Briefing
This dialogue takes place between Mr Harvey, the deputy principal of a high school in Melbourne and Mrs Song, a Mandarin-speaking woman. They are discussing the behavioural problems of Song’s daughter, Mandy, who is enrolled in the school.
Listen to Dialogue
Mandarin-English Dialogue #13 – Behavioural Problems
Transcript
Song: 嗨,是哈维先生吗?[Hi, are you Mr Harvey?]
Harvey: Yes, that’s me. You must be Mrs Song? [是的,是我,你一定是宋太太吧?]
Song: 对啊,我就是。[Yes, I am.]
Harvey: Please, pull up a pew. I’ll be just one sec. I’m just finishing a letter. [请坐。我很快就好,我正在给一封信收尾。]
Song: 您忙先,真抱歉我来晚了。[Take your time. Sorry I’m late.]
Harvey: No worries at all. I had a couple of errands to run anyway. [没事啊,我反正正好有些小事情要办。]
Song: 前台通知我你想找我谈谈曼迪?我希望没什么严重的事。[The receptionist told me you wanted to see me about Mandy? I hope it’s nothing serious.]
Harvey: Well I got a phone call from her form teacher this morning. She’s quite concerned about her. I spoke to her other teachers – Mr Young, her PhysEd teacher, and Mrs Yardley her home economics teacher – and they both said that Mandy has not been acting herself of late. Can I ask, is everything OK at home? [嗯今天早上她的班主任打来电话,她很担心她。我跟她的其他老师谈了,她的体育老师杨老师,以及她的家政学老师亚得莉老师。他们都说曼迪最近不在状态。我能问问,家里情况还好吗?]
Song: 我不太清楚您指哪些?她在家里一切正常呀。是不是她成绩又下降了? 上学其她英语得了个B加,我就帮她请了个家教,一周教她一次。显然她有了些许进步,不过她英语还不是最好的。[I’m not quite sure what you’re referring to? Everything is as normal at home for her. Are her grades slipping again? When she got a B+ for English last semester I got her a tutor to teach her once a week. Apparently she has been making some progress. But her English is still not the best.]
Harvey: It’s not a problem about her grades or her English. Mandy is actually one of the highest achieving students in her year. Who knows, maybe even one day she might become dux. But her teachers have reported her falling asleep in class a number of times. They also said she’s often irritable and at times snaps at teachers and other students. [不是她成绩或是英文的问题。年级组里,曼迪实际上名次非常靠前,说不准哪一天她就名列榜首了。但是她的老师报告说她很多次上课睡着了。他们还说她易怒,好几次冲着老师和其他学生恶言相向。]
Song: 她的性格的确有点孤僻。不过我确信,等她今天从小提琴课回来后,我会和她谈一谈,争取找到解决方法。[She is in fact a bit antisocial by nature. But I will be sure to talk to her when she gets home from her violin lesson today. I will find a way to fix this problem.]
Harvey: Well, what I’m wondering is – is she getting enough sleep? Students at her age should be getting a solid eight hours of rest each night. [嗯,我在琢磨的是,她睡得够不够?这个年龄的学生应该每晚都要八小时好的休息。]
Song: 八小时吗?我觉得差不多吧。我告诉她,她的任务就是好好学习,其他的别管。[Eight hours? More or less. I told her her only job is to study hard, and that she doesn’t have to worry about anything else.]
Harvey: Yes, I understand that. But, by the same token, I think it’s important that she has her downtime. Too much stress and not enough sleep can be a recipe for disaster at that age. [是的,这个我知道。但是,同时,我觉得重要的是她有自己放松的时间。太多压力和睡眠不足很容易在这个年纪闯祸的。]
Song: 是吗?她还小,如果我不逼她努力学习,她怎么能考进好大学,读个像医学或法律这样的好专业呢?[Really? She’s just a child. If I don’t push her to work hard now how will she be able to get into a decent university or study a good major like medicine or law?]
Harvey: Trust me, Mrs Song. I’ve taught enough students in my time to know that students who don’t get proper rest can end up getting sick or depressed. [相信我,宋太太,执教以来,我教了足够多的学生,我知道如果学生不能得到好的休息会导致生病或抑郁。]
Song: 嗯,我理解您的意思。我会保证让她适当休息的。我就是想让她发挥她的潜能。[I understand what you mean. I will make sure she has proper rest. I just want her to realise her full potential.]
Carl, I don’t know if you think “antisocial” is an appropriate word to use here but according to the dictionary this word actually means “反社会的” which is more like something we Chinese apply to describe a heinous crime. What about some other words like “unsociable”?
She’s unsocial and eccentric
Sorry it’s ‘Unsociable ‘
“unsocial and eccentric” is accurate on my opinion. But don’t yell me if i’m wrong .
I suggest you get a better dictionary. “Antisocial” can also mean “not sociable”. In fact, this is the more common meaning.
“Apparently” doesn’t mean 显然的,right?