流行美語第四十五課
今天Michael和李華二人到了紐約一個公園去看煙火。李華學到了兩個新詞：packed和 hype。
L: 我老天，這個公園可真擠，但願我們能夠找到個地方坐下。
M: Yeah, it's really packed today. I've never seen this many people here.
L: Michael,你剛剛說什麼？你是說人好多嗎？
M: Yes, I said the park is packed. That means it is crowded, there are a lot of people here.
L: 噢，我懂了。你說的packed，就是通常你說打包的pack那個字吧？
M: That's right. Here we say "be packed" to show that a place is full of people, just like a box packed full of stuff.
L: 我想我懂了。那中國人口很多，我是不是可以說China is packed？
M: No, that's not really right: China has a lot of people, but China is also a very big place. We usually use 'packed' to describe a small place full of people.
L: 嗯，原來是這樣一來。那就好像在中國春節期間，每班火車都擠的滿滿的，那我就可以說：在春節前那個星期the trains are packed，對不對？
M: That's right. Around Spring Festival, the buses are packed as well. Right?
L: 沒錯。事實上，中國的公共汽車永遠都是擠得滿滿的，很難找到個座位，至少在各個大都市都是這樣。
M: So, in China what other kinds of places might be packed with people?
L: Well，我記得我去看《泰坦尼克號》那部電影時，電影院是擠的好滿，好像每個人都要看哪部電影似的。
M: Ewww. I don't really understand why people liked that movie so much. I thought it was boring.
L: 管它是啥原因，Michael，反正中國各地的電影院總是很擠就是了。
M: Hey, the show is starting.
******
L: 哎，Michael，你覺得今天的煙火如何？
M: Well I guess they were OK, but I was hoping they would be better.
L: 你覺得還可以更好一些？可是我覺得已經很好了。
M: But there was so much hype about this show! Every newspaper said it was going to be the greatest fireworks display in New York history!
L: 你說太多什麼？你說這次煙火怎麼了？
M: I said there was a lot of hype, Hype means a lot of excitement or praise about something that you might hear about before you see it.
L: Oh，所以hype就是指大家總是把一件事說的比實際情況還要好。 對不對？
M: Yeah, that's right. For instance, there was a lot of hype about Titanic, but I didn't think it was as good as the hype said it would be.
L: Hmm，你說the hype about Titanic，所以我們就應該說there is hype about something，對不對?
M: That's right. For example, I remember hearing a lot of hype about the Forbidden City in Beijing, but I didn't think it was very interesting.
L: 你說什麼？你居然說北京故宮不好，那可是中國保存歷史古跡的一顆明珠哎。
M: I didn't say it wasn't important to Chinese history. I just didn't think it was very fun to visit, at least not as fun as all the hype said it would be.
L: 我才不管你怎麼想呢。你說報上對今天的煙火作了很多宣傳，到底是怎麼說的呢？
M: Well, the newspapers said it was going to be larger and more exciting than anything ever shown in the city before. But really I think that was just hype. This year wasn't much different from last year.
L: Michael，要是你總是聽人宣傳的話，你一定會失望的。
M: I guess you are right.
今天Michael和李華到紐約一個公園去看煙火。Michael說這個公園是packed，也就是十分擁擠的意思。另外Michael也不是太喜歡這次的煙火表演，因為他說報紙作了過多的渲染。也就是hype這個詞的含義。
