和老外聊天的地道口語第145期:早起的鳥兒有蟲吃

S: you are an early bird, Tom. What do you do in the morning then?

T: exercise. The morning hours are the most precious period within a single day. We should not pass them up easily. Seize the time and do something useful.

S: so, you choose to spend it on bodybuilding. Where do you exercise?

T: usually, I run to the Black Bamboo Park as a warm-up. Admission is free. Then I start my activites.

S: do you do the same exercises every day?

T: no, I've deliberately kept a balance between various exercises: parallel bars, push-ups, sit-ups, bunny-hops, five-kilometer run, and so on. I alternate them over the weekdays. Sometimes, when I find myself in a bad state, I will simply idle about in the park.

S: why don't you just stay in bed when you feel unfit for exercising?

T: It's not easy to keep a good habit, you know. I fear that if I fail to get up early one day, I may find it still more difficult to rise early the next. Besides, a mere walk in the early morning is much fun, too. Here and there in the park, you meet whole gangs of senior citizens who might be singing operas or old songs, playing er'hu, chess, or just chatting and gossiping. It's interesting to join them.

S: oh, yes. Singing is also a good way of keeping fit, at least mentally.

湯姆,你通常起得很早.那麼早起都做些什麼呢?
鍛鍊.早晨是一天當中最美好的時光.我們不該輕易放過他.要充分利用時間,做點有用的事情.
所以,你把時間花在晨練上了.那你都在哪兒鍛鍊呢?
通常我跑步去紫竹院,正好熱熱身.那裏不用買門票.然後纔開始我的活動.
那每天都做同樣的運動嗎?
不是的.我有意在多項運動之間保持平衡:雙槓,俯臥撐,仰臥起坐,兔子跳,五千米跑…一週之內輪流做.有時候,如果發現自己不怎麼舒服,就只在公園裏閒逛.
不舒服的時候,爲什麼不乾脆多睡會?
你知道,保持一種習慣不容易.我擔心的是,哪天我要沒能早起,第二天早上恐怕就更難早起了.再說,清晨走一走也是樂趣多多.在公園裏四處走走,總能碰上一羣老年人,在唱戲或者其他老歌,拉二胡,下棋,或者只是閒聊.跟他們在一起也挺有意思.
是的.唱歌也是保持健康的好法子,哪怕只是精神上的.

Early bird: 早起者
In the business world, remember: the early bird gets the worm. 身在商業界,切記:早起的鳥兒有蟲吃.
He's quite an early bird. 他是個早起者.

Warm-up: a short practice or a series of gentle exercises that you do to prepare yourself for doing a particular sport or activity (體育運動等前的)適應性活動,準備活動;熱身練習
He swam ten lengths of the pool as a warm-up. 他在游泳池裏遊了五個來回作爲熱身活動.
warm-up exercises 熱身練習

admission: the amount of money that you pay to go into a building or to an event 入場費;門票費
admission charges/prices 入場費／票價
£5 admission 入場費 5 英鎊
What's the admission? 門票多少錢?

Alternate: to make things or people follow one after the other in a repeated pattern 使交替;使輪流
Alternate cubes of meat and slices of red pepper. 交替放置肉丁和紅辣椒片.
Alternate cubes of meat with slices of red pepper. 交替放置肉丁和紅辣椒片.

Idle: to spend time doing nothing important 混時間;閒蕩;無所事事
They idled the days away, talking and watching television. 他們天天在閒聊和看電視中消磨時光.
They idled along by the river(= walked slowly and with no particular purpose). 他們沿着河邊閒逛.

Unfit: not capable of doing something, for example because of illness (因病等)不能做某事,不宜做事
He's still unfit for work. 他還不宜工作.
The company's doctor found that she was unfit to carry out her normal work. 公司的醫生認爲,她不宜從事正常工作.

pass something↔up: to choose not to make use of a chance, an opportunity, etc. 放棄,不要(機會)
Imagine passing up an offer like that! 真想不到居然放棄人家提供的大好機會!