2.  Helping homeless people.
Jim:  Hey, Sandy, what's new?  Interested in a movie tonight?
Sandy:  I wish I could, but I'm busy.  I'm going to work at a soup kitchen7 tonight.
Jim:  Soup kitchen?  Is that a new restaurant or something?
Sandy:  Nah, it's a place where homeless people go to eat.
Jim:  How did you get involved in something like that? 
Sandy:  Well, the minister8 at my church told us about it, and it seemed interesting.  I thought I'd try it once, and if I didn't like it I'd stop.
Jim:  So what do you do there? 
Sandy:  It's simple.  All we do is prepare some food, usually sandwiches and some fruit, and give it out to them at the soup kitchen.
Jim:  Yeah, it sounds easy.  How long does it take?
Sandy:  Only about two hours, for a couple of days a month.  Why don't you give it a try? 
Jim:  I don't know.  I mean, I like helping the community and all that, but I don't know if I have the time……
Sandy:  Come on, it's easy, and it'll make you feel good.  Why don't you come with me tonight?
Jim:  I don't know……
Sandy:  I won't accept no for an answer.  I'll pick you up at seven tonight.
【譯文】
——嘿，珊迪，最近忙什么？今晚有興趣看電影嗎？
——我希望我能去，但我很忙。今晚我要去施粥場(chǎng)上班。
——施粥場(chǎng)？是個(gè)新開張的餐館嗎？
——不是，是專供無(wú)家可歸者去吃飯的地方。
——你怎么會(huì)牽扯上做那種事？
——唔，教堂的牧師告訴我們的，似乎很有趣。我想我會(huì)去嘗試一次，如果我不喜歡，我就不做了。
——那么你在那兒做些什么？
——很簡(jiǎn)單。我們所要做的就是準(zhǔn)備些食物，通常是三明治和一些水果，然后在施粥場(chǎng)把這些食物分發(fā)給他們。
——噢，聽起來(lái)容易。需要多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間？
——只不過大約兩小時(shí)，一個(gè)月幾天而已。你為什么不試一次？
——我不知道。我是說(shuō)，我喜歡幫助社區(qū)之類的，但我不知道我是否有時(shí)間……
——別猶豫了，很容易，而且會(huì)使你感覺很好。為什么今晚你不和我一起來(lái)？
——我不知道……
——我不接受回答是“不”。今晚7點(diǎn)我會(huì)去接你。

3.   Two students, one white (Anthony) and one black (Charles), are talking together.
Kate:  So it is hard to be a black student on campus?
Charles:  Yes, in many ways it is.  There are many stereotypes I have to deal with in my daily life.
Kate:  Stereotypes?  Like what? 
Charles:  Well, like since I'm black, I must like rap music10, come from the inner city, or play basketball well.
Kate:  I do know you like rap music, but the other two are definitely false. I’ve seen you play basketball.
Charles:  Hey!  But that's not the only problem.  There's also the affirmative action11 stigma12. 
Kate:  You mean that people look down upon you because they think you're in school because of a quota13? That's not true at all; you're really a smart guy.
Charles:  I know that, but some people don't think like that.  And I get problems from teachers as well.
Kate:  Teachers?  I didn't think that they would be racist14 at all. 
Charles:  Racist?  Not exactly.  It's how they look at me and ask for my opinion on a topic, as if I can speak for all black people and give them the black opinion on a subject.  Suddenly I become the representative15 of the black race, as if we all had the same opinion.
Kate:  I see.  It looks like there are still a lot of issues we need to work on in the US.
【譯文】
——在校園里當(dāng)黑人學(xué)生很難嗎？
——是的，多方面是這樣。在我的日常生活中，有許多舊框框我不得不去面對(duì)。
——舊框框？什么樣的？
——唔，像因?yàn)槲沂呛谌耍冶囟ㄏ矚g說(shuō)唱音樂，必定來(lái)自內(nèi)地城市，必定很會(huì)打籃球。
——我知道你喜歡說(shuō)唱音樂，但其它兩個(gè)絕對(duì)是錯(cuò)誤的。我看過你打籃球。
——嘿！但問題還不止那些。防止種族歧視的積極行動(dòng)還是有污點(diǎn)的。
——你是說(shuō)人們看不起你，因?yàn)樗麄冋J(rèn)為你是因?yàn)榕漕~而在學(xué)校？那完全不對(duì)；你真的是個(gè)精明人。
——我知道，但是有些人不那樣認(rèn)為。而且老師那兒我也遇到了麻煩。
——老師？我想他們根本不可能是種族主義者。
——種族主義者？不準(zhǔn)確。是他們?cè)趺纯次遥瑔栁覍?duì)一個(gè)話題的看法，好像我能代表所有的黑人，對(duì)一個(gè)
話題告訴他們“黑人的觀點(diǎn)”。突然，我成為黑種人的代表，好像我們所有的黑人都有同樣的看法。
——我明白。看起來(lái)在美國(guó)還有許多問題需要我們繼續(xù)努力。

4.  Karen is walking on the street.  She just saw a Chinese man throwing rubbish on the ground.
Karen:  Hey, you, pick up that piece of garbage! 
Man:  Huh?  Me?
Karen:  Yeah, you.  I just saw you throw a piece of garbage on the ground.  Can't you read the No Littering sign?  It's a $500 penalty16 for littering17, so go pick it up and put it in the garbage can18 over there.
Man:  Why should I do that?  It's only a piece of garbage.  Why should you care?
Karen:  Because this is a public place, and I want to spend my time here without having to look at your garbage.
Man:  Listen; I really don't know why you're making this into such a big issue.  It's only a small piece of garbage in a large space.  It's not like there's garbage everywhere.  Besides, someone will come along to clean it up at some time or another.
Karen:  It's not the cleaner's responsibility to pick up after lazy people.  It's part of your responsibility to make sure that the place is neat for other people.  If everyone thought like you, there'd be garbage everywhere!  The cleaners can't be everywhere! 
Man:  Ok, whatever.  See, I'm putting it in the garbage can.
Karen:  Hold on, that's an item.  You should put that in the recycle19 bin next to the trashcan.
Man:  Recycle bin?  Garbage is garbage! 
Karen:  No, it isn't.  There are many times we can take what we've used and reuse it.  It saves from having to use new materials, and it creates less garbage.
Man:   Ok, ok.  I'll do whatever you want as long as you get off my back20.
【譯文】
——嘿，你，把那塊垃圾撿起來(lái)！
——嗯？是指我嗎？
——是，就是你。我剛才看見你往地上扔了一塊垃圾。難道你沒看見“禁止隨地亂扔”標(biāo)記嗎？亂扔垃圾，罰款500美元，所以去把垃圾撿起來(lái)，并扔進(jìn)那邊的垃圾箱里。
——我為什么要那樣做呢？只是一塊垃圾。你為什么要管？
——因?yàn)檫@是公共場(chǎng)所，我想在這兒消磨時(shí)間，不想看你的垃圾。
——聽著，我實(shí)在搞不懂你為什么把這看成是一個(gè)大問題。只不過是一大塊空地上的一小片垃圾而已。又不是到處都是垃圾。而且，不時(shí)會(huì)有人來(lái)清掃垃圾。
——拾撿懶人走后的垃圾又不是清潔工的責(zé)任。為他人確保這個(gè)地方整潔，你也有部分責(zé)任。如果每個(gè)人都像你這么想，那么到處都將是垃圾！清潔工不可能無(wú)處不在。
——好吧，不管你說(shuō)什么。看著，我把它扔進(jìn)垃圾桶了。
——等一下，那是可回收垃圾。你應(yīng)該放進(jìn)緊挨廢物桶的那個(gè)可回收垃圾箱里。
——可回收垃圾箱？垃圾就是垃圾!
——不，不是。很多時(shí)候我們可以拿我們用過的重新使用。省用新材料，還少了些垃圾。
——好，好。只要你不再糾纏我，你想讓我怎么做，我就怎么做。

《零距離美語(yǔ)會(huì)話[社會(huì)問題]Lesson2:Aboutsociety》永久閱讀地址: http://www.jiazhineng.cn/yingyu/2247/