美語情景對話 第474期:High School 高中

Todd: So, Tres can you talk about American high school. What was high school like for you? What is American high school like?

託德：特雷斯，你談談美國的高中吧。你念的高中是什麼樣的？美國的高中是什麼樣的？

Tres: That's a very good question. When one says "an American high school", to some people maybe movies that depict high school life come to mind. But the most thing I would like people to keep in mind is that depending on the school district, the state, the area of the state in which you live, the high school you go to can vary extremely. There are many poor schools in poor districts. And there are very rich schools similar to the "Beverly Hills 90210" television show, that's quite popular around the world. I was fortunate to go to a high school that was a public school under a magnet program. And the idea was that you have a test to get in to the school. You have to excel academically. And the school would try to suck in, or attract students from all over the state, students that excelled in the math and sciences, sports, English, literature, foreign languages, and tried to bring those students together. Not only that, the idea of the school was to create an atmosphere that was "biologically diverse". That just sounds better than "racially diverse". So we had students of various socioeconomic backgrounds, meaning we had students of various races. Even though I don't think "race" truly exist. But sociologically speaking, we had students of various races. At the school you could take classes from Italian to classical English. Many of our teachers had Ph.D.s so it was just a great academic atmosphere to be in. And then, we had a lot of fun on top of that. The first few years I went there, we had an open campus, which meant that during our lunch, we were able to get in our cars because we all drove to school. Get in our cars and drive home or drive to our friend's house or drive to a restaurant during our lunch period. So we didn't have to stay at school for lunch. We were completely free. And the school was very liberal. So the teachers had a very open idea of how students learn, and they wanted to make sure that we were learning in a way that was best for us. Now that doesn't mean that they were not strict on us. When we did something bad, when we were in trouble, they let us know. But still many of our teachers were very open, and they would give us hugs if we needed hugs.

特雷斯：這是個好問題。當提到“美國高中”時，有些人可能會想到電影中描寫的那種高中生活。不過我希望人們記住，高中生活要取決於學區、州和你生活的那個地區，這些因素使各高中產生極大的不同。貧窮地區有許多糟糕的學校，而也有很多與電視劇《新飛越比佛利》類似的奢侈高中，這部電視劇在全世界非常受歡迎。我很幸運，我上的高中是加入磁石計劃的公立學校。在被學校錄取前要進行測試。你要有優異的學業成績。學校會試圖從全州吸引在數學和科技、體育、英語、文學以及外語方面表現優異的學生，並試圖把這些學生整合在一起。不僅如此，這類學校的理念是營造一種“生物多樣性”的氛圍。這種說法聽起來比“種族多樣性”好多了。我們學校的學生有不同的社會經濟背景，有不同的種族。雖然我不認爲“種族”真實存在，但是從社會學的角度來看，我們學校的學生確實來自不同種族。學校內設置的課程包括意大利語和古典英語。許多老師都有博士學位，所以學校裏的學術氛圍非常棒。除此之外，我們在學校過得很開心。最初的幾年我們有校園開放日，因爲我們都是開車去學校的，所以在午餐期間我們可以開車回家或開車去朋友家或者去餐廳。我們不用在學校裏用午餐。我們擁有完全的自由。學校很開明，所以老師對於學生的學習方式持開放思想，他們希望確保我們用最好的方式學習。這並不意味着他們對我們不嚴厲。我們做錯事還有惹麻煩的時候，他們會對我們很嚴厲。不過仍有許多老師非常開放，如果我們需要擁抱那他們就會擁抱我們。

Todd: The teachers would give you hugs.

託德：老師會擁抱你們。

Tres: Yes, I know some schools, many teachers would want to keep that professional distance. But I think when you're working with children, always keep in mind that they are young adults. And they need to be taught a good model to fit into society. I think one of those models is reaching out to others when they are in trouble. Sometimes you know, a student may need a hug, be it your friend or be it a teacher. So I really enjoyed getting hugs from my principal, so I always give hugs to everybody.

特雷斯：是的，我知道基於專業上的考慮，有些學校的老師會希望和學生保持距離。不過我認爲如果你的工作要和孩子接觸，要記住他們是青少年。老師要教導他們成爲好榜樣並適應社會。我認爲這些榜樣應該是指在他人遇到困難時出手相助的人。你知道，有時學生需要擁抱，亦師亦友的感覺。我很喜歡校長擁抱我，所以我也會去擁抱他人。

Todd: Wow, that's a lot different from my high school.

託德：哇，這點和我的高中有很大的不同。

譯文屬僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載

重點講解：
1. come to mind
突然想起；（想法）一下子冒出來；
eg. A number of possibilities come to mind.
我腦裏出現了好幾種可能性。
eg. For most people, only two options come to mind.
對大多數人來說,只有兩個選擇浮現腦海。
2. keep in mind
牢記；放在心上；
eg. It is not easy to keep in mind what you have told me.
記住你告訴我的話並不容易。
eg. Students should keep in mind those regulations which restrict their behavior.
學生應牢記那些規範自己的行爲準則。
3. on top of
另外；加之；除…之外（還）；
eg. She has a small pension, on top of her salary.
她除薪水外，還有點津貼。
eg. On top of that, there was din and jostling.
除此之外，就是喧鬧和擁擠。
4. be in trouble
處於困境；惹麻煩；將受懲罰；
eg. He was in trouble with his teachers.
老師們都想好好教訓他。
eg. You'll be in trouble if you don't watch your step.
你要是不謹慎從事就要倒黴了。
5. fit into
融入；與…相處融洽（或和諧）；
eg. It's hard to see how he would fit into the team.
很難看出他將如何融入這支隊伍。
eg. I fear I will not fit into any future.
我怕我會與未來的任何社會都格格不入。