实战口语情景对话 第376期:Canucks and Yanks 加拿大人和美国人

 　　Todd: OK, Mike, I was wondering, you're from Canada, and you have lived in America, and we work together, and in our company everybody is American but you, so how would you say Canadians are different than Americans?

　　托德：迈克，我在想，你来自加拿大，而且你在美国生活过，现在我们一起工作，在我们公司除了你都是美国人，你觉得加拿大人和美国人有什么不同呢？

　　Mike: Well, first of all, I'll just, to be honest, just to start, I'll say that Canadians and Americans I think share a lot more similar qualities than they do differences, I mean, I think Canadians have a lot more in common with Americans than they do with even with English people who are like from Britain who were the original sort of Canadians, I suppose, a few hundred years ago, so in that way I think that like again, just to preempt¹ it by saying we're very similar, however, there's definitely some differences I think between Americans and Canadians. First of all, I think Canadians in general are maybe a little bit more humble². Not to put this in a negative way, but they just, they're not as willing to engage in an argument, or to argue over a point, I think, as you know, as most, at least, most of my American friends, who’ll want to debate and get to the bottom of a topic. Canadians would rather just sort of back off and say, you know, "That's, you're right. That's fine. Great" but again, and I can't speak for all Canadians because it depends on your personality too, but just to generalize³, that's one difference. Also, I would say that Americans in general tend to be a lot more businesslike and maybe even a little more conservative⁴ in, just in the way they, in the way that they, I guess, view, relations, or view discussions with people, but Canadians tend to be a little bit more liberal, a little bit more free and easy-going, again, I'll preempt that by saying all of the Americans that I work with I think are quite liberal and not conservative thinking at all, but if you want to generalize, yeah, culturally, then I think those are probably a couple of differences between the two cultures, or people in the cultures.

　　迈克：嗯，首先，说实话，相比于不同点，我觉得加拿大人和美国人有很多相似的特质，我的意思是我认为加拿大人和美国人有很多共同点，我想大概是几百年前，英国人原来是加拿大人的一部分，所以首先我们非常相似，不过美国人和加拿大人之间当然有一些不同点。首先，总的来说，加拿大人可能要更谦卑一些。不要用消极的方式来理解，加拿大人不太愿意牵涉进争论中，或者是不愿意就某一观点进行争论。我想，正如你知道的那样，至少我的大部分美国朋友想参与到争论中，他们想弄清论题的真相。加拿大更愿意避让，他们会说“嗯，你是对的。那很好。很棒。”不过，我不能代表所有加拿大人，因为这也要取决于你的个性，不过总的来说，这是一个不同点。而且，我认为美男人一般来说效率更高，而且他们和别人的关系以及在和别人进行讨论方面要更保守，而加拿大人则更开放，更自由，更随和，而和我一起工作的美国人，我认为他们的想法很开放，一点也不保守，不过如果从总体来说，从文化上来说，我想两种文化或者说受这些文化影响的人们有一些不同点。

　　Todd: Yeah, anything else, any other differences?

　　托德：没错，那有吗，还有其他不同点吗？

　　Mike: Well, I think, one thing that Americans tend to point to with Canadians, and it is true to some extent, other than our love of hockey, is sense of humor. I think Canadians in general tend to have a, I wouldn't say unique, but they just tend to look at I guess, look at things with a little bit more of, a bit of humor, too it, and I think the main reason for that is cause it's so bloody⁵ cold in Canada.

　　迈克：我想，美国人和加拿大人其中一个需要指出的不同点是，除了我们对冰球的喜爱，从某种程度上来说应该是不同的幽默感。我认为总体来说，我不认为他们的幽默感很独特，不过加拿大人以更幽默的方式来看待事物，我想主要原因是加拿大太冷了。

　　Todd: Fair enough. Thanks Mike.

　　托德：有道理。谢谢你，迈克。

1 preempt   

v.先发制人；先取

参考例句：

• We arrived early at the theatre so as to preempt the front seats.我们早早来到剧院，以便捷足先登占到前排座位。
• He pre-empted any decision to sack him.他预先阻止了所有解雇他的决定。

2 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

3 generalize   

vt.概括出；vi.形成概念

参考例句：

• When we use "he",we generalize for both sex.当我们用he时，我们泛指男女。
• Since I do not know the details,I can only generalize about the matter.由于不了解详情，我对此事只能泛泛而谈。

4 conservative   

adj.保守的，守旧的；n.保守的人，保守派

参考例句：

• He is a conservative member of the church.他是一个守旧教会教友。
• The young man is very conservative.这个年轻人很守旧。

5 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。