(单词翻译:单击)
情景对话
Todd: Hello! Can you introduce yourself please.
托德：你好！请你做下自我介绍。
Steven: Sure, my name is Steven Patterson and I'm from a small town called Brentwood in Essex which is in England.
史蒂文：好的，我叫史蒂文·帕特森，我来自英国埃塞克斯郡的布伦特伍德。
Todd: OK. Essex. What part of England is that?
托德：好，埃塞克斯郡。那里位于英国的哪部分？
Steven: That's in the southeast.
史蒂文：在东南部。
Todd: Southeast.
托德：东南部。
Steven: Yeah, yeah. It's attached to London, just next to London.
史蒂文：对，没错。与伦敦接壤，就在伦敦旁边。
Todd: Oh, OK, but you said it's a small town.
托德：哦，好的，你刚说那是一个小城镇。
Steven: It's quite small, well, relatively small. The populations about 50,000.
史蒂文：非常小，嗯，相对来说很小。那里的人口约为5万人。
Todd: OK, well what kind of place is your town where you grew up?
托德：哦，那你成长的那个城镇是什么样子的？
Steven: Um, it's actually a very nice town. People often move into Brentwood from the surrounding towns, or from the east end of London. Um, it's quite prosperous. Well, you could, in some respects, it's a dormant town. People often travel out from Brentwood into London and they work in the city, but it's a pleasant place to live. It has lots of countryside around it. There's a very large country park. Ah, it's quite a small town but it's, at the high street it's quite small but it's quite a pleasant town to shop in.
史蒂文：实际上那是一个非常不错的城镇。人们经常从附近的城镇或是伦敦东区搬去那里。那个城镇非常繁华。就某些方面来说，那是个沉静的城镇。人们会从布伦特伍德去伦敦上班，不过那里是个适合居住的地方。周边有很多乡村。还有一个很大的郊野公园。虽然那里是个很小的城镇，虽然商业街很小，但是在那里购物还是不错的。
Todd: Oh, it sounds nice. Well, now if you live in a little town that's near London is it really expensive?
托德：听起来不错。你生活在伦敦附近的一个小城镇，那那里的物价高吗？
Steven: Well, Brentwood is particularly expensive just because it's a desirable place to live and it's proximity to London also makes it, the housing is quite expensive, even a town next to it would have much cheaper housing.
史蒂文：布伦特伍德的生活费用非常昂贵，因为那是一个令人向往的居住地，而且因为邻近伦敦，所以那里的房价也很高，而布伦特伍德附近城镇的房价则便宜得多。
Todd: Oh, really, cause when I think of a small British village, you know, I think of really old houses, and nothing's changed, so do you have modern stuff, like do you have a health club and a movie theater and things like that?
托德：真的吗？因为想到英国小型村庄时，我会想到那些老房子，没有任何改变，那你们有现代设施吗，你们有健身俱乐部或是电影院之类的场所吗？
Steven: Uh, I think the cinema in Brentwood actually closed down, with the advent of out of town shopping centers they always have their multiplex cinemas with six or eight screens and the cinema in Brentwood only had two screens and it couldn't really compete for everyone has cars these days so they can easily travel to big shopping centers, so that closed down however, yeah, it have a very nice health center and as I said lots of parks to play. There's lots of opportunity to exercise and do various forms of recreation.
史蒂文：嗯，我想布伦特伍德的电影院已经关了，因为城外的购物中心通常里面都设有六或八个银幕的连锁剧院，可是布伦特伍德的电影院只有两个银幕，所以无法和那些影院竞争，现在几乎每个人都有车，所以人们能很容易地开车去大型购物中心，所以布伦特伍德的电影院就关了，但是那里有一个很棒的健康中心，就像我刚说的，还有很多可以游玩的公园。那里有很多锻炼的机会，而且可以进行各种形式的娱乐活动。
Todd: Wow, sounds like a nice place to live.
托德：哇，听起来真是一个居住的好地方。
译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载
重点讲解
重点讲解：
1. in some respects
在某些方面；
eg. In some respects the African mind works rather differently from the occidental one.
在某些方面，非洲人的思维方式与西方人相差甚远。
eg. And in some respects grabbing that opportunity as young as you can is a great idea.
从某些方面而言，在你尽可能年轻的时候抓住这种机会是个非常好的主意。
2. proximity to
接近；临近；邻近；
eg. Part of the attraction is Darwin's proximity to Asia.
达尔文市的魅力一部分在于它靠近亚洲。
eg. Families are no longer in close proximity to each other.
各家不再像以前一样比邻而居。
3. next to
紧靠…旁边；在…近旁；贴近；
eg. I lay down on the ground next to the well and looked up at the sky.
我在泉井边躺了下来，看着天空。
eg. The woman sitting next to him isn't much interested in what's happening.
坐在他身旁的女子对周遭发生的事并没有太大的兴趣。
4. close down
（工厂、商店、学校等）永久性关闭；（使）停业；（使）倒闭；
eg. The firm has decided to close down its branch here.
这家商行已决定让这里的支店停业。
eg. They won't close down for a long time.
他们在一段时期内不会倒闭。
5. the advent of
（重大事件、发明或情况的）出现，问世，到来；
eg. The advent of war led to a greater austerity.
战争的到来使形势更为严峻。
eg. The advent of e-mail changed communication.
电子邮件的到来改变了人们的交流方式。
