【英语趣味课堂】柬埔寨公路旅行-Camboida Road Trip Part 1

Todd: So Julia, I was looking at your website and I noticed that you did a bike trip in Cambodia.

Julia: Yes, that's right. I joined an organization called Pepi and we did a ride from Siem Reap to Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City.

 

Todd: Wow, that's pretty cool.

 

Julia: Thank you.

 

Todd: So how did you do this trip? Was it through some organization?

 

Julia: Well, actually it was a couple of friends of mine lived in the same town as me and it was their idea. They wanted to, they'd been to Cambodia, they wanted to go back and they wanted to do something somehow to help in some way. They recognized there was a problem with education in Cambodia, availability of education. They wanted to build a school so they went online and they found an organization through which they could, if they raised the funds, this organization would build a school for them and so we incorporated the bike ride as part of the fundraising and as part of the learning process. We wanted to actually go to Cambodia and see the country, as much of the country as possible.

 

Todd: So that's pretty cool. So first let's talk about the bike ride. What exactly were the details of the trip?

 

Julia: Well, it was, this ride has now become an annual event and obviously that was the first one so the details were a little sketchy¹ in the beginning. We kind of were making it up as we went along. We planned for about a year in terms of preparation, physical training and planning the routes and raising the money and deciding where we'd stay, how long it'd take, all those kind of things. And we, actually we hired bikes from a company in Cambodia when we got there. They were mountain bikes. We had panniers, we actually got a company that sponsored us for those so we could carry stuff with us and we visited about seventeen organizations during the ride and other NGOs, other educational organizations, a few of the other schools that were part of the same project we also visited them and we took with us teaching materials because we did some English classes and some environmental awareness² classes as we rode. So those organizations kind of were the pinpoints³ of where we stopped and stayed.

 

Todd: So for the bike ride you started in Phnom Penh?

 

Julia: We started in Siem Reap.

 

Todd: Siem Reap?

 

Julia: Which is near Angkor Wat which is near where the school was built.

 

Todd: And then from there you went to Phnom Penh?

 

Julia: We went, actually we set off from our school which is on a road that runs towards the Thai border in a very rural place. It was unpaved road, it was very bumpy⁴ and it was about a two hour drive north of Siem Reap. So from the school we headed down to Battambang which is the kind of third biggest city, not so famous, but it's a tourist destination and also a nice city, a very nice city and we followed around the lower edge of the Tonle Sap River, Lake sorry, and we did come into Phnom Penh. We spent a few nights in Phnom Penh. Then we headed down to the coast via a town called Kep and ended up at Sihanoukville which is one of the big coastal⁵, it's a big tourist resort basically on the Cambodian coast. We stayed there a few nights then we looped back to Phnom Penh, spent another few nights in Phnom Penh and then we followed the Mekong River through the delta⁶ and across the border into Vietnam and into Ho Chi Minh City.

 

Todd: That's fantastic.

 

Julia: It's beautiful.

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

fundraising

 

 

We incorporated the bike ride as part of the fundraising and as part of the learning process.

 

When you are 'fundraising, you are trying to collect money for a particular cause or event. Notice the following:

 

They whole group is busy fundraising for the trip now.

We have some great fundraising ideas for next year.

annual

 

This ride has now become an annual event.

 

Something that is 'annual' happens every year. Notice the following:

 

This competition is an annual event.

Tomorrow is the annual holiday party for the company.

sketchy

 

 

So the details were a little bit sketchy in the beginning.

 

In this case, 'sketchy' refers something that is not completely planned.  Notice the following:

 

We have kind of a sketchy idea of party plans right now.

All of the details are still a little sketchy, so I will let you know when we have made some decisions.

panniers

 

 

We had panniers, so we could carry stuff with us.

 

Used in cycling, a 'pannier' is a bag on both sides of the rear wheel for transporting things. Notice the following:

 

It's more difficult to ride with these panniers on my bicycle?

I can't buy anything else, because my panniers are already full.

set off

 

 

Actually, we set off from our school, which is on a road that runs toward the Thai border.

 

The place where you 'set off' is the place where you start or leave from. Notice the following:

 

I feel really stressed when I set off late in the morning.

What time would you like to set off tomorrow?

delta

 

Then we followed the Mekong River through the delta.

 

A 'delta' is an area where a river separates and flows into the ocean. Notice the following:

 

Heavy rains can cause big problems in delta areas.

Many people fish in the delta area.

 

1 sketchy   

adj.写生的，写生风格的，概略的

参考例句：

• The material he supplied is too sketchy.他提供的材料过于简略。
• Details of what actually happened are still sketchy.对于已发生事实的详细情况知道的仍然有限。

2 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

3 pinpoints   

准确地找出或描述( pinpoint的第三人称单数 )； 为…准确定位

参考例句：

• The bombs hit the pinpoints at which they were aimed. 炸弹精确地击中了目标。
• There's really no point in arguing about pinpoints. 为芝麻绿豆般的小事争论实在毫无意义。

4 bumpy   

adj.颠簸不平的，崎岖的

参考例句：

• I think we've a bumpy road ahead of us.我觉得我们将要面临一段困难时期。
• The wide paved road degenerated into a narrow bumpy track.铺好的宽阔道路渐渐变窄，成了一条崎岖不平的小径。

5 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

6 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。