实战口语情景对话：Fast-Paced Life 快节奏的生活

Abidemi: So Rory, talking about schedules, do you ever think that life is too busy or too much that we're trying to fit too many things?

阿比德米：罗瑞，我们来谈谈日程安排，你是否认为生活太忙碌了或者我们要去适应太多事情?

Rory: Maybe for some people. Not for me, actually. I take life quite slowly. But I noticed with my daughter that we're always sort of rushing her to do things. So when she comes home from school, she has to do her homework. And then one night a week, she has to go to swimming then she has piano, then she has like an acrobat lesson. When I was a kid, we did nothing after school, you know. We went to the park by ourselves and played. But nothing was scheduled, so we just did what we wanted.

罗瑞：也许对有些人来说是这样的。但其实对我来说并不是。我一直在享受慢生活。不过我注意到，我们一直让我们的女儿做很多事。她放学回来以后，要写作业。她每周有一个晚上要去上游泳课，她还要上钢琴课和杂技课。我小的时候，放学以后什么都不做。那时我们会去公园里玩。并不做安排，想做什么就做什么。

Abidemi: I see.

阿比德米：我知道了。

Rory: So do you think like kids today, we try and make them do too much or they try and do too much.

罗瑞：那你认为对现在的孩子来说，我们是不是让他们做得太多了，或者说他们做的事情是不是太多了?

Abidemi: That's a really good question. And I think, yes, you're right. It feels like a lot – that we expect a lot more from kids these days. Whereas similar to your background too, when I was growing up, I thought sometimes that I was bored out of my mind because there was just nothing really much to do except for maybe going to the library and borrow some books to read. And I had all the time in the world to read them. But these days, you see kids running around trying to do it all. Play soccer or some kind of sports or do some club activities or just something. They are always busy, the kids I see around me. So...

阿比德米：这是一个非常好的问题。我认为你说得没错。的确是有点儿多，现在我们对孩子的期望很高。我和你的成长背景很相似，我在成长过程中有时会感觉无聊极了，因为除了去图书馆借书看以外，没什么事情可做。所以我当时一直在读书。而现在，孩子们会去各个地方做各种事情。踢足球、从事其他体育活动、参加社团活动或做其他事情。我看到我周围的一些孩子一直很忙。所以……

Rory: Yeah. Yeah. I think we're trying to make them maybe grow up too quickly or do too much too soon. When I was kid, you could sort of find your own path. You know, when you became a teenager, when you start to get to university, starting to make these choices. But now, parents seem to – okay, the kid is going to do piano and they're going to do soccer and they're going to study hard for, you know, exams, do extra math tuition. I don't know if kids can handle it.

罗瑞：对，没错。我认为我们让他们成长地太快了，或者说我们让孩子们太早去做过多的事情。我小时候可以自己寻找属于自己的道路。进入青少年时期，上大学以后，可以自己做出选择。但是现在，父母让孩子去学钢琴、去踢足球，让他们努力学习应对考试，还让他们参加课外数学辅导班。我不知道孩子们能否承受得住。

Abidemi: I don't know either. It also seems that it comes with our world today. It's a lot more competitive. And what I've heard is like people are trying to prepare their kids as much as possible. I've heard, for some universities, you need to show that you can handle a lot.

阿比德米：我也不知道。看起来这就是现在世界的趋势。现在竞争性更强。我听说人们在试图让自己的孩子尽量做好准备。有些大学需要证明你能应对各种情况。

Rory: Right.

罗瑞：好。

Abidemi: And because everybody is the same place, they're all racing for the same positions that if you don't distinguish yourself in some way, you can't make it.

阿比德米：因为所有人都在同一个地方，他们要为同样的职位竞争，如果不能让自己和其他人有所区别，那就无法成功。

Rory: Yeah.

罗瑞：对。

Abidemi: So in response to that, parents are trying to pile as much on the kids as possible.

阿比德米：为了应对这种局面，父母试图尽量让孩子接触更多的事情。

Rory: Yeah. I was reading something that said that employers really look now for extra-curricular things that kids do. So not just their grades but what clubs were they members of. Were they acting in the theater, were they a member of a sports team and these things seem to be becoming more important now.

罗瑞：对。我看到有文章说，现在雇主也需要那种有课外经历的员工。现在招聘不仅看学习成绩，还要看他们参加过什么社团。他们是否有剧院演出经历，是否参加过运动队，现在这些事情似乎变得越来越重要了。

Abidemi: Than just school work.

阿比德米：不只是学校成绩。

Rory: Yeah. Yeah.

罗瑞：对，没错。

Abidemi: I think it's a shame. I like the way I grew up. Yeah. I'll like if my kids could have a bit more freedom but I can also see that with the way the world is going, I would probably be anxious for them to do as much as possible so that they can have the best in the future.

阿比德米：我认为这很遗憾。我喜欢我的成长方式。我也希望我的孩子能更自由一些，可是在看到世界的发展趋势后，我希望孩子们能尽量多接触些事情，这样他们才能拥有最好的未来。

Rory: Yeah, because it's a balance between giving them the freedom and then giving them the opportunities to excel at various things.

罗瑞：对，要在给他们自由和让他们有机会擅长各种事情上找到平衡。

Abidemi: There you go. That's it. Yeah.

阿比德米：说得很对。就是这样，没错。