之。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译