Dialogue 1
Jingjing: Mark, did you hear about the twin sisters that drowned in the ocean at Qingdao?
京晶: 马克，你听说了青岛海边溺亡的女孩那件事吗？
Mark: That was all over the news a week ago. What a sad story! Thery were only 8.
马克：一周前，这条新闻铺天盖地。真是个令人悲伤的故事，她才8岁。
Jingjing: Yeah. People are really puzzled about how it happened. There's something called a rip current, which was believed to be the cause. Most people don't know about it.
京晶：是啊。人们也弄不懂事情到底是怎么发生的。有一种叫做离岸流的海浪，被认为是元凶。大多数人对此一无所知。
Mark: Right, that's one of the dangerous things about swimming at a beach.
马克：没错。那个就是在海边游泳的几大危险之一。
Jingjing: From what I read about rip currents, the water can move as fast as 2.5 meters per second, though typically it moves at a rate of 0.5 meters per second.
京晶：从我了解到的关于离岸流的知识来看，水的流速可达到每秒2.5米，尽管通常情况下流速是0.5米每秒。
Mark: Hmm. I know that a rip current is basically a flow of water moving quickly away from a beach. How is it different from an outgoing tide?
马克：嗯。我知道离岸流是一股快速离开海岸的浪潮。它跟退落的潮水有何不一样？
Jingjing: Well, the tide takes several hours to move out. Waves can reshape the shelf of sand under the water near a beach.
京晶：潮水退落一般需要好几小时。浪潮能够重塑海滩附近水下的沙洲形状。
Mark: Yeah, but how would that create a narrow and rapid current?
马克：对啊，那又如何能够制造出狭窄而迅急的水流呢？
Jingjing: A beach usually has a sandbar. That's a strip of sand under the water that is raised, making the water shallower. When the waves break a hole in the sand bar, the current flows through that neck, forming a rip current.
京晶：一片海滩通常有一块沙洲。就是水面下升起的一条沙带，能让水流变浅。但海浪在沙洲冲出一个洞，从洞口处冲出的水流就形成了一股离岸流。
Mark: That's pretty clear. Is there any way to recognize a rip current before you get into the water?
马克：解释得很清楚。在你下水之前，又没有什么好办法能够辨认出离岸流呢？
Jingjing: If you look at the breakers and see a flat spot running back from the beach between a few of them, that might be a rip current.
京晶：如果你看见了碎浪，同时看见了一个平点在碎浪中从海滩后撤，那个可能就是离岸流。
Mark: I guess that's good for avoiding one that has already formed.
马克：如果能认出来对于避免一个已经形成的离岸流还是不错的。
Jingjing: They do form suddenly. If you get into the water and notice alternating deep and shallow spots as you walk farther and farther out, you can also know there's a danger of a rip current.
京晶：它们的确形成得非常突然。如果你已经下水了，同时在越走越远时注意到有交替的深浅点出现，你也能够知道可能会出现离岸流的危险。
Mark: Wow, I'm glad you read up about that, Jingjing.
马克：哇哦，真好你了解得这么多。

New words : 习语短语
all over the news
铺天盖地地出现在新闻中
be reported by many news channels and posted on social media
tide 潮水
when the water level rises and falls along the shore (incoming/outgoing tide)
shelf 沙洲
10-100 meters of shallow, usually sandy, area under the water near a beach
breakers 碎浪 waves that roll toward a beach


Dialogue 2
Jingjing: Mark, are you a very good swimmer?
京晶：马克，你是一个游泳好手吗？
Mark: No, not really. But I am pretty adventurous. I've actually been caught in a rip current.
马克：不算是吧。但是我很有冒险精神。事实上我有一次就遭遇了离岸流。
Jingjing: Really, what was it like?
京晶：真的吗？那是怎么一回事？
Mark: Umm, it could have just been a very strong outgoing tide. There were small breakers where I was swimming, but they only splashed over me without pushing me in toward the beach. Meanwhile, the current kept pulling me out.
马克：嗯，应该就是一股很强的退潮。我游泳的地方有许多碎浪，但它们只是拍打在我身上，并没有把我推回沙滩，与此同时，离岸流把我往海里拽。
Jingjing: Did you panic?
京晶：你当时惊慌了吗？
Mark: I started to, but then I realized I'd better relax. I was swimming in a bay, and remembered what my dad told me about currents near the beach: that it's better to swim parallel to the shore and find a place where the current is weaker, then make my way back to the beach.
马克：开始有一点了，后来我意识到最好放松点。我当时是在一处海湾游泳，同时也记得父亲跟我说过如果遇到海滩附近的岸潮，那就沿着平行于海岸的方向游动，找到一个离岸潮水流较弱之处，然后再游回岸边。
Jingjing: Did you do that?
京晶：你是那样做的吗？
Mark: Yeah. The bay was pretty wide, and I wasn't looking forward to swimming all that distance. So, I turned a little toward the shore after a while. Then it was easy to get back.
马克：是的。那个海湾非常宽阔，我也没想要游太远，所以游了一会儿以后我就开始往回游，这样回到岸边就比较容易。
Jingjing: You were lucky.
京晶：那你很幸运了。
Mark: Sure. Like I said, it might not have been an actual rip current.
马克：是的。就像我说的，有可能那也不是一个真正的离岸潮。
Jingjing: It's good you knew a thing or two about swimming in the ocean.
京晶：你能知道一些在海里游泳的事是很好的。
Mark: I guess so. It's good for kids to have experience in strong moving water. A wave pool is good for that.
马克：我想也是。孩子们在强烈流动的水中有些经验是很好的。比如一个波浪泳池。
Jingjing: I've been in one of those. The first time was pretty scary.
京晶：我体验过，第一次感觉挺害怕的。
Mark: Yeah, but you were in a mostly safe environment. Then if you go swimming in a natural body of water, you're better prepared for the feeling of being swept away.
马克：但你还是在一个总体安全的环境里。但你在一个天然的水域游泳时，你最好准备好迎接那种被冲走的感觉。
Jingjing: I guess so. But when I go to the beach, I like to go in up to my ankles and leave it at that.
京晶：我想是的。但是当我去海边时，一般水刚没过脚踝就够了。

New words : 习语短语
panic 惊慌失措
become anxious and unable to think clearly
bay 海湾
part of a coastline that opens as a mouth to contain ocean water
parallel 平行的，并列的
in the same direction as
wave pool 人工浪池
a man-made pool with waves
natural body of water 自然水域
a river, the ocean, a lake