【话匣子英语】采访罗伯托

 今天来话匣子英语做客的嘉宾是罗伯托

Roberto: Well, hello everybody. My name is Roberto, otherwise known as the Vegan Yoga Dude. I guess I could tell you a bit about my recent life. My recent… I have no idea what to say. Where are we going? Do you want me to start at the past?

 

Harp¹: Let’s start at the beginning. So you were telling me that you were born in Trinidad and Tobago.

 

Roberto: Yes I was. I was born in Trinidad and Tobago, and we immigrated² to Canada when I was 6 months old. So I spent my early years, the first 10 years of my life, in Canada. My father was in the Canadian Air Force, so we moved around between London, Ontario; Ottawa, Ontario. Then, when I was 10 years old, the family moved back to Trinidad and Tobago. I went to high school in Trinidad and Tobago. The school system there was run under the British system, which was quite rigorous, and I’m grateful for that. And then when I was 18, after high school, we came back to Canada, where I attended the University of Western Ontario. And I studied economics.

 

Harp: OK. And then, now do you work in a field related to economics?

 

Roberto: Absolutely not. I have done so many things. The only thing I’ve ever done vaguely³ related to economics is right out of university, I worked for 6 months with an accounting⁴ firm. And I realized that that was not the career for me, so I moved on. And I have done a few dozen other occupations since then. I went from accounting to freelance writing. I worked as a groundskeeper at the Toronto Harbourfront. That was a wonderful time. It was physical work; I quite enjoyed that. And at that time, I had a short career as a stand-up comic and as a professional actor. I didn’t get very far in either of those fields, but I did enjoy my time in show business. I also became an aerobics⁵ instructor⁶. And after a couple years of all of those things, I joined the Canadian military, where I became a logistics officer. And I did that for 10 years. However…

 

Harp: OK. So you followed in your dad’s steps?

 

Roberto: In a sense. He was Air Force. He was a physician, so he was a military doctor, and qualified⁷ as a jet pilot. I stayed closer to the earth. I was in the ground forces, or the army. I was an army officer.

 

Harp: OK. And you were in the army for 10 years, you said?

 

Roberto: Ten years, but I broke it up. I have to keep things interesting. I broke it up into two segments of 5 years. I did 5 years, and then while I was in Germany, which was a wonderful posting, I left the Armed Forces to work for a while as a musician. And having had a very limited amount of success as a musician, I re-enlisted… I re-enrolled in the Canadian Forces and did another 5 years.

 

Harp: As a logistics officer again?

 

Roberto: As a logistics officer again, yes. While in the Canadian Armed Forces, they sent us to French school. And so I became bilingual, and that has been a huge addition to my life. I’m very grateful for that, to be able to speak English and French now.

 

Harp: That’s great that they sent you to French school.

 

Roberto: Yes. The requirement was that all officers had to be bilingual, and so that was part of the training for everybody. Off we went to French school.

 

Harp: Ah. Definitely gonna come back to this topic later.

 

Roberto: OK.

 

Harp: And then now, as a civilian⁸, what do you do?

 

Roberto: Well, I did a few more things before I ended up doing what I’m doing now. I got out of the Armed Forces and took yet another shot at show business. I worked as an actor and, again, a stand-up comic. I did a little bit of freelance writing. I worked as a medical writer and I also did a little bit of security, including a brief stint⁹ doing security for Celine Dion. And about 7 years ago, I moved into what I currently do, which is I work as an editor. I’m a book editor for English-as-a-second-language books, produced right here for the Quebec market. So I work on books for the high-school and college levels.

 

Harp: Wow. Very interesting life. I have a million questions. So, let’s get started with my questions. Are you ready,

 

Roberto? Roberto: I’m ready to go. I’ll do my best.

1 harp   

n.竖琴；天琴座

参考例句：

• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
• He played an Irish melody on the harp.他用竖琴演奏了一首爱尔兰曲调。

2 immigrated   

v.移入( immigrate的过去式和过去分词 )；移民

参考例句：

• He immigrated from Ulster in 1848. 他1848年从阿尔斯特移民到这里。 来自辞典例句
• Many Pakistanis have immigrated to Britain. 许多巴基斯坦人移居到了英国。 来自辞典例句

3 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

4 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

5 aerobics   

n.健身操，健美操，韵律操

参考例句：

• Doing aerobics is a good way to improve one's health.做有氧健身操是改善健康状况的一个好方法。
• Aren't you going to the aerobics class this morning?今天上午你不是去上有氧运动课吗？

6 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

7 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

8 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

9 stint   

v.节省，限制，停止；n.舍不得化，节约，限制；连续不断的一段时间从事某件事

参考例句：

• He lavished money on his children without stint.他在孩子们身上花钱毫不吝惜。
• We hope that you will not stint your criticism.我们希望您不吝指教。