美语情景对话 第525期:The Irish Economy 爱尔兰经济

Todd: Hey, Marion, I was reading in the newspaper the other day that the economy in Ireland is doing really good.

托德：嘿，马里昂，那天我看报纸上的新闻说爱尔兰的经济发展势头非常好。

Marion: Yeah, it has been doing really well now for quite awhile, for a number of years. We call it the Celtic tiger phenomenon. Yeah.

马里昂：对，多年来爱尔兰的经济的确发展得不错。我们称之为“凯尔特之虎现象”。

Todd: That's cute. The Celtic tiger in reference to the Asian tiger (yeah) which used to be the growing Asian economies.

托德：这种称法真可爱。“凯尔特之虎”就是指亚洲虎（对），用来形容亚洲经济的发展。

Marion: Yeah, exactly. So Ireland kind of has that place in Europe at the moment, has had like I say for quite a few years now.

马里昂：对，没错。现在爱尔兰在欧洲的情况就是这样，经济迅猛发展了好多年。

Todd: Like what industries are going really well in Ireland. What's making this happen?

托德：爱尔兰有什么优秀工业？经济发展是如何发生的？

Marion: Above all, the computer industry. Yeah, I mean, we have lots of computer companies, companies making those computer chips.

马里昂：最主要的是计算机业。我们有许多计算机公司，许多制造电脑芯片的公司。

Todd: Right, right.

托德：对，是的。

Marion: I think actually I read somewhere that Ireland is the number one producing country of either those computer chips or some other element of a computer, cause I was very surprised and shocked that my small country could be number one in that arena, so we also have quite a number of people who move to Ireland from other places in Europe so we have a lot of speakers of different languages in Ireland and that has been used to set up call centers so for example, if you buy a mobile phone in Italy and something goes wrong with your mobile phone, you ring up a help desk, and say, "Oh, sorry, my phone is broken, you know, can you help me?" and the person who responds to you will probably be sitting in a call center in Ireland.

马里昂：我之前看到过报道，爱尔兰是世界第一大电脑芯片和其他电脑配件的生产国，这令我既吃惊又震惊，因为我们这个小国家竟然能在这个领域排名第一，所以有许多人从欧洲其他地方移民到爱尔兰，因此爱尔兰有很多不同的语言，也因此成立了多语言呼叫中心，举个例子，如果你在意大利买手机，你的手机出了问题，你会给服务台打电话说：“打扰一下，我的手机坏了，你能帮我修吗？”接电话的人可能就坐在爱尔兰的呼叫中心。

Todd: That's pretty cool.

托德：这太酷了。

Marion: Yeah, there's so many of them in Ireland. Actually, I've worked for three of them at different stages of my life, so we have ones for computer companies, for mobile phone companies, and what else, for some insurance companies actually, and banks. Yeah.

马里昂：对，许多都在爱尔兰。实际上，我之前在三个不同的行业工作过，电脑公司、手机公司还有保险公司和银行都有呼叫中心。

Todd: That's pretty cool. Actually, I read that one of the reasons for the turn around is the good university system, or the education system in Ireland is quite top notch.

托德：太酷了。实际上，我看到报道说，爱尔兰的经济好转要得益于优秀的大学体系，爱尔兰的教育体系是首屈一指的。

Marion: Yeah, well, I mean, education has been very important all the way along in Ireland because of the fact that Irish people weren't allowed to have an education under british rule. Then once we got independence, you know, all along people were fighting to have education for their children and children used to be taught in hedge schools so the teachers were inside of a field basically, teaching kids and then if the policeman came of something, everybody would scatter, and you know, they didn't have anything, any like resources or anything, so in the minds of Irish people I think education has a a special place, and it is true that the university system is very well thought of and very well recognized througho t the rest of Europe I think.

马里昂：对，爱尔兰一直非常重视教育，因为事实上之前在英国统治时，爱尔兰不能开展教育。爱尔兰独立后……你知道人们一直在为他们的子女争取在学校接受教育的机会，所以某个领域的老师会教授孩子们知识，如果有警察过来，所有人会马上散开，他们什么都没有，也没有资源，所以在爱尔兰人的心中，教育拥有特殊的位置，当然我认为爱尔兰的大学体系确实在欧洲拥有很高的声誉，同时也获得了广泛的认可。

Todd: Ah, well, sounds good. Thanks Marion.

托德：听起来真不错。马里昂，谢谢你。

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重点讲解：
1. in reference to
关于…；
eg. I'm calling in reference to your series on prejudice.
我打电话是要谈谈你写的有关“偏见”的系列文章。
eg. He spoke in reference to the cowboys.
他谈了有关牛仔的事。
2. go wrong
（情况）出岔子，出差错；
eg. When things go wrong, all of us naturally feel disappointed and frustrated.
出问题时，我们大家自然都感到失望和沮丧。
eg. I know only too well that plans can easily go wrong.
计划很容易出岔子，我太清楚这点了。
3. turn around
（使）复苏；（使）好转；
eg. Though the situation looks gloomy it will eventually turn around.
尽管形势看起来不好，但最终会好转的。
eg. It looks like the economy is turning around.
看来经济有转机了。
4. top notch
一流的；顶尖的；
eg. Her artistic creations are top-notch .
她的艺术创作是一流的。
eg. He has been top notch in his class.
他在班里的学习成绩一直都是冒尖的。
5. all along
一直；
eg. We knew all along but didn'thave the heart to tell her.
我们一直都知道，但却不忍心告诉她。
eg. History will prove him to have been right all along.
历史将证明他一直是对的。
6. well thought of
受敬重的；令人钦佩的；受喜爱的；
eg. Their family has always been well thought of around here.
他们家在这一带一直颇受敬重。
eg. He was very well thought of all over the district.
他在整个地区评价很高。