2012年ESL之就医和人际交往 18 Adopting a Child

 

Adopting a Child

Scott: Hi, I thought I’d stop by to pick up those chairs I wanted to borrow. 

Roberta: Oh, sure. Here they are. 

Scott: What are you doing? 

Roberta: I’m looking through the material we got on adoption¹. 

Scott: Are you and Robert thinking about adopting a child? 

Roberta: Yeah, we are. We’ve been thinking about it for a long time, and we think we might be ready now. 

Scott: Have you decided² on an international or domestic adoption? 

Roberta: We’re going domestic. 

Scott: That means going through the foster care system, right? 

Roberta: Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of work getting our house ready and all of the paperwork done. But after we pass inspection³, we’ll just need to wait for a call from a social worker with a placement. We hope it’ll happen quickly. 

Scott: I thought people had to wait months or years for a baby. 

Roberta: They may, but we’re asking for a waiting child, maybe even one with special needs. We may even take more than one child, someone with siblings⁴. 

Scott: Wow, that’s a lot of responsibility. Wouldn’t you rather do a private adoption? Then you can call the shots and even have a closed adoption, if that’s what you want. 

Roberta: We don’t mind an open adoption, actually. We’ve given it a lot of thought, and we think it’s best if the child knows who his or her birth parents are. That way, they won’t always be wondering. 

Scott: I hope everything goes smoothly⁵. I’m sure you’ll both make great parents. 

Roberta: We’re not so sure, but we’ll do our best. By the way, you can keep those chairs. 

Scott: Really? Why? 

Roberta: You have no children and they’re a hazard. We need to childproof this house and we’re starting with those chairs. 

Scott: Hey, that’s great. That big-screen TV looks dangerous. I’d be more than happy to take it off your hands, too. 

Roberta: Hands off the TV! 

 

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse 

1 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

4 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

5 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。