英语对话1:
Lisa请Shirley吃饭,有事征求Shirley的意见。
Lisa: Hey, Shirley! Want to join me for lunch...my treat!
Shirley: Wow! Sure!
Lisa: I must confess I have an ulterior motive for asking you to lunch.
S: Oh....that's OK....as long as you're buying!
L: I really want to pick your brain about something I've been thinking a lot about.
S: I'd love to help if I can.
请别人吃饭,可以说 my treat, 也可以说 it's on me. 原来,Lisa请Shirley吃饭别有用心,She has an ulterior motive. motive是动机,ulterior is spelled u-l-t-e-r-i-o-r, ulterior意思是暗藏的,别有用心的。Lisa告诉Shirley, I really want to pick your brain about something. to pick someone's brain意思是跟某人交谈,获取信息,征求意见。
L: Well, as you know, I have a Bachelor's degree in English literature and that's served me well so far, but I've always wanted to do some post-graduate work...maybe even get a Doctorate!
S: Wow! Just the idea of going back to school fills my head with pain.
L: But you have a Master's degree...hasn't that helped your career?
S: Yeah, I'd have to say it has. But I'm still paying for it, you know.
L: I know education is expensive, but it's been my lifelong dream. Call me crazy, but I've always wanted to have that PhD at the end of my name.
英语对话2:
原来,Lisa是考虑要回去上学。她已经有了a Bachelor's Degree学士学位,想再拿个Master's Degree硕士学位,甚至是a Doctorate博士学位,这是她的lifetime dream这辈子梦寐以求的。Shirley承认,硕士学位确实对自己的事业有帮助,但是在美国接受高等教育很贵,I'm still paying for it.我上学的钱到现在还没有还清。Shirley还说,
S: Well, getting a Doctorate degree would mean close to a decade of school. Can you afford that? Can you survive that?
L: I certainly can't afford it, but I'm sure I could find some good student loans.
S: I think you need to separate the dream of having a PhD from the reality of years of more schooling. It's not as romantic as you might think.
L: Yeah....I keep thinking about what I'll do with a Master's or Doctorate. I love language but I don't think there are a lot of well-paying jobs out there for experts on Shakespeare.
S: Uh huh, that's for sure. You might find that your only career choice is teaching other graduate students.
Shirley劝Lisa不要把回去读书想得太好,要看自己经济上能否承担得起,Can you afford that? 还要看自己能不能坚持下来,Can you survive that?Lisa会不顾一切却追求梦想吗?我们下次继续听。




