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第 38 课:Beekeeping 西弗吉尼亚的养蜂人

J: Hello everyone! I'm Jody. Welcome to American Cafe!

Y: 各位听众好,我是杨晨。欢迎您到美语咖啡屋!

J: Yang Chen, our guest today is Mark Boudevaul, from Beverly, West Virginia. And he has several ways that he makes a living.

Y: Mark住在西维吉尼亚的Beverly. 你说他同时有好几种工作,听上去很有意思。那他的主要工作是什么呢?

J: Primarily, Mark is a beekeeper.

Y: Beekeeper?

J: Bee Keeper!

Y: Bee就是蜜蜂,Beekeeper就是养蜂的人。那他另外的职业是什么呢?

J: He's also the host of a bluegrass radio show and is also a musician himself.

Y: Wow. 他还在电台主持兰草音乐节目,还是个音乐家,那他会不会演奏乐器?

J: He plays the steel guitar that you hear in the background.

(Enter samples of steel guitar)

J: ... and the dobro.

Y: 我知道 Steel guitar是夏威夷吉他, dobro好象没有中文翻译,

J: It's common in bluegrass music. Oh, Yang Chen, listen to that lonely, haunting sound.

Y: 没错,这种乐器听起来有一种孤独深沉的味道。

J: Now, let's meet Mark

Mark: I'm Mark Boudervaul and I'm from Beverly, West Virginia. Well I'm a beekeeper primarily but I also do a bluegrass radio show and play steel guitar and dobro.

Y: Mark的声音真的很好听,难怪他要主持电台节目呢。

J: I know. He has a great radio voice.

Y: 没错,不过我更感兴趣的是他的另一个职业:养蜜蜂。

J: Raising bees sounds like such interesting work.

Y: 就是啊,那他是什么时候开始养蜜蜂的呢?

J: Mark started bee keeping when he was around 17 years old. He says a guy a couple farms over, meaning a neighbor, had bees and Mark was intrigued.

Y: 对,Intrigued就是产生兴趣的意思。

J: Right. So Mark pestered his neighbor long enough ...

Y: 等一等, "pester" 不是麻烦,打扰的意思吗?

J: Right. To pester means to bother somebody. So, Mark pestered his neighbor to teach him about bee keeping and it worked.

Mark: I started when I was about 17. I knew a guy a couple farms over from us that had bees and I was pretty intrigued by it. I pestered him long enough for him to show me what to do. And I got my own bees when I was about 18. And I'm 48 now so, that's about 30 years.

Y: 有意思,Mark 想学养蜂,就缠着附近农场的一个人教他, 那个人最后不厌其烦只好帮助他。嗯,pester这个办法不错.

J: Sometimes you have to pester, pester, pester, pester somebody to get what you want.

Y: 没错,Mark说他养蜜蜂到现在已经有30年历史了。 对Mark来说养蜜蜂虽然是他的兴趣,可是养蜂也有淡季和旺季,对吧?

J: Exactly. Bee keeping is definitely seasonal because, of course, bees need flowers and in the dead of winter there are no flowers.

Mark: It's a seasonal job in that bees are only really working when flowers are in bloom and in the dead of winter there's no flowers.

Y: 到了冬天他就得找点别的事做。

J: Mark goes on to say that bee keeping keeps him going in the summertime. During the winter he finds other things to keep him going.

Mark: Ahh, it's interesting. It keeps me going in the summer time. You know, I find other things to keep me going through the winter.

Y: Mark 说的keeps him going 就是维持生计的意思。我们知道西维吉尼亚冬天很冷,他能找什么工作呢?

J: To keep himself going through a winter in West Virginia Mark does something very interesting.

Y: 我们来听听是什么。

Mark: I raise donkeys also.

Y: 什么?毛驴?我没有听错吧?

J: You heard it right, Yang Chen! Mark also raises donkeys to give people rides on the trails through the beautiful mountains of West Virginia.

Mark: Yes, I have donkeys that I take out on trails and this is a good area to come for that. (laughter)

Y: 骑着毛驴沿着西维吉尼亚的山路欣赏风景,听起来很不错,如果我下次要到西维吉尼亚旅游,我一定会去找Mark。

J: Good idea! And also look for Mark if you need any honey or a radio host or a steel guitar player or whatever other wonderful job Mark does. Thanks for joining us today at American Cafe!