英文原版对话1000个:758 Big Family

Kara: So, Lupe, you have an extremely¹ large family compared to family sizes here in the United² States. How was that? How was that growing up in a large family?

Lupe: Yeah, coming here to the Unites States it was really strange for me to see how small families were, and me coming from such a big family where there's - I have five brothers and six sisters, so five boys, seven girls. There's twelve of us and we all have the same mom and dad and you know at times it can be a little rough³ because growing up, you know, at one point we did all live together. Now it is not as hard because there is a big age difference between the oldest and the youngest. I am the youngest girl and I have a younger brother. My oldest brother now is forty, married, lives in his own house and most of my older brothers and sisters are all married and have their kids and have also moved out. It's not as tough anymore. What I love about having such a big family is that now they all have babies so there's twenty-three nephews and nieces so when we have get-togethers, it's really an amazing party because there's so many people there just with our immediate⁴ family. The kids are running around playing. All the women are you know, hanging out, talking and the guys are also doing there thing, and there's also a lot of birthday parties as you can imagine. There's so many birthdays throughout⁵ the year, so there's always a party. There's always someone to talk to. There's always someone to go to. Although it can really hurt your pocket around Christmas time because you know there's twenty-three nieces and nephews to buy presents for and there's also eleven siblings⁶ to buy, you know, presents and the family's only getting larger because also got to think about them getting married, so now I have sister-in-laws. I have brother-in-laws, and there's still a few of us that are not married so the family's only gonna get bigger, for sure.

Kara: What was the hardest part about growing up in a family that large?

Lupe: I think the hardest part about it when I was little was I think my parents didn't have the resources⁷ to raise all of us in maybe the way they wished they could have. There wasn't always enough money to make sure that everybody was well-dressed, or even that there was enough food. As the older siblings started, you know, growing up and being old enough that they could work, they became a central part of the family and started helping⁸ with the income, the family income and that made it a lot easier for us younger ones growing up. They had it a little tougher than we did because they had to work a lot and they were really young to make sure that the rest of us had everything we needed. That was definitely⁹ the hardest part.

 

1 extremely   

adv.极其，非常，极度

参考例句：

• The film is extremely good,I just cannot miss it.这部电影太精彩了，我非看不可。
• The old man was extremely difficult to get along with.这个老人极难相与。

2 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。

3 rough   

adj.粗糙的；粗略的，大致的；粗野的，粗暴的

参考例句：

• It's just a very rough translation.这只是一篇非常粗糙的译稿。
• His reply was a bit rough.他的答复过于粗鲁了一点。

4 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

5 throughout   

adv.到处，自始至终；prep.遍及，贯穿

参考例句：

• These magazines are sold at bookstores throughout the country.这些杂志在全国各地书店均有发售。
• Guilin is known throughout the world for its scenery.桂林以山水著称于世。

6 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

7 resources   

n.勇气；才智；谋略；有助于实现目标的东西；资源( resource的名词复数 )；[复数]物力；办法；来源

参考例句：

• The world's resources are rapidly diminishing. 世界资源正在迅速减少。
• a policy to equalize the distribution of resources throughout the country 使资源在全国分布均衡的政策

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 definitely   

adv.一定地，肯定地；明确地，确切地

参考例句：

• The team will definitely lose if he doesn't play.如果他不参加比赛，这个队肯定会输。
• I shall definitely be home before six o'clock.6点以前，我一定回家。