美语咖啡屋 Lesson 1: Kramer's Cafe

Y: 各位听众好, 我是杨晨，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: Hello everyone, my name is Jody ! And welcome to American Cafe! American Cafe is a place where you can improve your spoken English by meeting people who actually live and work in the United States. You're going to learn a lot more than English. I promise.

Y: 没错, 我们这个节目非常丰富多采。您在这里不但可以学到地道的美国英语，还可以认识很多的美国人。

J: For today, Yang Chen and I spent our Sunday visiting a famous Washington D.C. hangout that's been a success here since 1976. It's called Kramer's Books & Afterwards Cafe.

Y: 对，在今天的节目中，我们要带您到一个非常有意思的地方。这里是华盛顿当地的居民非常喜欢的一个hangout, 等一下我们要解释这个词。

J: It's a combination 1 of a cafe, a bookstore, a restaurant and a bar.

Y: 这个地方是1976年开业的。它不仅是一个书店，还是一个咖啡馆和餐厅。

J: Great! Let's introduce Mark who has been working at Kramer's for 20 years.

实录1: Mark: It was ... in 1976 when they opened it, it was a unique idea combining a restaurant, bar with a bookstore.

Y: 我想在这里我们用hangout来形容Kramer's是再合适不过了。我们俩在这里真的是渡过了一个很愉快的下午，又买书，又吃，非常非常的放松。这也就是人们到咖啡馆的目的吧。

J: Exactly. And that's exactly what a customer named Peter explained why people come to Kramer's and why it's such a popular destination.

实录2: Peter: It's a great meeting place. It's a very diverse 2 bookstore. And it's just a good place to come. Um, this bookstore has been here a long time, I don't know what long is, maybe 20 years or so. It's always been successful. It's always been lively. It's in a very lively part of town, probably the most cosmopolitan 3 part of Washington.

Y: 这个Peter有点儿英国口音。不过他已经在Washington住了三十多年, 我们可以说他是地道的Washington 人。

J: I think 30 years makes you a resident 4 of the District.

Y: 对， 如果Jody你要是到北京住三十年，我也可以说你是地地道道的北京人。

J: 好，谢谢您。

Y: 我们没有问Peter是做什么的，不过我觉得听他说话好象是一位教授。你看他用的这些词都很好。他用了一个“Cosmopolitan."

J: I really like that word. "Cosmopolitan." You're hip 5. You're with it. Modern. Urban.

Y: "Cosmopolitan" 这个词有世界性的，见过世面的这些意思。 我们可以说在中国，北京了，上海了，这些城市都非常cosmopolitan.

J: I think D.C., Washington D.C. the nation's capitol, is a very cosmopolitan city. You know, Mark mentioned a good word that I would like to go back to for a minute.

实录3: Mark: Location, Location, location. Dupont Circle is a pedestrian 6 neighborhood. There are people walking on the streets from early in morning 'til the middle of the night. And we're the kind of place where you stop in and browse 7 for books, stop in and have a cocktail 8. It's just an easy, fun place to go.

Y: 我觉得Mark很有生意头脑。他说Kramer's为什么这么成功，首先是它的地区。这一带叫Dupont Circle，是华盛顿非常繁华的一个地区，有很多年轻人住在这里。

J: It's not only the young people who make it successful. It's that diversity of the clientele. Where all different types of people come in ... professors or diplomats 9, famous authors. Everybody stops in Kramer's. It's kind of a joke. When someone says what are three things important for the success of a business. The answer is "Location, location, location."

Y: 一定要说三次。

J: So I thought we would include that. It's kind of a funny expression in English.

Y: 对，如果你选对了地方的话，即使你不会经营，它可能也会财源滚滚。

J: Right, right. So both Mark, who is the employee and Peter, who is the frequent customer of the bookstore, - both of them talked about the importance of having a diverse and cosmopolitan clientele for success.

Y: Peter是位顾客，那我们就从一个顾客的角度来听听为什么Kramer's这么受欢迎。

实录4: Peter: Where you locate a bookstore is really absolutely critical. There is a cosmopolitan crowd around this area. If you stuck this in the middle of the country it would be a total failure.

Y: Jody, 时间过得好快，五分钟马上就要到了。

J: I know. It went so fast.

Y: 我知道。用五分钟来谈论咖啡文化到底对美国人意味着什么显然是不够的。

J: Really five minutes is not enough time. So, I think everyone should join us again for another program of American Cafe.

Y: 那么希望下次节目和您再见。

J: Come on Yang Chen, let's go hang out over a cup of coffee!