美語情景對話 第1176期:Life Happens Up North 極北地區的生活

Todd: So Abidemi, you were a teacher in Canada, correct?

託德：阿比德米，你在加拿大當過老師，對吧？

Abidemi: That's true Todd.

阿比德米：沒錯，託德。

Todd: Now, where did you teach?

託德：你在哪裏教書？

Abidemi: I taught in Northern Canada in a province called Nunavut.

阿比德米：我在加拿大北部的努納武特地區教書。

Todd: Nunavut.

託德：努納武特地區。

Abidemi: Nunavut.

阿比德米：努納武特地區。

Todd: Nunavut. Wow is it like a native Americans type ..?

託德：努納武特地區。哇哦，那是不是類似美洲土著地區？

Abidemi: Yeah, and except we call them Inuits.

阿比德米：對，我們稱他們是因紐特人。

Todd: Inuits?

託德：因紐特人？

Abidemi: Aboriginals and First Nations.

阿比德米：原著民和土著居民。

Todd: So what was it like?

託德：那裏怎麼樣？

Abidemi: I really liked it. It was great. Very different from other parts of Canada. Very cold obviously because it's in the far north, and the communities are very isolated. Very few people live there. In the particular community were I lived, there were about a thousand people, maybe less living there. So everything has to be shipped in, or flown in by ship that comes in the summer when the oceans melt, and then in the winter, they usually fly them in, so food was quite expensive, housing expensive. Yeah, it was a different experience for me.

阿比德米：我非常喜歡那裏。非常棒。那裏和加拿大其他地區有很大差別。當然，那裏非常寒冷，因爲那裏位於極北部地區，而且社區與外界隔絕。那裏的居民非常少。我生活的那個社區，大概只有1000個人居住。所有物品都要靠船隻運送或是空運，夏天海冰融化以後，物品由船隻運來，而冬天物品要靠空運，所以食品價格非常昂貴，房價也貴。對我來說，那是一段與衆不同的經歷。

Todd: Wow, what's life like that far north?

託德：哇哦，極北地區的生活怎麼樣？

Abidemi: Life happens, and it's interesting how similar it is to what we have down south in Southern Canada, the other parts of Canada. Like they have TVs and similar housing, but you do have to be careful when using water because the infrastructure is a little different. The ground is frozen, so they don't have indoor plumbing. They have plumbing but they don't have running water. The water has to be brought to each house almost every day and sewage also has to be taken away, so you have to be careful how you use water. That's one part. Also, you don't get access to all the things that you want to buy. Sometimes you go to the supermarket, and maybe all the bread is gone, or the milk has not been flown in yet, so you have to be patient with that as well, and you don't get the same variety of products as you would get in larger places, so yeah, and as winter... As you get more and more into the winter months, it gets darker earlier, so maybe around four o'clock in the afternoon it's already dark outside, and by the time you go to work in the mornings too, when you're going around seven, eight o'clock, it's dark outside, so you're like... it's dark a lot.

阿比德米：生活總要繼續，有意思的是，那裏的生活和我們在加拿大南部地區的生活非常相似。那裏有電視，住房也類似，不過你在用水時要格外小心，因爲基礎設施不太一樣。因爲地上會結冰，所以他們沒有室內管道。他們有管道，不過他們沒有自來水。基本上每天水會被送到每戶家中，污水會被處理掉，所以在用水時要格外小心。這是其中一點。另外，你不能買到所有你想買的東西。有時你去超市會發現麪包已經賣完了，或者牛奶還沒有被空運來，所以你要有耐心，而且超市內物品的種類也沒有一些大城市的多樣化，冬天……進入冬季以後，天黑得越來越早，可能下午四點天就黑了，那個時候早上也是一樣的情況，早上七點時天還是黑的，所以黑夜時間很多。

Todd: Wow, what was it like being in an environment where you had so little sunlight?

託德：哇哦，在陽光如此少的環境中生活怎麼樣？

Abidemi: It was hard, but I kind of feel like, I'm used to it. I took vitamin D tablets to help with that. So, yeah, but because I was working for the most part, I didn't feel like it was too hard, and then during the holidays, I would come back down south to my family, so I wasn't there too much during downtimes. I did spend part of Christmas vacation there, and that was nice. They had a lot of activities outside for community members: ice sculpturing, winter games on the ice, Inuit games, different things like that. So it was fun. It was really an experience that was culturally enlightening. If I could say that for me. I really enjoyed it. I really, really enjoyed it, though there were challenges as well. The isolation and the fact that if you wanted to go to other places that weren't in the community, you had to fly out, so it's very expensive to go there.

阿比德米：很難，不過我我想我已經習慣了。我會吃維生素D片來應對。不過因爲我大部分時間都在工作，所以我感覺其實不是那麼難，一般假期我會回南部去和家人一起過，所以休假期間我在那裏的時間不太多。不過聖誕假期我是在那裏過的，其實很不錯。他們爲社區成員準備了很多室外活動：比如冰雕、冰上的冬季運動、因紐特遊戲等等。所以很好玩。那真的是在文化上有啓迪作用的經歷。我想說，我真的非常享受。我真的很喜歡，雖然也有挑戰存在。比如隔離性，還有如果你想去社區外的其他地方，你必須要坐飛機，所以花費很昂貴。

Todd: Oh, what an experience. Sounds cool.

託德：哦，這是多麼難忘的經歷啊。聽上去很酷。

Abidemi: Yes, I loved it and I would like to do it again someday.

阿比德米：對，我很喜歡，我希望有一天我能再體驗一次。

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重點講解：
1. take away 拿走；奪走；
例句：The remains of the supper were taken away.
晚餐吃剩的東西被收去了。
2. be used to sth./doing sth. 習慣於；
例句：Many employees are used to being able to "call in sick" and have someone else cover their job, for instance.
很多員工都習慣裝病，或讓別人幫忙掩蓋他們的工作。
3. for the most part 大部分；多半；通常；
例句：Summers in the south of France are for the most part dry and sunny.
法國南部的夏季大部分時間天氣乾燥且晴朗。
4. come back 回來；
例句：I wish you would come back to Washington with us, but that's for you to decide
我希望你能和我們一起回華盛頓，但是這由你決定。