Dialogue 1

Jingjing visits Mark where he works.
京晶去马克工作的地方

Jingjing: What's that you're reading, Mark?
京晶：你在读什么呢？马克
Mark: Oh, this is the first actual book I've read in a year or so.
马克：这是我最近一年来读的第一本纸质书。
Jingjing: Well, it's a first for me, to see you reading.
京晶：哦，对我来说，也是第一次见你读书哦。
Mark: Ha ha. I read dozens of books every year. But I've been using my phone for that.
马克：哈哈。我每年会读许多书。不过都是在手机上看。
Jingjing: You're a bookworm! I have a Kindle reader. Have you thought about getting one of those?
京晶：你真是个书虫！我有一个Kindle阅读器，你想过买一个吗？
Mark: I know Kindles do less harm to the eyes than phones or computers. But I don't feel like springing for another device.
马克：我知道Kindle比手机和电脑对眼睛好。但我不想再花钱买个设备了。
Jingjing: Hmm. You still haven't answered my earlier question. What book are you reading now?
京晶：你还是没回答我之前的问题。你在读什么书呢？
Mark: Oh, this? I just started it. It's called Blue Blood. It's written by a guy who was a police officer in New York.
马克：哦，这本吗？我才开始读呢。书名叫《蓝血》。是一个纽约的警官长写的。
Jingjing: Can I see it?
京晶：我能看看吗？
Mark: Sure. Here.
马克：可以，这儿，给你
Jingjing: It says the author is "Harvard educated". Did he go to Harvard first and then join the police force?
京晶：书上说作者是哈佛学历。他是先去哈佛读书然后加入警队的吗？
Mark: I saw that on the cover also. So far, in the book, he's not said anything about his education.
马克：我也在封面上看到了这个。至今，在这本书里，他对自己的教育程度只字未提。
Jingjing: It looks like you still have a long way to go.
京晶：看上去你还有得读。
Mark: Yeah, I'm just about a hundred pages into it. He's got a lot to say—more than 500 pages of cop stories, tales of his family and how New York changed through the years.
马克：是啊。我也才读了一百来页。他有很多要说的——超过五百页的警察故事，他家人的故事还有纽约这些年来的变化。
Jingjing: It sounds pretty sprawling.
京晶：听上去很散乱啊
Mark: Yeap, it sprawls all right. I like it though. Anything in a narrative is interesting to me, especially non-fiction narrative about the author's own experiences.
马克：是的，扩展得还行，我还挺喜欢的。只要是叙述部分我都觉得挺有趣的，尤其是关于作者亲身经历的非虚构部分。
Jingjing: How about you loan it to me after you're finished reading?
京晶：你看完以后借我怎么样？
Mark: Remind me in a couple weeks, then you can have it.
马克：几周以后记得提醒我，到时你就能拿到了。

New words: 习语短语

bookworm 爱读书，阅读量大的人
someone who reads lots of books
spring (for something) 买东西，买贵的不实用的东西
to buy something expensive that might not be necessary
device 电子设备
an electronic item with many functions, like a smartphone or a tablet PC
sprawl 扩散的, 散乱的，有些不知所云的
a type of writing that includes lots of different stories and details, sometimes making it difficult for the reader to know the main idea
narrative 叙述
writing that tells a story
non-fiction 非虚构类
writing about real events, rather than made-up ones

Dialogue 2

a week later
一周以后

Jingjing: How's life treating you, Mark? Still working on that book, I see.
京晶：马克，最近怎样？我看出来了，还在读那本书
Mark: I sure am. It's the kind of book you can read in bits. It's a page-turner in places.
马克：确实。这是一本你可以一点一点读的书，有些地方非常引人入胜。
Jingjing: I usually read something cover to cover in a few days, or don't finish it at all.
京晶：我通常几天之内从头到尾读些东西，或者完全不读完它。
Mark: You must have lots of unfinished books in your library.
马克：你的图书馆里一定有很多没读完的书。
Jingjing: Well, there are a lot of books on my Kindle that I got into and then stopped. I finish most of the books I start reading though.
京晶：我的Kindle里有很多书都是读了一些以后就没读了。大部分书我还是读完了的。
Mark: What do you read, mostly?
马克：那你主要读什么？
Jingjing: I don't read so much fiction—though I did in college. Nowadays I use reading as a way to expand my knowledge, to learn about something I haven't studied yet.
京晶：我不太读小说，虽然我大学经常读。如今，我把阅读作为扩展知识的方式，了解那些我不曾学习过的东西。
Mark: Wow! What's something you've been learning about recently?
马克：哇，那你最近学到了些什么呢？
Jingjing: I just finished a book written by two scientists, a couple, who spent several months on the Galapagos Islands.
京晶：我刚读完两个科学家写的一本书，一对夫妇，他们花了数月生活在厄瓜多尔的加拉帕戈斯群岛上。
Mark: It's not called Beak of the Finch, is it?
马克：不是《雀喙之谜；加拉帕格斯群岛考察记》吧？
Jingjing: Yeah, that's the one! You've read it?
京晶：对！就是这本！你读过吗？
Mark: I looked through it for a paper I had to write in school.
马克：我在学校里写论文的时候翻过这本书。
Jingjing: Wow! Small world! What'd you think of it?
京晶：这个世界真是太小了！你觉得怎么样？
Mark: Um, actually, I don't remember much from it. It was passionately written, and a pretty good first-hand account of how scientists can observe evolution.
马克：嗯，事实上，我也记不住太多了。写得很有激情，非常棒的科学家观察进化的一手资料。
Jingjing: Uh huh. That's an okay summary. How about I let you have it next time I see you.
京晶：嗯，这是一个还过得去的总结！下次我见你的时候给你看看怎么样？
Mark: If you could part with it, I wouldn't mind re-reading it.
马克：如果你手能释卷的话，我倒是不介意再读一遍。
Jingjing: Oh, wait a tic! I have it here on my Kindle.
京晶：噢，等等！我的Kindle上就有
Mark: Yeah, yeah. I might have to get one of those.
马克：好吧，好吧，我也许需要买个这东西。

New words: 习语短语

a page-turner 引人入胜的
a book that keeps you interested in what will happen next in the story, so that you read it quickly without stopping
(read something) cover to cover 从头至尾地读
Galapagos Islands 岛屿名
several islands far to the west of South America, with unusual animals
(it's a) small world 世界真小啊，真巧啊
a coincidence (when two people have met the same person at different times or have had the same experience, thought it wasn't likely)
a first-hand 一手的
account when someone tells the story of their own experience
summary 梗概 大意
a few main points from a story or an article
to re-read (something) 重读
to read something again
wait a tic 稍等
wait a moment, let's not be too rushed