ROSIE: COLIN, I'm really struggling to think of a topic for our human geography assignment.

罗茜：科林，我真的很难为我们的人类地理作业想出一个主题。

COLIN: Me too, Rosie. I'll tell you what, let's think about the different aspects of human geography, and see if we can narrow the topic down a bit to help us decide.

科林：我也是，罗茜。这样吧，让我们考虑一下人类地理学的不同方面，看看我们能不能把主题缩小一些，帮助我们做出决定。

ROSIE: OK. So one aspect is population.

罗茜：好的，那么其中一个方面是人口。

That would be all about population density and migration and so on.

那就全是关于人口密度和迁移等等的问题了。

Lots of facts and statistics … Maybe a bit boring?

很多事实和统计数据...... 也许有点无聊？

COLIN: Yeah, but quite straightforward to find on the internet.

科林：是啊，不过在网上查起来很简单。

ROSIE: Suppose so. How about health?

罗茜：好吧，那么健康呢？

I'd never thought about the links between that and geography until Professor Lee gave us that lecture on cholera.

我从未想过这与地理之间的联系，直到李教授给我们上了那堂关于霍乱的课。

How in the nineteenth century a physician used street plans and plans of water supplies to find the source of a cholera epidemic.

在 19 世纪，一位医生如何利用街道规划和供水规划来寻找霍乱疫情的源头。

COLIN: Yes – fascinating, wasn't it? Or we could do something more general – like economies.

科林：是的 —— 很有趣，不是吗？或者我们可以做一些更普遍的事情 —— 比如经济学。

ROSIE: So how financial and commercial factors are linked to the physical environment?

罗茜：那么，经济和商业因素是如何与物理环境联系在一起的呢？

COLIN: Yeah.

科林：是的。

ROSIE: I thought that had been taken off the syllabus for this year.

罗西：我以为今年的课程大纲里已经把这一条删掉了。

COLIN: Has it?

科林：是吗？

ROSIE: I'm not sure. But it might be best to avoid it.

罗茜：我不确定。不过最好还是避开它。

COLIN: OK. Maybe we could do something on culture.

科林：好吧，也许我们可以在文化方面做点什么。

We had that lecture about culture and geography last week.

上周我们上了一堂关于文化和地理的课。

ROSIE: I didn't get much out of that.

罗茜：我没从中学到什么。

It was all so general and the lecturer didn't give any useful examples.

这一切都太笼统了，讲师也没有给出任何有用的例子。

COLIN: Yeah, I hardly took any notes, it didn't seem worth it.

科林：是啊，我几乎没做什么笔记，因为似乎不值得。

ROSIE: Me neither.

罗茜：我也是。

COLIN: We could focus on poverty.

科林：我们可以关注贫困问题。

That's something that's a global problem …

这是一个全球性的问题......

ROSIE: The trouble is, Dr Lee was saying, that you have to be careful with some of the figures relating to poverty – they're sometimes deliberately manipulated.

罗西：问题在于，李博士正在说，你必须小心处理一些与贫困相关的数据 —— 它们有时会被故意操纵。

COLIN: You mean the information gets changed for political reasons?

科林：你是说这些信息是出于政治原因而被篡改的？

ROSIE: That sort of thing, yes.

罗西：是的，差不多就是这样。