【新唐人2013年03月07日訊】 (美国之音電)
- 禮節美語241-early-adopters-1
Sara在公司走廊上看到同事Henry.
Sara: Hi Henry, how was your weekend?
Henry: Excellent! I went down to the mall and got myself one of those new minicomputers.
S: You mean the new Orange SuperCom 4? I’ve seen ads for those on TV! They look really cool.
H: They are pretty cool. It has Wi-Fi, a huge memory and super fast processor. Plus, it’s so small it fits in a shirt pocket….look, here it is.
S: Wow…it’s so thin! Hey Mark, check out Henry’s new toy!
Henry 情緒很好，因為週末他去買了一個最新款的迷你電腦，the new Orange SuperCom4, 有無線寬帶，大容量存儲，超快處理器。而且，體積小到能裝在襯衫口袋裡。Sara看了覺得很酷，叫同事Mark過來，check out Henry’s new toy. 看看Henry的新玩具。Mark說：
M: Ah….the Orange SuperCom 4, eh? It’s all the rage these days. – Must’ve cost you a pretty penny.
H: Actually it was a tad bit expensive. I signed up for an early waiting list, but because demand was so strong, I did have to shell out a couple extra hundred dollars for it.
M: I saw news reports that people were lining up around the block in front of Orange Computer stores. Some people were even camping out overnight waiting for the store to open!
Mark不用看就知道Sara說的是Orange SuperCom4, 因為 It’s all the rage these day. 這是現在最潮的。說一件事情是 all the rage 意思是時下最流行的。比如 Skinny jeans are all the rage. 時下最流行穿細腿牛仔褲。Mark猜，It must’ve cost you a pretty penny. 你一定花了不少錢。cost a pretty penny 是價格不菲的意思。Henry 承認，因為訂購的人多，I did have to shell out a couple extra hundred dollars for it. 我確實不得不多交了幾百美元。to shell out 意思是出錢。Mark說，新聞裡說，為了買這款新電腦，不少人在Orange SuperCom電腦專賣店前大排長龍，甚至有人 camp out overnight 夜裡在商店門口露宿。Henry說：
H: I didn’t camp out, but I did have to stand in line for about four hours.
S: Is it really worth all the effort? I’m not that devoted to anything. If the wait is longer than 15 minutes, count me out.
M: Some people are “early adopters" of technology. They just have to get their hands on the latest product.
H: Yep, that’s me…I got my first computer when I was 14, and from that day onward I was hooked. Every time a major new product comes on the market, I’ve just got to get it! I’ll bet I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on IT products over the years.
Henry說，自己雖然沒徹夜露宿，但確實排了四個小時的隊。Sara表示不解，說不管買甚麼，如果要排十五分鐘以上的隊，count me out. 我就免了。Mark說，有些人就是科技“潮人”，early adopters of technology. 有甚麼新產品，他們都得在別人前面用上。They have to get their hands on the latest product. 這裡所說的 to get their hands on something 意思是得到。Henry承認自己就是這種人，14歲有了自己的第一部電腦後，I was hooked. 我就著迷了。這麼多年，不知道在科技產品上花了多少錢。
