By 謝忠理 on Thursday, 24 November 2022
Category: 雅思口說

BBC 6 分鐘英語—The art of conversation 談話的藝術

隨著網路的發達,一般人面對電腦或手機螢幕時間變得越來越多,連說話的對象都是社群網站的留言框。我們與人談話的能力是否正在逐漸消失?一起來聽聽 BBC 6 分鐘英語對這個話題的討論。

The art of conversation 談話的藝術

BBC 6 分鐘英語在 2022 年 11 月 24 日播出的節目 中討論的是談話的藝術。

社群媒體鼓勵我們對某一主題發表自己的意見,而不一定要聽別人的意見,這是否意味著談話的藝術正在消失?BBC 6 分鐘英語的主持人尼爾和薩姆討論這個圍繞我們日常生活的話題,同時教導聽眾一些相關詞彙與表達方式。

本周的問題

2012 年,拉脫維亞的一場比賽打破了最長電話交談的世界紀錄。這個破紀錄的對話持續了多長時間?
a) 24 小時 4 分鐘?
b) 54 小時又 4 分鐘?
c) 84 小時又 4 分鐘?

詞彙

chinwag 閒聊
朋友之間漫長而愉快的談話

enriched 豐富的內容
透過添加其他東西來改善。

survival instinct 生存本能
人類在危險情況下為保命而做事的本能

build bridges 搭橋牽線
改善截然不同或不喜歡對方的人之間的關係

tittle-tattle 絮絮叨叨
談論別人的生活,通常是不友好的,不贊成的,或不真實的

talk over (someone) 夸夸其談、說贏對方
通過比別人更大聲、更有力、更持久地說話,使別人沉默或掩蓋對方

中英文稿謄本

BBC 6 minute English – The art of conversation

點此看英文原稿

Sam
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Sam.

Neil
And I’m Neil.

Sam
Recently I met up with an old school friend who I hadn’t seen for years. We talked for hours…

Neil
It sounds like you had a good chinwag – a long and pleasant conversation between friends, which is great because in this programme we’re talking about talking. We’ll be discussing conservations – the exchange of ideas, thoughts and feelings that happens when people talk to each other. And as usual we’ll be learning some new vocabulary as well.

Sam
With the rise of Twitter and social media, which encourages us to give our opinion on a subject without always listening in return, some think the art of conversation is being lost. But luckily, there are still millions of us who love to talk, chat, chinwag and chatter away. In fact, in 2012 a competition in Latvia broke the world record for the longest telephone conversation. So, Neil, my question is this: how long did this record-breaking conversation last? Was it:
a) 24 hours and 4 minutes?
b) 54 hours and 4 minutes? or,
c) 84 hours and 4 minutes?

Neil
Hmmm, I’ll guess a) 24 hours and 4 minutes, after which they probably fell asleep!

Sam
OK, Neil, I’ll reveal the correct answer later in the programme. During a long career, DJ and BBC radio presenter, Nihal Arthanayake, has had conversations with hundreds of people. Now he’s used these experiences to write a book entitled, ‘Let's Talk: How to Have Better Conversations’. Here Nihal tells another radio presenter, Michael Rosen, of BBC Radio 4’s, Word of Mouth, about the influence of his mother who also loved talking to people in her job as a nurse:

Nihal Arthanayake
Well, it gave me the sense that you are enriched by listening. And this was of course, pre-social media which has of course encouraged us to project - to transmit - more than receive. So it meant that I guess I was conscious of experiences of others, and wanted to try and understand them. Also, partially, Michael, it was a survival instinct because I was a little brown boy in a predominantly white school, a state school in the 1980s.

Neil
For Nihal, good conversation involves listening as much as speaking. By listening we find out things about the person we are talking to which, in turn, help us understand ourselves. This is why Nihal says we are enriched by listening – we are improved by having something else added.

Sam
As a British Asian boy growing up in a white community, Nihal also thinks conversation was a way for him to make friends and find protection. He says having conversations was a survival instinct - the human instinct to do something in a dangerous situation that will keep them safe from harm.

Neil
Nihal sees an important difference between ‘listening simply to reply’, and ‘listening to understand’. When we ‘listen to reply’, we are thinking about the next thing we want to say more than trying to understand the other person’s point of view. ‘Listening to understand’, on the other hand, helps build bridges - improve relationships between people who are very different or do not like each other.

Sam
Here’s Nihal again in conversation with BBC Radio 4’s, Word of Mouth:

Nihal Arthanayake
So conversation can build bridges, and it is proven through history that conversation has, and that conversation can be seen as an art form, and that's one of the things that I want us to understand – it's not just tittle tattle, it's not just shouting at each other on social media, it's not two politicians talking over each other.

Neil
Good conversation brings people together, unlike tittle-tattle - talk about other people's lives that is usually unkind, disapproving, or untrue.

Sam
And good conversation involves taking turns, not talking over someone – trying to silence people by talking more loudly, forcefully, and persistently than them.

Neil
Hopefully, Nihal’s tips can help us all have better conversations, encounter new ideas and make friends. So, Sam, did you do any of these things when you met up with your old school friend?

Sam
I think so. We both listened to each other, there was no tittle-tattle but a little bit of gossip. Before we knew it a couple of hours had passed - but not as much time as those record-breaking telephone conservations I mentioned earlier.

Neil
Ah yes, in your question you asked how long the world’s longest telephone conversation lasted. I guessed it was an incredible 24 hours and 4 minutes… was I right?

Sam
Well, Neil, I’m afraid that was… the wrong answer. In fact, the record-breaking conversation lasted 54 hours and 4 minutes - about the same as 540 programmes of 6 Minute English!

Neil
Wow! OK, let’s recap the vocabulary we’ve learned from this programme on the art of good conversations, starting with chinwag – a long and pleasant conversation between friends.

Sam
When something is enriched, it’s improved by having something else added to it.

Neil
The survival instinct is the basic instinct in humans and animals to do something in a dangerous situation that will keep them alive.

Sam
If you build bridges, you improve relationships between people who are very different or do not like each other.

Neil
Tittle-tattle is talk about other people's lives that is usually unkind, disapproving, or untrue.

Sam
And finally, if you talk over someone, you silence or drown them out by talking more loudly than them. That’s the end of our conversation, but remember to join us soon for more trending topics and useful vocabulary. Bye for now!

Neil
Goodbye!

廣播原稿中文翻譯有兩個目的。首先是幫助聽力有困難的讀者能夠快速了解原文的意思。而更重要的原因是,提供給練習英語口語表達的讀者訓練的素材。

由於每個人的知識範疇各不相同,因此碰到超出自己專長的領域,常常會啞口無言,無話可說。這對練習英語表達是一項非常難以克服的障礙。所以參考 6 分鐘英語的對白稿,既可以讓自我練習英語對話時有貼切適當的素材,同時也能順便學些道地的表達方式,實是一舉數得。

使用上,可以在聽完一、兩次原始廣播之後,試著一邊看中文謄本,一邊流利、正確地用英語說出文中的內容。多次練習之後,未來自然能夠在碰到同樣主題時與人侃侃而談。

BBC 6 minute English – The art of conversation

點此看中文翻譯

薩姆
你好。這裡是 BBC 學習英語的 6 分鐘英語。我是薩姆。

尼爾
我是尼爾。

薩姆
最近我和一個多年未見的老同學見面了。我們聊了好幾個小時...

尼爾
聽起來你有一個很好的閒聊—朋友之間漫長而愉快的談話,這很好,因為在這個節目中我們正在談論談話。我們將討論交流—當人們相互交談時發生的觀點、思想和感情的交流。像往常一樣,我們還將學習一些新的詞彙。

薩姆
隨著推特和社群媒體的興起,鼓勵我們對某一主題發表自己的意見,而不一定要反過來聽,有人認為談話的藝術正在消失。但幸運的是,我們中仍有數以百萬計的人喜歡交談、聊天、閒聊和喋喋不休。事實上,在 2012 年,拉脫維亞的一場比賽打破了最長電話交談的世界紀錄。所以,尼爾,我的問題是:這個破紀錄的談話持續了多長時間?它是
a) 24 小時又 4 分鐘?
b) 54 小時 4 分鐘? 或是
c) 84 小時 4 分鐘?

尼爾
嗯,我猜是 a) 24 小時零 4 分鐘,之後他們可能就睡著了。

薩姆
好的,尼爾,我將在節目中稍後揭曉正確答案。在漫長的職業生涯中,DJ 同時也是 BBC 電台主持人的尼哈爾.阿塔納亞克曾與數百人進行過對話。現在他用這些經驗寫了一本書,名為《讓我們談談:如何進行更優質的對話》。在這裡,尼哈爾向另一位電台主持人、英國廣播公司第四台的邁克爾.羅森講述了他母親的影響,他母親在做護士的時候也喜歡與人交談。

尼哈爾.阿塔納亞克
嗯,它給了我一種感覺,即你會因為傾聽而變得充實。當然,這是在社群媒體出現之前,社群媒體當然鼓勵我們投射—意即傳播—多於接受。所以這意味著我想我意識到了別人的經驗,並想嘗試和理解他們。另外,部分而言,邁克爾,這是一種生存本能,因為我是一個棕色皮膚的小男孩,但卻是在 1980 年代以白人為主的學校,一所公立學校。

尼爾
對尼哈爾來說,良好的對話涉及到聽和說一樣多。通過傾聽,我們可以發現與我們交談的人的一些情況,這反過來又可以幫助我們瞭解自己。這就是為什麼尼哈爾說我們通過傾聽而變得更豐富—我們通過添加其他東西而得到改善。

薩姆
作為一個在白人社區長大的亞裔英國男孩,尼哈爾也認為談話是他交朋友和尋找保護的一種方式。他說,進行交談是一種生存的本能—這是人類在危險的情況下做一些事情的本能,可以使他們免受傷害。

尼爾
尼哈爾認為「單純為了回答而聽」和「為了理解而聽」之間有一個重要的區別。當我們「為了回答而聽」時,我們考慮的是我們想說的下一件事,而不是試圖去理解對方的觀點。另一方面,「傾聽以理解」有助於建立溝通橋樑—改善非常不同或不喜歡對方的人之間的關係。

薩姆
下面是尼哈爾再次與英國廣播公司第四台的《口碑》節目的對話。

尼哈爾.阿塔納亞克
因此,對話可以建立橋樑,而且通過歷史證明,對話具有此功效,對話可以被視為一種藝術形式,這也是我希望我們理解的事情之一—它不只是絮絮叨叨,它不只是在社群媒體上互相喊話,它不是兩個政治家在互比大聲

尼爾
優質的談話使人們聚集在一起,而不像絮絮叨叨—亦即關於其他人的生活的談話,通常是不友善的、不以為然的或不確實的。

薩姆
好的談話包括輪流進行,而不是說贏對方—試圖通過比別人更大聲、更有力、更持久地說話來讓別人閉嘴。

尼爾
希望尼哈爾的提示可以幫助我們所有人進行更好的對話,遇到新的想法並交到朋友。那麼,薩姆,當你和你的老同學見面時,你有沒有做這些事情?

薩姆
我想我們有。我們都在聽對方說話,沒有絮絮叨叨,但有一點八卦的味道。在我們注意到之前,已經過了幾個小時—但沒有我前面提到的那些破紀錄的電話交談時間長。

尼爾
啊,是的,在你的問題中,你問世界上最長的電話交談持續了多長時間。我猜測是令人難以置信的 24 小時零 4 分鐘......我說的對嗎?

薩姆
好吧,尼爾,恐怕那是......錯誤的答案。事實上,這個破紀錄的談話持續了 54 小時零 4 分鐘—大約相當於 540 個 6 分鐘英語節目的時間!

尼爾
哇哦!我的天哪!好吧,讓我們回顧一下我們從這個關於優質對話藝術的節目中學到的詞彙,從閒聊開始—朋友之間漫長而愉快的對話。

薩姆
當某樣東西變豐富了,它會因為有其他東西的加入而得到改善。

尼爾
生存本能是人類和動物的基本本能,即在危險的情況下做一些能讓自己活下去的事情。

薩姆
如果你建立橋樑,你就會改善那些非常不同或不喜歡對方的人之間的關係。

尼爾
絮絮叨叨談論別人的生活,通常是不友善的、不贊成的或不確實的。

薩姆
最後,如果你說贏別人,你就是利用比別人更大聲的說話使他們沉默或把他們淹沒。我們的談話到此結束,但記得要再加入我們,瞭解更多的趨勢性話題和實用詞彙。先說再見了!

尼爾
再見!

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