(单词翻译:单击)
情景对话
Todd: Kate, you said you were an exchange student when you were younger?
托德：凯特，你说过你年轻时曾做过交换学生，对吧？
Kate: That's right. When I was 15 I went to Tokyo, Japan for just 2 weeks on a high school exchange.
凯特：没错。我15岁时作为高中交换生在日本东京待了两周的时间。
Todd: So were you alone or with your school?
托德：你是自己一个人还是和学校一起去的？
Kate: Erm I was…Well you could say I was alone. I went with a group of about 7 people around about the same age and they were from the same city.
凯特：嗯，我是……可以说我是一个人。其实我和另外七个年龄相仿的同学一起去的东京，不过他们都来自一个城市。
Todd: What was it like living with a Japanese family?
托德：和日本家庭住在一起感觉怎么样？
Kate: Oh it was very interesting. The customs were so different. The family was really great to me, really kind and caring.
凯特：哦，非常有意思。习俗非常不同。那家人对我非常好，很友善，而且很照顾我。
Todd: What is different about the Japanese lifestyle and the lifestyle in New Zealand?
托德：日本和生活方式和新西兰的生活方式有什么不同？
Kate: Erm, in a way they have this togetherness, the family. The traditional way is that the mother is home all day: she is a housewife and she will wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning, make the breakfast for the whole family and then she is at the home all day cleaning. Then when the kids come home and she makes them dinner and finally the father comes home very late at night after work, and then he gets his dinner. Very very different from my family which is everybody just gets their own dinner. Everyone is independent.
凯特：嗯，从某种方面来说，日本家庭会团聚在一起。传统的日本家庭是母亲一整天都待在家里：她是家庭主妇，她要在早上5点钟起床，为家里所有人做早饭，然后就是一整天的清洁工作。孩子们回家以后她会为他们准备晚饭，一般父亲很晚下班，是最后一个回到家里的，这时母亲会再为父亲准备晚饭。这种情况与我们家非常不同，我们家所有人都是各自准备晚饭的。所有人都是独立的。
Todd: Wow that is a lot different. Any other differences like, for example, bathing or sleeping or eating or anything like that?
托德：哇，那真是太不同了。那其他方面，比如洗澡、睡觉或是吃饭之类的事情有什么不同吗？
Kate: Bathing, yeah. They share ofuro… it's like, they share a bath. I think it starts when they're children. I'm not sure, I can't quite remember but they all share the same water, they don't waste water. They are very conservative.
凯特：对，洗澡。他们会共用浴缸……共用浴缸。我想是孩子们先洗澡。我也不太确定，我不太记得了，不过他们不换水，他们不浪漫水资源。他们非常保守。
Todd: So one person gets in the bath, then the next person, then the next?
托德：意思是一个人先用浴缸洗澡，然后另一个再接着洗，接着是另一个吗？
Kate: That's right.
凯特：没错。
Todd: Separately?
托德：分开洗吗？
Kate: Separately.
凯特：分开洗。
Todd: Oh, interesting. Ok, and what about sleeping? Did you sleep on a bed or a futon?
托德：哦，有意思。好，那睡觉呢？你是睡在床上还是睡在蒲团上？
Kate: I slept on a futon which to me… it felt like the floor. I might as well just put the futon away and slept on the floor but I got used to it.
凯特：睡在蒲团上对我来说就像睡在地板上一样。我干脆把蒲团拿走，睡在地板上了，不过我已经习惯了。
Todd: What do you prefer now: a futon or a bed?
托德：你现在喜欢睡在哪里：蒲团上还是床上？
Kate: I have a bed now but I don't mind a futon. I've really gotten used to it.
凯特：我家里现在有床，不过我不介意睡在蒲团上。我已经非常习惯了。
Todd: So you obviously have really good memories having an exchange… or being an exchange student. Would you like to have an exchange student some day?
托德：显然你做交换生期间有很美好的回忆。你将来想接待交换生吗？
Kate: Yes, of course. I've had 3 already actually in my house.
凯特：当然了。我家里已经住过三个交换生了。
Todd: Really?
托德：真的吗？
Kate: Yes, because when you go to Japan you're expected to have a host sister or host brother come back to New Zealand the next year, the following year.
凯特：是啊，因为你去了日本，所以第二年会有接待家庭里的姐姐或是哥哥来到新西兰。
Todd: Ah, I see.
托德：哦，我明白了。
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重点讲解
重点讲解：
1. be different from
异于；和…不同；
eg. Young people want something totally different from the old ways.
年轻人想要与以往截然不同的东西。
eg. The worker of today is different from the worker of yesterday.
如今的工人和以往的不同了。
2. might as well
只好（做）；（做…）也无妨；
eg. Anyway, you're here; you might as well stay.
反正你已经在这儿了，那就留下来吧。
eg. There's nothing I can do about the problem, so I might as well go with the flow.
关于这个问题我无能为力，所以我不如就顺其自然好了。
3. get used to do sth./doing sth.
开始习惯于；
eg. This is how we do things here. You'll soon get used to it.
我们这里就是这么做事的。你很快就会习惯的。
eg. You quickly get used to using the brakes.
你很快就会习惯使用刹车的。
