实战口语情景对话 第29期:不速之客 The Visitor

 Todd: Hey Leath! Do you want to go ahead and talk about the story you we're going to say? 嗨，利思！你接下来要讲一个故事吗？

Leath: OK, um, yeah, this was about, I'd say a year and a half ago and it was in Harare, the capital, where my mom lives. I was on holiday back home seeing my mom and anyway it's a Sunday morning and I was in the shower, got up pretty late, it must have been about half ten, and all of a sudden my mom burst into the shower and said," Leath, Leath, there's a snake, there's a snake in the kitchen." And so I thought, "Ah, what kind of snake would this be" cause we live in the capital, residential¹ area, almost high-rise. Well, not high rise, but residential area. And so I put a towel around my waist and walked bad-temperedly throught to the kitchen. Um, attached to the kitchen we've got this little courtyard, where we set out to have morning coffee and breakfast. It's tiled² and leads onto a small garden. And so I walked out onto the courtyard and there was a seven foot Egyptian cobra! Wow. I was really, really blow away because I know a bit about snakes and I know that a bite from an Egyptian cobra in a country where antidote³ isn't readily⁴ available is almost certainly fatal⁵. And, there we were, mom and I, with a seven foot Egyptian cobra slithering between the courtyard and our kitchen. And, eventually, we trapped it in the courtyard and I went to fetch guys who work for national parks. National parks are the guys who kind of look after animal problems within the city, and, uh, brought them around, and we were hoping that they were going to catch it because Zimbabwe isn't so rich at the moment and stuff⁶ like that. They don't have the facilities to keep caught animals so unless it's endangered they just shoot it, so the guy shot our seven foot cobra. 好的，这个故事发生在一年半前津巴布韦的首都哈拉雷，我妈妈住的地方。那时我放假回家去看我妈妈。一个周日的早上，我起得很晚，大概是10点半，正在我冲澡的时候，我妈妈突然冲进来大喊“利思，利思，有条蛇，厨房有条蛇。”当时我就在想那是什么样的蛇，因为我们住在首都的住宅区，基本都是高楼大厦。虽然不全是高楼，但起码那是住宅区。我在腰间系了一条毛巾，心情不爽地走到了厨房。厨房外有一个小院子，我们早上都在那里喝咖啡吃早餐。院子外面通向一个小花园。我们穿过厨房走进小院子，那儿有一只7英尺长的埃及眼镜蛇！我真的被吓到了，因为我对蛇有一些了解，我知道在一个解毒剂并不常见的国家，埃及眼镜蛇是致命的。只有我和我妈，还有一只在小院和厨房间来回滑行的埃及眼镜蛇。最后我们在小院里设陷阱抓住了蛇，我联系叫来了国家公园的工作人员。他们是负责动物相关问题的专业人士。我把他们带来希望它们能把这只埃及响尾蛇抓走，因为津巴布韦还那时候还买不起这种动物。但他们没有抓走野生动物的相关部门，除非是威胁到居民生命，他们会把动物射杀，所以那名工作人员举枪杀死了这只7英尺长的眼镜蛇。

Todd: Oh, they shot it, uh! 他们向蛇射击！

Leath: Yeah, and we had to bury it out back. 后来我们埋葬了那条蛇。

Todd: Really, well, still I'm glad, you just didn't want to be bitten or anything. 真的吗，我很高兴你没有被咬一口之类的。

Leath: No, no. No way. 那可没门。

Todd: What a story! 真是个好故事！

1 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

2 tiled   

adj.平铺的，用瓦管排水的

参考例句：

• The roof is ready to be tiled. 屋顶可以盖瓦了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We heard footsteps on the tiled floor. 我们听到铺了地砖的地面上有脚步声。 来自辞典例句

3 antidote   

n.解毒药，解毒剂

参考例句：

• There is no known antidote for this poison.这种毒药没有解药。
• Chinese physicians used it as an antidote for snake poison.中医师用它来解蛇毒。

4 readily   

adv.欣然地，容易地，很快地，立即

参考例句：

• I promise all costs will be readily returned.我保证所有的费用会迅速偿还。
• Most plastics do not readily conduct heat or electricity.大多数塑料不易传热或导电。

5 fatal   

adj.致命的，灾难性的；重大的，决定性的

参考例句：

• The enemy got a fatal blow in the battle.敌人在战斗中受到致命的打击。
• I made the fatal mistake of letting her talk.我让她讲话是犯了严重的错误。

6 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。