情景对话

Todd: So Ivan, in America, in California we have earthquakes. Do you have any natural disasters in Houston?
托德：伊万，美国加州发生过地震tK_3HbzgHuOr3bP8。你在休斯敦经历过什么自然灾害吗？
Ivan: Uh, it floods a lot and we get hurricanes. Houston's called a bayou city. Bayou is kind of like a dirty river. Sometimes it rains a lot, that thing fills up over, and the next thing you know you got water in your house. Hurricanes are really, really angry typhoons I think. The first hurricane I ever remember we name our hurricanes, you give them names, usually girl names, and the first hurricane I remember was back in 1984 named "Hurricane Alice" I believe. Um, I was in a soccer camp. It starts raining, oh my God it's raining, trees are falling down and cars are kind of being pushed away from the water and stuff and I'm scared to death that my parents are dead right. I was only seven years old. So I remember, I couldn't remember my phone number and the camp counselors were trying to look it up. Call up: ring, ring, ring. My mom answers the phone, "Are you OK? Are you OK?" "Yes, Ivan, we're OK. Don't worry about it. It's just a rain storm." But it was an absolute mess. The next day, the soccer field is completely wiped out. It was, yeah, they're big angry storms.
伊万：嗯，那里经常发洪水，还有飓风!8o[!;7dEX+C。休斯敦被称为牛沼城Ui(%16c;ejIczWQB.F。牛沼是一种很脏的河流EJ#w5+@rmcTjPjEW|Jh7。有时休斯敦会下许多雨，会积水，之后你的房间里就会进水0L3k3FWq37O*wl@AzoQ,。我想飓风是非常强的台风Z]yCH(wRw!3)Km7x。我记得经历的第一场飓风是，实际上我们会为飓风命名，赋予它们名字，通常会是女孩的名字，我记得的第一场飓风要追溯到1984年，名为“飓风艾丽丝”RZ)Q9KXKRtxa~]M[Cio&。嗯，我当时在参加足球夏令营eAB,dP+qYL。突然开始下雨，天哪，下雨了，树被冲倒了，汽车也被水冲走，我怕得要死，我怕父母会出事a=it41WF[zohc。我当时只有7岁RVnqdq@;9bWI7!3=MVaj。我记得，我都记不起电话号码了，夏令营辅导员试图查找电话号码[*fG@Pw6_2Mr~。然后拨通了电话，铃铃铃a4qub^7mGDT17I2]a#hU。我妈妈接了电话，“你们还好吗？你们还好吗？”“是的，伊万，我们很好v,sei|vckFwiAH_U&*。别担心KLLSgHi;o4!J。这只是一场暴风雨JO~(@E5B4oY。”不过那真是一片混乱y8jmw]ItT&d2W。第二天，足球场完全被毁了bI^xgin0)Sq。没错，飓风是非常强的台风L4syBwHI1i^。
Todd: How long does a hurricane usually last?
托德：一般情况下飓风会持续多长时间？
Ivan: Usually, about two or three days.
伊万：通常来说，大约会持续两天到三天的时间kVOgE(lzG&CscW_!。
Todd: Oh, really?
托德：哦，真的吗？
Ivan: Yeah, they just kind of stay in Houston. They like Houston. Something about the weather pattern. They just float to Houston and stay there.
伊万：对，它们就待在休斯敦;+Wq8)3mx[^RFyi%IY(v。它们喜欢休斯敦v@Cp)jX[~*PpiYzBsg。这与气候模式有关N9muZJ||2=ut。它们抵达休斯敦然后停在那里qWSkwa2XhAUxv+。
Todd: Man, that's pretty intense. So afterward everything is just kind of wiped out.
托德：嘿，那真令人紧张PF+LqtSclN)SwSXY8s。那之后一切都会被摧毁281D_^SOo98Cc~d8+。
Ivan: Ah, a lot of windows are broken. I said a lot of cars are upside down sometimes, cause the wind is really, really high, plus you got the water that floats the cars, but it's fun when it stops cause the streets are flooded and you can go swimming.
伊万：嗯，会有大量的窗户破掉tb~|.;h9*oO。有时大量汽车被掀翻，因为风力太强了，而且飓风带来的洪水会淹没汽车，不过飓风停止以后会很有意思，因为街道被淹了，你可以在那里游泳~=~ybd6BJp(xJ|=T0F。
Todd: You swim in the water?
托德：你在那水里游泳？
Ivan: Sure. Sure. It's just rain water.
伊万：没错PqmZBfccX;]。对h]&v1%z_Kru6EIwB^h(。那其实就是雨水U13B1Qip26W7K。

重点讲解

重点讲解：
1. be scared to death
非常恐惧的；极度害怕的；吓得要死的；吓傻的；
eg. In high school I was scared to death of you.
高中时我怕你怕得要命DTZG;UXHJ_S。
eg. His face was white and he looked scared to death.
他脸色苍白，非常惊慌eXqr~+pW%,G[]。
2. call up
（给…）打电话；
eg. He called up the museum.
他给博物馆打了电话[Ss~(^|VWs(veRIOxV0。
eg. Sometimes I'd even call up at 4 a.m.
有时我甚至早上四点都打电话,xYPOjuiKB!6u(^0。
3. wipe out
摧毁；毁灭；使灭绝；
eg. The spill could wipe out the Gulf's turtle population.
这次原油泄漏可能会使波斯湾的海龟灭绝zi#a(M@%l]Zu4yNht。
eg. The man is a fanatic who is determined to wipe out any opposition to the way he conducts himself.
这人是个狂热分子，决意扫除任何反对其行事作风的声音A_|-(u=wYUlJ。