(单词翻译:单击)
情景对话
Meg: Hey Todd, so continuing talking about then and now, I was thinking we could switch to talking about just life in general.
梅格：嘿，托德，我们继续来讨论“那时和现在”，我想我们可以把话题转向日常生活。
Todd: Sounds good.
托德：听上去不错。
Meg: So my first question for you is are movies today more interesting than before?
梅格：我第一个问题是，你认为现在的电影比以前的电影更有意思吗？
Todd: Well. I'm gonna sound like an old guy, but I would say no, movies are not more interesting today. Movies were much better, twenty, thirty years ago. The stories were better. They were more interesting. These days movies just have too much special effects, and there's too many movies about superheroes. I hate movies about superheroes. So yeah, I think movies used to be more interesting. What do you think?
托德：嗯。听起来我可能像上了年纪的人，不过我的回答是不是，现在的电影并不比以前的电影有意思。二三十年前的电影更好。以前的电影剧情更好，也更有意思。现在的电影加了太多特效，而且超级英雄类的电影太多了。我讨厌超级英雄的电影。所以我认为以前的电影更有意思。你怎么看？
Meg: I have the opposite opinion of you. I think movies today are more interesting than before. Maybe I'm too used to a lot of special effects, so when I watch some older movies, the story might be interesting, but I get a little bored watching it and actually I love superhero movies.
梅格：我和你的看法不同。我认为现在的电影比以前的有意思。也许我已经很习惯大量特效场面了，所以我在看老电影时，虽然电影情节很有意思，不过在观看时我觉得有些无聊，实际上我很喜欢超级英雄电影。
Todd: Oh really?
托德：哦，真的吗？
Meg: So I would say that yes, any superhero movies - Spiderman or Batman especially is my favorite so those movies for me are more interesting than in the past.
梅格：所以……对，我喜欢所有超级英雄电影……我的最爱是《蜘蛛侠》或《蝙蝠侠》，所以我认为这些电影比以前的电影更有意思。
Todd: OK, well we're talking about comparatives, so who's cooler Batman or Spiderman?
托德：好，我们来比较一下，蝙蝠侠和蝙蝠侠谁更酷？
Meg: Oh, Batman. Hands down.
梅格：哦，当然是蝙蝠侠。
Todd: I'm sorry. I think Spiderman's really lame. I've never liked Spiderman.
托德：抱歉，我认为蜘蛛侠很差劲。我从来没喜欢过蜘蛛侠。
Meg: He kind of whines a lot.
梅格：他经常发牢骚。
Todd: He looks like a kid in his pajamas.
托德：他看起来像穿着睡衣的孩子。
Meg: He is a kid in his pajamas.
梅格：他是穿着睡衣的孩子。
Todd: Maybe that's it.
托德：也许就是这样。
Meg: Whereas Batman has a lot of skills that he's developed himself, so.
梅格：相反，蝙蝠侠有很多技能，而且还会开发新能力。
Todd: True, true. OK, well how about Batman, so like who is better?
托德：对，没错。那就扮演蝙蝠侠的演员来说，你觉得谁演得更好？
Meg: Who is the best Batman?
梅格：谁是蝙蝠侠最佳扮演者？
Todd: Yeah, so who is better? Who was the last one? It was ...
托德：对，谁演的更好？上次扮演蝙蝠侠的演员是谁来着？
Meg: Well, the most recent Batman was Ben Affleck, but I didn't watch that one.
梅格：在最新一部系列电影中扮演蝙蝠侠的是本·阿弗莱克，不过我没看过那部电影。
Todd: OK.
托德：好。
Meg: So before that, there was Christian Bale.
梅格：在他之前，扮演者是克里斯蒂安·贝尔。
Todd: Oh, that's right.
托德：哦，没错。
Meg: So without having seen Ben Affleck, I would still say that Christian Bale was a better Batman.
梅格：我没看过本·阿弗莱克版的蝙蝠侠，我认为克里斯蒂安·贝尔的演绎更好。
Todd: Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. OK, so let's talk about other things. How about the news? With news are you more knowledgable these days than before, say five ten years ago?
托德：对，我也是，我也这么认为。我们来谈谈其他事情吧。新闻呢？就新闻来说，你现在比以前了解的新闻范围更广、更全面吗，比如和5年前相比？
Meg: Actually, I think I am less knowledgable than before. There's a lot of news out there, and it's easy to access the news but there's so much news coming from so many sources, I'm not sure which news service is more trustworthy, so I think it's more difficult now to find the correct news. The true news. What do you think?
梅格：实际上，我认为我现在比以前了解的更少了。现在有很多新闻，很容易获取新闻，但是新闻的来源太多，我不知道哪个来源更可信，所以我认为现在很难找到准确的、真实的新闻。你怎么看？
Todd: I agree. Sadly I think I am less knowledgable because before I would read the newspaper, or I would read magazine articles or I would listen to better news stories on the news. These days I just look at a Facebook headline and I don't even read the article, so I don't even know what's going on sometimes. Which is terrible for a man my age.
托德：我同意。不幸的是，我认为我现在也比以前接触的新闻少了，因为以前我会看报纸，或是看杂志文章、收听新闻。而现在我只是看脸谱网头条，但是不会点进去看文章，有时我甚至不知道发生了什么事。对一个我这么大年纪的人来说，这太糟糕了。
Meg: Terrible for anyone I think.
梅格：我认为对所有人来说都很糟糕。
Todd: Yeah, I think it's because I think the news was more honest than before, than now, sorry. I think the news is less honest these days. It used to be more honest. I just don't trust the news anymore.
托德：对，我认为以前的新闻比现在更真实。我认为现在的新闻不太真实。以前更真实一些。我只是不再相信新闻了。
Meg: Yeah, I don't really trust it either.
梅格：对，我也不相信新闻了。
Todd: Yeah, less trustworthy.
托德：对，可信性小了。
Meg: So along those lines, would you say social media makes life better or worse for people?
梅格：从这方面来说，你认为社交媒体是使人们的生活更好了还是更糟了？
Todd: I think it's both, like I think it's you know, three points better, two points worse, so it's a negative. It's better because you can keep track of so many family members, especially if you're far away, so I like how it connects people, yeah, it just makes people sad sometimes, or makes them frustrated about their life maybe, so yeah, I don't think it makes life better. But I'm an old guy, so...
托德：我认为两者都有，有些方面更好了，有些方面更糟了，我认为是负面影响。社交媒体使人们的生活更好了，是因为你可以和很多家庭成员保持联系，尤其是你在远方的时候，用社交媒体和家人联系非常方便，我很喜欢这点，但是有时社交媒体会让人感到伤心，或者是让人们对生活感到失望，所以我认为社交媒体并没有使生活变得更好。不过也许可能因为我年纪大了，所以……
Meg: Yeah, I think it's true. I think there are scientific studies to show that because of social media, people compare themselves too much so it's quite appropriate that we are talking about comparison because people will see other people's lives on social media that look quite good and they will compare themselves and feel bad about themselves, or for some people I think it has made it worse, but like you, I agree that some points are better like seeing pictures from my family.
梅格：对，我认为你说的没错。有科学研究表明，由于社交媒体的出现，人们进行了过多的比较，比较这个词非常贴切，因为人们可以在社交媒体上看到其他人的生活，别人的生活看起来非常好，他们会拿自己去比较，然后会觉得自己的生活很糟糕，对有些人来说社交媒体使他们的生活变得更糟了，和你一样，我同意的确在有些方面使人们的生活更好了，比如可以通过社交媒体看到家人的照片。
Todd: Yeah, so true.
托德：对，没错。
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. switch to 转换；改变；转变；
例句：It'll be all talking heads. I'll go to sleep or switch to the other channel.
电视上尽是讲话的人头，我要去睡觉了，要么就换个频道。
2. be used to sth./doing sth. 习惯于；
例句：He is used to taking notes of everything he did.
他习惯把他所做的一切事情都记下来。
3. go on 进行；发生；
例句：The revelries went on all the night.
狂欢活动通宵达旦。
4. keep track of 跟上…的进展；掌握…的最新消息；
例句：It is important to budget your income so you can keep track of how your money is being spent.
对自己的收入进行预算是很重要的，这样你就可以清楚把钱花在哪了。
