You're listening to ESL Podcast's English Café number 87.
大家正在收听的是ESL英语咖啡第87期播客节目（主持人简介，请稍候）。
On this Café, I'll tell you a little about some problems I had recently with my car. We're also going to talk about home schooling in the United States as part of our “Ask an American” series. And as always, we'll answer a few of your questions. Let's get started.
本期咖啡节目中，我会跟大家聊聊我的车子最近出现的问题。 我们还会聊聊美国的家中教育来作为‘问问美国人’系列节目的内容。 像往常一样，我们还将回答大家的一些问题。 开始吧。
Before I forget, let me remind you to visit our website at eslpod.com, and download a Learning Guide for this episode. Well, I've had some problems with my car this past week that I thought I would tell you about. I went out to my car, which is parked in the garage next to my house, and I took the key out, meaning I took it out of my pocket. I opened the car and then I stuck the key into the ignition. We use the verb here “to stick” when you have something like a key that you are putting into a lock. Well, I “stuck” (which is the past tense of stick) the key into the “ignition,” which is what starts the car. The “ignition” (ignition) is like a lock - it looks like a lock - you turn the key, and as you turn the key the car should start. The motor in the car - the engine in the car, motor and engine are the same thing here - should start running.
在我没有忘记之前，先提醒一下大家，你们可以浏览我们的网站并在上面下载本期节目的学习向导。 嗯，我的车出了一些问题，我本来是想在上个星期跟大家聊聊的。 我出去走到我的车子边（车停在房子外的车库里的），我拿出了钥匙，从我的口袋里拿出了我的钥匙。 我打开车门然后把钥匙插进了点火装置。 我们用动词stick——插入，来形容你把要是放进锁里这个动作。 我把要是插入了点火装置。 ignition相当于一把锁，看起来跟锁类似，你会转动钥匙，然后发动汽车。 车子就会发动起来，engine（引擎）跟motor在这里指的是同一个东西。
Of course, when I turned the key, the car did not turn over. When we say a car “turns over,” we mean it starts - the motor or the engine starts to run - starts to work - starts to function. The motor did not turn over. In fact, I heard the worst sound you can hear, which is nothing! Clearly, the battery for the car was dead. When we say the battery “is dead,” we mean it doesn't have any more power in it.
当然啦，当我转动钥匙的时候，车子并没有启动。 当我们说turn over，我们的意思是‘启动’，发动机或是引擎开始转动，开始发动。 但是发动机没有反应。 实际上，我听到了实际上最为难听的声音——没有声音。 很明显，汽车的电池肯定没电了。 我们说电池dead掉了，指的是电池没有电了。
So, I had to take my wife's car, and I had to connect what we call “jumper cables,” (jumper) cables, and these are wires that go between the battery of one car that is working and the battery of another car that is dead - not working. I was able to start my engine - start the motor. It turned over when I had my wife's car's battery connected. I took the jumper cables off and I drove to the mechanic. The “mechanic” is the person that fixes your car, or should fix your car. When I gave him the car, he looked at it and said there was nothing wrong with the battery, that the battery was working just fine, and so was the rest of the engine. So, I don't know if that was good news or bad news.
所以我必须用到我老婆的车，我必须要连接跨接线。跨接线指的是那种可以连接电池有电的汽车和电池没电的汽车的线。 然后我就可以发动引擎了。 我把我妻子汽车里的电池连接上时，发动机就发动起来了。 我把跨接线扯掉，然后把车开去了修理铺。 mechanic指的是汽车修理师傅。他们可以修好你的车。 当我把车开过去时，他看了一下然后说，我的电池没有问题，电池功能正常，引擎的其它部分也是正常的。 这下我就不知道这到底是好消息还是坏消息了。
It was good news because I did not need to spend more money on my car. It was bad news because I had to drive all the way over to the mechanic to have him tell me that nothing was wrong. This happens to me a lot, I have something that doesn't work - that breaks or breaks down, we would say, meaning in stops working, like a machine, a computer, a car. Then, when I take it to someone to get it fixed, it starts working again. So, that is the story of my car this week.
好消息是，我不再为我的车花更多的钱。 坏事情是，我得开老远去听修理汽车的师傅告诉我我的车没有什么问题。 我身上老是发生这样的事情，像是机器或者电脑或者汽车坏掉时， 我会把它们弄到某人那里进行修理，让它们恢复正常。 这就是这个星期关于我的汽车的一些事情。
Today we're going to do one of our “Ask an American” series of episodes, where we listen to other speakers talk about a topic. They talk about it at a normal speed - at a fast speed - but we stop and explain what they are saying so you can understand it better. Today's topic is “home-schooling.” In the United States, there are some parents who do not want to send their children to a regular school, but want to teach the children at home. So, the parent is the teacher.
今天我们会继续我们的系列节目‘问问美国人’，在里面我们会听到一些其它的人聊某个话题。 他们会使用正常语速，会快一点，但是我们会暂停解释他们所说的内容来帮助大家理解。 今天的话题是‘家庭教育’。 在美国，有一些父母不想让他们的孩子去一般的学校上学，而是在家对其进行教育。 父母自己做老师。
This might seem very unusual in some countries, but it has become very popular in many parts of the United States.
这在一些其它国家看来应该是非常不正常的，但是在美国的很多地方却变得非常普遍。
Normally, a child must go to school between the ages of six and, depending on the state, 16. But if the parent says that he or she wants to educate the child at home, that is possible. Some parents do not send their children to school because of religious reasons; they want the child to grow up with their own religious beliefs. Some parents don't send their children to school because they don't like the schools; they don't think they are very good. So, there are different reasons for people to home school.
正常情况下，根据州法的不同，每个6岁左右的孩子都要上学。 但是如果父母们说，他们想让孩子在家里接受教育，这也是可能的。 因为宗教信仰原因，有些父母不愿意送孩子去学校。他们想让自己的孩子在成长的过程中接受他们自己的宗教信仰。 一些不愿意送孩子上学是因为他们不喜欢学校或者他们并不认为学校有什么好处。 也就是说，人们在家里接受教育的理由有很多。
Notice we use that as a verb, “to home- school” means to teach your children at home. There was a story about this topic recently on the Voice of America, and we're going to listen to a few quotes from students and parents about home-schooling.
注意我们使用了动词home-school，其意思是在家里让孩子接受教育。 VOA最近刊登了一篇关于这个话题的故事。让我们来听一下其中父母以及这些学生本身对于‘驻家教育’的一些看法：
The story says that there are about 750,000 children who are taught at home in the United States. Some people think it's a good idea; some people think it's a bad idea. We'll start by listening to a quote from a 13-year-old girl, who is taught at home. Here's what she says about being home schooled. Remember, she'll be speaking fast, but we'll explain it and listen to it again in a minute. [recording] I really like it, doing it here. I do think I'm better off here because I get a lot more one on one time. The girl says, “I really like it, doing it here,” meaning learning - being educated at home. “I do think I'm better off here because I get a lot more one on one time.” Notice she says, “I do think.” She could just say, “I think I'm better off,” but the “do” adds some emphasis; it makes it stronger. She says she's “better off,” meaning she is doing better than if she were in a regular school because she gets “a lot of one on one time,” meaning that one of her parents can be with her, and there are just two of them. “One on one” is when you are with one other person. In this case the teacher - the parent - is able to help the child more; that's what this girl thinks.
这篇文章说美国大概有75万个孩子在家里接受教育。 一些人认为这是个好主意，但是也有一些人认为这样不好。 让我们先来听听一位在家里受教育的13岁小女孩对此的看法。 一下是她关于驻家教育所说的话： 记住，她说得有点快，但是我们迟点会进行解释，并且会再进行收听。 [录音]：我真的很喜欢在家里面学习。 我真的觉得这样子要更好一些，一位我有更多与父母单独相处的时间。 这位女孩说，I really like it, doing it here，意思是，她喜欢在家里面接受教育。 重复。 注意她说的是‘Ido think’。 她其实可以只用说，I think I'm better off，但是她使用了Do，进行了强调，这样使句子的语气更强烈了。 她说，她感觉better off，意思是她这样做比上正常的学校要好，因为她能有更多的与老师‘一对一’的时间。 one on one指的是与一个人面对面。 在这里，老师其实是父母，父母能够更好地帮助他们的孩子。这就是这位女孩的看法。
Let's listen to that again:[recording] I really like it, doing it here. I do think I'm better off here because I get a lot more one on one time. Now we are going to listen to the parent - the mother of this girl - explaining why she has her child at home and teaches her at home:
我们再来听一遍：重复。 重复。 现在我们来听听一位家长对此的看法，也就是这个女孩的母亲的看法。她会解释为什么她更愿意她的女儿在家接受教育的原因。
[recording] Probably the primary reason that we home-school is the development of the character of our children; who they are becoming. Um - the academics are good; they get a really good education here. We can concentrate one on one with their learning style, and how they - how they process information. The mother says, “the primary reason we home-school,” meaning the main, or most important - “the primary reason is the development of the character of our children.”
也许我们情愿采用家庭教育的主要原因是为了孩子性格的发展，比如他们会成为什么样的人。 呣，教学科目是不错的，他们也确实能接受都良好的教育。 我们可以根据他们的学习以及吸收信息的习惯来进行一对一的教导。 这位母亲说，我们进行家庭教育的主要原因是…… the primary reason指的是最主要的，最重要的是发展我们孩子的个性。
“Character” here means how they think; how they act; their moral and ethical views on life; how they determine right from wrong. These are all part of your character. “Character” is also the word we use for someone in a novel or in a movie, a person, but here it refers the person's ideas about life, how they think about right and wrong. The mother also uses a very common expression in English. She says, “um.” When we are trying to think of what to say in normal conversation, you will often hear Americans use a sound like “um”; “ah” is another one. “Um,” “ah,” those are both sounds we make when we are trying to think of something else. Children often use that sound as well. You'll hear a little child talking, and he'll say, “Mom, um, I want to go to the store and, um, I want to buy some candy,” using that word “um,” or that sound “um.” Usually we spell it u-m.
character指的是他们的思维方式，行为方式，世界观，以及盘对是非的方式。 这些都是大家性格的一部分。 Character这个词同时也可以用来指一本小说或者电影里面的角色，但是这里指的是一个人的人生观以及判断正误的方式。 这位母亲同时还使用了一个非常常见的词汇。 她使用了‘呣’。 在日常的对话中，当我们在思考接下来要说的话时，经常会听到美国人使用一个象声词‘呣’，而‘啊’又是另外一个。 ‘呣’，‘啊’都是在我们思考说话内容的时候所发出的声音。 孩子们也经常使用这个象声词。 大家会听到小孩儿这样说话，他会说：妈妈，呣，我想去商店，呣，我想买糖。他们就使用了这个单词或者声音‘呣’。 通常是这样拼写的，u-m。
The parent says that the academics are good. The “academics” means the subjects that the students studies. So, the student is getting a good education. The parents can concentrate one on one with their children's learning style. “Learning style” is a popular idea in many schools in the United States, that different children have different ways of learning and everyone has a certain learning style. Some people may like to read the information; some people like to listen to the information, and so forth.
父母们认为学习的科目是不错的。 academics指的是学生们学习的学科。 也就是说孩子们收到了良好的教育。 家长们可以根据孩子的学习方式有针对性地进行一对一教育。 learning style在美国的很多学校是个很流行的概念，不同的学生有着不同的学习方式。每个人都有着自己的学习方式。 有些人可能喜欢阅读信息，而有些人可能喜欢用耳朵听，以此类推。
The mother says that they can concentrate on how their children “process information,” meaning how they think about information. Let's listen again:[recording] Probably the primary reason that we home-school is the development of the character of our children; who they are becoming. Um - the academics are good; they get a really good education here. We can concentrate one on one with their learning style, and how they - how they process information.
这位母亲说他们可以将精力集中在他们的孩子怎样处理信息这一点上。 再听一次，重复。 重复。 重复。
Not everyone thinks that home-schooling is a good idea. Next we hear from a university professor, who is going to talk about his opinion and the questions that he has about home-schooling; the doubts he has, the problems that he thinks might be present in home-schooling. He's speaking on the telephone, so it is a little more difficult for you to understand him. But again, we'll explain what he is saying after we listen to him.
并不是每个人都觉得在家接受教育是件好事。 接下来我们会听到一位大学教授的观点以及他关于家庭教育的一些问题，疑问，还有就是他觉得在家庭教育中会出现的一些问题。 他的讲话是在电话中进行的，大家可能会有点跟不上。 不过，我们在听完之后会在将其谈话内容解说一遍的。
Here we go: [recording] Well, one of the questions that I always ask myself is whether or not these children are - ah - able to begin to mature socially, so that when they find themselves in a diverse social setting - um - do they have some experience to draw on in order to function well. Well, the professor has spoken. Let's go back and see what he says. He starts by saying that one of the questions he always asks himself - one of the questions that he asks - is whether or not these children are able to begin to mature socially. “To mature” (mature) means to grow older; to become more sophisticated, in a way; to be able to act in a manner that is more like an adult. So, he is questioning whether these children are able to mature socially. And this is a common argument against home schooling, that the children, somehow, will not have the same ability to work with other people, to be sociable, and so on.
开始了：（录音）嗯，我经常问自己的问题之一就是，这些孩子，啊，会不会在社交上变得成熟起来，这样的话，当他们发现自己处身与一种多样化的社会处境时，呣，他们会利用自己的一些经历来很好地应对。 嗯，这位教授说完了。 让我们回头再听一遍他说了些什么。 一开始他就说，他经常问自己的问题之一就是，这些孩子会不会在社交上变得成熟。 mature指的是变成熟，在某种程度上变得更世故，能像个大人一样处事。 他是在提出译文，这些孩子会不会在社交处事方面变得成熟。 这通常是反对家庭教育的常见的论证之一，它指出孩子们可能会没有与人合作交往的能力等。
The professor then says that when the students find themselves in a diverse social setting, do they have some experience to draw on in order to function well. The expression “to find yourself” means that you are in a situation, perhaps that you didn't expect or that is not one that you are used to. In this case, the situation would be “a diverse social setting.” “Diverse,” or “diverse” - either pronunciation is correct - (diverse) means a situation where you have many different kinds of people, people who come from different experiences.
这位教授然后说，当孩子们处于一种多样化的社交背景中时，他们会有某些经历来应对吗？ 短语find yourself的意思是发现自己处于某种境地，也许是一种你没曾想到过的或者你不适应的情况。 此处指的是，多样化的社交处境。 diverse，[i]或者[ai],两种发音都是正确的,Diverse指的是能遇见各种各样拥有不同经历的人的场合。
The professor asks whether these students - these home-schooled students - have some experience to draw on in order to function well. The expression “to draw on experience” means to use as a model or as a guide. I'm going to draw on my experience as an ESL teacher in preparing these podcasts - I'm going to use that experience to help me with this new situation. Let's listen again to this critic of home-schooling.
这位教授在问这些接受家庭教育的学生时候会拥有某些经历来帮助他们。 短语draw on experience指的是利用，效仿或者引导。 在准备这些播客节目的时候，我的ESL老师的经历会派上用场——即，我会使用这种经历来帮助自己度过现在的处境。 我们再来听一遍关于家庭教育的评论者说了些什么：
Someone who is against something is sometimes called a “critic” (critic). [recording] Well, one of the questions that I always ask myself is whether or not these children are - ah - able to begin to mature socially, so that when they find themselves in a diverse social setting - um - do they have some experience to draw on in order to function well.
对某事持有反对态度的人有时候会被称之为‘批评家/评论者’。 （录音）嗯，我经常问自己的问题之一就是，这些孩子，啊，会不会在社交上变得成熟起来，这样的话，当他们发现自己处身与一种多样化的社会处境时，呣，他们会利用自己的一些经历来很好地应对。
Notice the professor also uses “um” and “ah” when he is trying to think of something to say. So, it is something that people at every level use. The professor, also, does not actually talk about any research - any evidence - for his position; he just is giving his opinion. So, that's the story of home-schooling in the U.S.
注意这位教授在思考说话内容时还使用了‘呣’‘啊’这些词。 不同的人都会使用这些词汇。 教授也没有真正谈到他立场的任何研究或者论证，他只是在表达一种观点。 这就是美国的‘家庭教育’的一些事情。
Now let's answer a few of your questions. Our first question comes from Felix (Felix) from Spain, from the Canary Islands. He wants to know the difference between the word “breakthrough” (breakthrough - one word) and “to break through,” where it is two words. A “breakthrough” (one word) is a noun that refers to a sudden, important development or discovery. When, for example, when the British scientists Crick and Watson discovered the sequence of DNA - the genetic sequence in the human body - this was a breakthrough; it was an important, new discovery.
现在，让哦我们来回答大家的一些问题。 我们的第一个问题来自西班牙加那利群岛的Felix。 他想知道单词breakthrough和break through之间的区别。 breakthrough一个单词，是个名词，指的是一种突发性的，重要的发展或者发现。 例如，英国科学家Crick和Watson发现了DNA排序——人体的基因排序，这是一项重大突破；是一项非常重要的新发现。
The verb “to break through” (two words) usually means to make a hole in something; to get through something. You could break through the wall with a hammer, or if it were me, with my hand - with my fist. I would punch the wall and I would break through because I'm so strong, you see! For example, I bought a new compact disc - a new CD - but it was very difficult to me to open it. I couldn't break through the plastic that was around it.
动词词组break through两个单词，通常指的是在某物体上凿个洞而穿过去。 可以用铁锤打穿墙壁，或者，换了我的话，我会用我的拳头。 我会用拳头打穿墙壁，因为我很强壮。看见了没！ 例如，我买了一张新的CD，但是很难打开。 但是我是打不穿上面的塑胶的。
Our next question comes from Torsten (Torsten) from Germany. Torsten wants to know the meaning of the expression “to ride shotgun” (shotgun). Well now, “to ride shotgun” means to sit in the front of a car next to the driver, so in an American car, it would be in the front right seat. “To ride shotgun,” this is a phrase that children sometimes use. Many children think that it's better to be in the front of the car next to their mother or father or the person driving, so they'll say, “I'm going to ride shotgun.”
我们接下来的问题来自德国的Torsten。 Torsten想知道短语ride shotgun是什么意思。 ride shotgun指的是坐在汽车司机的旁边。在美式汽车里面的话，应该是靠右边的位置。 ride shotgun这个短语通常是孩子们使用。 很多孩子觉得最好是坐在他们的父母或者开车的人旁边，所以他们会说‘我要坐前排’。
The expression actually comes from the Old American West in the 19th century, when there were horses that were pulling what we call “stagecoaches,” which is a vehicle that had four wheels and people sat in it, and the horses pulled the stagecoach. It was like a little car, but with horses. There would be one person that would be in the front of the stagecoach with a shotgun. A “shotgun” is a long gun. The purpose of the person in the front was to protect people inside the stagecoach from people who may want to rob them - from thieves, people who try to steal their money. Now, however, it just means to ride in the front seat next to the driver in a car.
这个短语实际上来自19世纪的美国老西部。那里有一种用来拉stagecoach的马匹。stagecoach是四个轮子的马车，上面载人，用马匹拉。 跟小汽车很像，但是是用马匹拉。 而马车上会有一个人拿着猎枪坐在马车的前排。 shotgun指的是一种长枪。 用这样一个人坐在前面是为了保护车里面的人不被强盗抢劫。 但是现在它的意思只是指坐在前排司机的旁边。
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