J:What were you and Richard talking about earlier? It looked intense.
早些时候你跟理查德在谈论什么,气氛看起来有点僵呀
L:Yeah, Richard said something to me that I didn't appreciate.
噢,他讲了些让我不喜欢的事
J:Oh, no. I know how insensitive he can be. What has he done now?
不会吧,我知道他这个人常常无礼又无知,今天他怎么又做这种事了?
L:He asked me how long it took me to learn English.
他问我学习英语多少年了
J:But, you were born and raised in California!
啊,你可是土生土长的加利福尼亚人呀
L:Yeah, but I get that sometimes. It doesn't matter how many generations my family has lived in the U.S., we'll always be foreigners in their eyes.
我算是明白了,无论我家有几代人在美国生活过,在有些人的眼里,我们永远是外国人
J:What a racist! How can you stand working with the guy?
真是个种族分子!你如何能忍受与这样的家伙同事
L:You know, Richard isn't such a bad guy. He made the comment out of ignorance, not malice.
你知道的,理查德这个人不坏。他说这些话就是出于无知,而非恶意
J:So, what did you say when he asked you how long it took you to learn English?
那么当他问你学了多久英语的时候,你是如何回答他的
L:I told him 28 years. And, he knows I'm 28 years old since I just celebrated my birthday last week. He was puzzled for a minute, and then he got it.
我告诉他28年了。他显然知道我也才28岁因为上周我刚庆贺过我的生日。他一听愣了一下,随后就明白我什么意思了。
J:Are you sure he really got the message?
你确信他明白了?
L:Yeah, I'm pretty sure since I then asked him how long it took him to learn English.
是的,当我问他学习英语多久的时候,我就确信他明白我的意思了
J:That's hilarious! What did he say?
真爽,他怎么回答的
L:He said, '36 years,' and we both laughed about it. He apologized and now, it's all good.
他说,36年了。我们俩接着就都笑了。他为刚才的事道歉,现在一切都挺好
J:I'm glad. I bet he won't make that mistake again.
我觉得挺好。我相信他不应该再犯类似的错误了。