Name: 872. 生日派對！(透過短篇故事學英文) (872. The Birthday Party (Learn English with a Short Story))
Uploaded: 2025-11-28T16:14:36.000Z
Duration: 47 min 29 s

現在進行式

In this episode, I'm going to tell you a story and then use it to help you learn English.

在這集節目裡，我要講一個故事，然後用它來幫助大家學英文。

And I'm going to do this in three sections.

First, I'll just tell the story to you and you can use that as a sort of little listening exercise or listening test.

首先，我會把故事講給你聽，你可以把它當成一個小小的聽力練習或聽力測驗。

See if you understand everything in the story and especially things like how the characters feel and exactly what happened.

看看你能不能聽懂故事裡的每一個細節，特別是關於角色們的感受和發生的事情。

說真的，它其實是個非常短的故事。

大約三百個字，三百個字左右。

So it'll just take a couple of minutes for me to read the story to you, and

所以，我讀完這個故事給你聽，大概只需要幾分鐘，

then after that I will just explain what happened in the story in my own words.

然後我會用我自己的話來解釋故事裡發生的事。

And then I'll go through the story again line by line and I'll explain vocabulary for you so you can learn various little phrases, words and other descriptive language from this story.

接著我會逐行講解故事，解釋詞彙，讓你從這個故事裡學到各種小片語、單字和其他描述性語言。

Okay, so the story that we're looking at here is called the Birthday Party, and

好的，我們要來看的這個故事叫做「生日派對」，

it was written by Catherine Brush, who was an American newspaper columnist, short story writer, a novelist.

它是由 Catherine Brush 寫的，她是一位美國的報紙專欄作家、短篇小說作家、小說家。

This particular story was published in 1946.

But like all good writing, it still remains fresh today.

但就像所有好的寫作一樣，它至今仍然很新鮮。

It feels like it could have been written yesterday, really.

So although it was written a few decades ago, it still feels really sort of fresh and new.

所以雖然是幾十年前寫的，但它至今仍然感覺非常新鮮。

So I'm going to start in just a second, but

first of all, just one question for you to consider before you listen to this.

在你開始聽之前，我先問你一個問題。

Okay, My question is about people watching.

好的，我的問題是關於觀察路人。

This is when you're in a public place, for example, in a restaurant, and

這是在公共場所，例如在餐廳裡，

you kind of watch the other people around you and sort of, I don't know, imagine what their lives are like, observing other people.

你會觀察周遭的其他人，然後，我不知道，想像他們的生活是什麼樣子，觀察其他人。

I mean, it's a bit nosy, right, to do this, to look at other people and sort of spy on them.

我的意思是，這樣做有點好管閒事，對吧？看著別人，然後有點像在監視他們。

People watch, okay, when you're in a public place, like a restaurant or in a queue for something.

觀察路人，好的，當你在公共場所，像餐廳或排隊的時候。

So observing people, watching their behaviour, watching their interactions with each other, and

所以觀察人們，看他們的行為，看他們彼此互動，然後

then imagining what kinds of people they are, what their lives are like, what their relationships are like.

然後想像他們是怎麼樣的人，他們的生活是什麼樣子，他們的關係又是如何。

It might also include eavesdropping, which means actually listening to other people's conversations, but not necessarily.

這也可能包含偷聽，也就是真的去聽別人的對話，但也不一定。

So people watching, just watching people watching strangers that you might see in public places.

所以觀察路人，就是觀察你在公共場所可能會看到的路人。

If you're out in public, do you ever discreetly watch the other people around you and try to imagine what their lives are like?

如果你在外面，你會不會偷偷觀察周圍的其他人，然後試著想像他們的生活是什麼樣子？

For example, if you're in a restaurant, do you subtly, while you're eating your food, do you subtly, without being noticed, have a look at the other people on the other tables, try to imagine who they are, what's going on in their lives.

例如，如果你在餐廳，你會不會在吃飯的時候，偷偷地、不被注意地，看看其他桌的人，試著想像他們是誰，他們的生活正在發生什麼事。

And have you ever observed something amusing or something that made you feel a little uncomfortable or embarrassed?

你曾經觀察到什麼有趣的事情，或是讓你感到有點不舒服或尷尬的事情嗎？

Like maybe you got an insight into someone's personal relationship or family life and it actually made you feel even a little bit uncomfortable or embarrassed or awkward or even sad?

像是你可能窺見了某人的個人關係或家庭生活，然後這讓你感覺有點不舒服、尷尬、彆扭，甚至有點難過？

People watch and have you ever noticed anything sort of interesting when doing that?

觀察路人，然後在做這件事的時候，有沒有注意到什麼有趣的事情？

That's just something to think about before we start the story.

這只是個讓我們開始故事前可以思考一下的問題。

事實上，我們現在就來開始故事吧。

All you need to do here is just listen first.

Just listen and try and follow the main events.

先聽，然後試著跟上主要的情節。

Okay, I'll explain in my own words in a moment and then we'll go through all the vocabulary and stuff and see what we can learn.

好的，我馬上會用我自己的話來解釋，然後我們會一起看所有詞彙和相關內容，看看能學到什麼。

This is the Birthday Party by Katharine Brush.

這是 Katharine Brush 的《生日派對》。

They were a couple in their late 30s, and they looked unmistakably married.

他們是一對三十多歲末的夫妻，看起來毫無疑問是已婚的。

They sat on the banquette opposite us in a little narrow restaurant having dinner.

他們坐在我們對面窄小餐廳的長椅上吃晚餐。

The man had a round, self satisfied face with glasses on it.

那男人臉圓圓的，一副心滿意足的樣子，還戴著眼鏡。

The woman was fadingly pretty in a big hat.

那女人戴著大帽子，長相有點褪色。

There was nothing conspicuous about them, nothing particularly noticeable, until the end of their meal when it suddenly became obvious that this was an occasion.

他們身上沒有什麼引人注目、特別顯眼的地方，直到他們用餐結束，突然間才顯而易見這是一個特別的場合。

In fact, it was the husband's birthday and the wife had planned a little surprise for him.

事實上，那天是先生的生日，太太為他準備了一個小驚喜。

It arrived in the form of a small but glossy birthday cake with one pink candle burning in the center.

驚喜是一個小巧但閃亮的生日蛋糕，中間插著一支粉紅色的蠟燭。

The head waiter brought it in and placed it before the husband, and

領班把它端進來，放在先生面前，

meanwhile the violin and piano orchestra played Happy Birthday to you.

同時，小提琴和鋼琴樂團演奏了生日快樂歌。

And the wife beamed with shy pride over her little surprise.

太太帶著害羞的驕傲，對她的小驚喜露出欣慰的笑容。

And such few people as there were in the restaurant tried to help out with a pattering of applause.

餐廳裡少數的幾個人也試著幫忙，拍手附和。

It became clear at once that help was needed because the husband was not pleased.

馬上就看出來需要幫忙，因為先生一點也不高興。

Instead, he was hotly embarrassed and indignant at his wife for embarrassing him.

反而，他因為太太讓他丟臉而感到非常尷尬和憤怒。

You looked at him and you saw this and you thought, oh, now don't be like that.

你看著他，看到這一幕，你會想，哦，別這樣嘛。

And as soon as the little cake had been deposited on the table and the orchestra had finished the birthday piece and the general attention had shifted from the man and the woman.

就在小蛋糕放在桌上、樂團演奏完生日快樂歌、大家注意力從這對夫妻身上移開後，

I saw him say something to her under his breath, some punishing thing, quick and curt and unkind.

我看到他對她低聲說了些什麼，一些懲罰性的話，又快又簡短又不友善。

I couldn't bear to look at the woman then, so I stared at my plate and waited for quite a long time.

那時候我真不忍心看那位太太，所以我盯著我的盤子，等了好久。

She was still crying when I finally glanced over there again.

當我終於又瞥過去時，她還在哭。

Crying quietly and heartbrokenly and hopelessly all to herself under the gay big brim of her best hat.

她只是默默地、傷心地、絕望地，在自己最好的帽子那寬大鮮豔的帽簷下，一個人哭泣著。

I think that's a really, really well written little story.

我認為這是一個寫得非常、非常棒的小故事。

A perfect little portrait of these two people and a little interaction which seems to tell you so much about what's going on between them.

這幅小小的肖像畫完美地呈現了這兩個人以及他們之間的一段互動，這段互動似乎告訴了你很多關於他們之間正在發生的事。

The writer says that she saw this couple.

They were probably in their late 30s and they were definitely married.

他們大概三十幾歲，確定是夫妻。

They were sitting just on the other side of the restaurant, just opposite them at a table having dinner.

他們就坐在餐廳的另一邊，對面的一張桌子旁吃晚餐。

She said that the man had a round face, glasses, and

她說那個男人臉圓圓的，戴著眼鏡，

he had a sort of self satisfied look on his face.

臉上帶著一種自鳴得意的表情。

The woman was, was fadingly pretty, like she kind of used to be pretty or she's sort of her, her beauty is fading or maybe getting less, you know, as she gets older, maybe.

那個女人呢，長得有點褪色般的美，就像她以前比較漂亮，或是她的美貌正在褪色，或者隨著年紀增長，可能變得沒那麼美了。

And they just look like an ordinary couple, really.

他們看起來就像一對普通夫妻，真的。

They weren't bringing too much attention to them, to themselves, except for the fact that the woman was wearing a nice big hat with a wide brim.

他們沒有引起太多注意，除了那個女人戴了一頂有寬帽簷的漂亮大帽子。

And the narrator of the story realizes that this is not just an ordinary dinner, but

而故事的敘述者意識到，這不只是一頓普通的晚餐，

事實上，這是一個特別的場合。

In fact, it's the husband's birthday and the wife has planned a special little surprise for him.

事實上，是老公的生日，老婆為他計畫了一個特別的小驚喜。

And she, she seems to be kind of a bit shy about it and quite proud of the fact that she's organized this little special thing for his birthday.

她，她似乎有點害羞，而且很為自己為他生日準備了這個特別的小東西而感到驕傲。