J：What were you and Richard talking about earlier? It looked intense.

早些時候你跟理查德在談論什么，氣氛看起來有點僵呀

L：Yeah, Richard said something to me that I didn't appreciate.

噢，他講了些讓我不喜歡的事

J：Oh, no. I know how insensitive he can be. What has he done now?

不會吧，我知道他這個人常常無禮又無知，今天他怎么又做這種事了?

L：He asked me how long it took me to learn English.

他問我學習英語多少年了

J：But, you were born and raised in California!

啊，你可是土生土長的加利福尼亞人呀

L：Yeah, but I get that sometimes. It doesn't matter how many generations my family has lived in the U.S., we'll always be foreigners in their eyes.

我算是明白了，無論我家有幾代人在美國生活過，在有些人的眼里，我們永遠是外國人

J：What a racist! How can you stand working with the guy?

真是個種族分子!你如何能忍受與這樣的家伙同事

L：You know, Richard isn't such a bad guy. He made the comment out of ignorance, not malice.

你知道的，理查德這個人不壞。他說這些話就是出于無知，而非惡意

J：So, what did you say when he asked you how long it took you to learn English?

那么當他問你學了多久英語的時候，你是如何回答他的

L：I told him 28 years. And, he knows I'm 28 years old since I just celebrated my birthday last week. He was puzzled for a minute, and then he got it.

我告訴他28年了。他顯然知道我也才28歲因為上周我剛慶賀過我的生日。他一聽愣了一下，隨后就明白我什么意思了。

J：Are you sure he really got the message?

你確信他明白了?

L：Yeah, I'm pretty sure since I then asked him how long it took him to learn English.

是的，當我問他學習英語多久的時候，我就確信他明白我的意思了

J：That's hilarious! What did he say?

真爽，他怎么回答的

L：He said, '36 years,' and we both laughed about it. He apologized and now, it's all good.

他說，36年了。我們倆接著就都笑了。他為剛才的事道歉，現在一切都挺好

J：I'm glad. I bet he won't make that mistake again.

我覺得挺好。我相信他不應該再犯類似的錯誤了。