【英语趣味课堂】意大利的生活-Life in Italy

Todd: So, Marion, what countries have you lived in?

 

Marion: I've lived in Italy, France, Australia, and now Japan...and Ireland of course.

 

Todd: Wow, you lived in Italy, huh?

 

Marion: Yeah.

 

Todd: Wow. How long did you live in Italy for?

 

Marion: Um, for two seperate periods, so a year each so it total about two years. Almost two years.

 

Todd: Wow, that's pretty cool. So why did you go to Italy? What were you there for?

 

Marion: I went there to study Italian. The first time I studied Italian and then French, and then the second time I went back after graduating to study more Italian.

 

Todd: That's pretty cool.

 

Marion: Hmm! It was interesting, yeah.

 

Todd: So were you classes tough? What it a tough study program?

 

Marion: Hmm, they were very interesting, and the first time I went, my Italian wasn't so good, cause I had only studied for two years before I went the first time, so even though my Italian improved enormously¹ over that first year, in the beginning it was quite difficult, I had one professor for example, who would constantly say to me, in class, in Italian, "Are you following? Are you following?" so it was a bit intimidating².

 

Todd: Yeah, I don't think I could do that with my students.

 

Marion: No, no, it was really awful, he was really singling me out, so all the other people in the class used turn their head around and look at the strange foreigner in their class who maybe or maybe, maybe could understand or maybe didn't, but I just felt very nervous and a bit awkward³ there because I was just waiting for him to pounce⁴ on me, "Mi segue, mi segue!" It's terrible.

 

Todd: "Mi segue" is "are you following?"

 

Marion: Are you following me, literally⁵, yeah, basically⁶ do you understand.

 

Todd: Ah, OK. Um, what was life like in Italy, at university. How was it different than say, univeristy in Ireland?

 

Marion: Well, my university is one one big campus⁷, I think that's maybe the way in America as well. In Italy though, the buildings of the university are spead all over the city, so you'll have for example, the language and literature faculty⁸, where I was, in one part of the town, and then maybe 10 or 20 minutes away by bus you might have the faculty of education where I had to go to some lecturers as well so that was very different, for me to have everything so spread out. Also, the buidlings were so old, you know in Italy there are really old traditional buildings, so they are beautiful, really beautiful, you walk into the faculty building, and there's a huge courtyard, and beuatiful architecture, all around you. It's absolutely amazing. You felt like you were a little part of history, inside you know, so yeah, that was amazing.

 

Todd: Well, sounds cool.

 

Marion: Yeah, it was great, one of the best years of my life.

1 enormously   

adv.巨大地，庞大地；大大

参考例句：

• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His research has contributed enormously to our understanding of this disease. 他的研究对我们认识这一疾病贡献很大。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

3 awkward   

adj.笨拙的，尴尬的，使用不便的，难处理的

参考例句：

• John is so shy and awkward that everyone notices him.约翰如此害羞狼狈，以至于大家都注意到了他。
• I was the only man among the guests and felt rather awkward.作为客人中的唯一男性，我有些窘迫。

4 pounce   

n.猛扑；v.猛扑，突然袭击，欣然同意

参考例句：

• Why do you pounce on every single thing I say?干吗我说的每句话你都要找麻烦？
• We saw the tiger about to pounce on the goat.我们看见老虎要向那只山羊扑过去。

5 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

6 basically   

adv.基本上，从根本上说

参考例句：

• His heart is basically sound.他的心脏基本上健康。
• Basically I agree with your plan.我基本上同意你的计划。

7 campus   

n.大学校园，学校校园；大学　

参考例句：

• They spoke of the old days on the campus.他们谈起昔日的校园生活。
• The campus covers an area of twenty square kilometres.这个校园占地二十平方公里。

8 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。