BETH: Oh good morning. You must be James.

贝丝：早上好。你一定是詹姆斯。

I'm Beth Cartwright - please call me Beth.

我是贝丝 卡特莱特——请叫我贝丝。

JAMES: Thank you.

詹姆斯：谢谢。

BETH: Now as this is your first tutorial since you started on the Scandinavian Studies course, I'd like to find out something about you.

贝丝：因为这是你选择斯堪的纳维亚研究课后的第一次辅导课，我想了解一下你的情况。

Why did you decide to take this course?

你为什么选择这门课程呢？

JAMES: Well, my mother is Danish, and although we always lived in England, she used to talk about her home a lot, and that made me want to visit Denmark.

詹姆斯：我的母亲是丹麦人，尽管我们都生活在英格兰。她经常谈论她的家乡，这就使得我想去丹麦看一看。

We hardly ever did, though - my mother usually went on her own.

虽然我们几乎没办法一起去——但是我母亲通常独自去。

But whenever her relations or friends were in England they always came to see us.

但是无论何时，他的亲戚朋友到英格兰来，他们都会来看看我们。

BETH: I see. So I assume you already speak Danish, one of the languages you'll be studying.

贝丝：我明白了。所以我猜你已经会说丹麦语了，你正在学习的语言之一。

JAMES: I can get by when I talk to people, though I'm not terribly accurate.

詹姆斯：虽然我讲的不是很准确，但是跟人们谈话的时候还是可以理解的。

BETH: Now you probably know that you'll spend the third year of the course abroad.

贝丝：现在或许你知道你将在第三年出国学习。

Have you had any thoughts about that?

你有什么想法吗？

JAMES: I'm really looking forward to it.

詹姆斯：我真的已经很期待了。

And although Denmark seems the obvious place to go, because of my family connections, I'd love to spend the time in Iceland.

尽管丹麦很明显是我应该去的地方，因为我家庭的原因，但是我也想去冰岛度假。

BETH: Oh, I'm sure it can be arranged.

贝丝：我保证，会安排的。

Do you have any plans for when you graduate?

你有毕业后有什么计划吗？

A lot of students go on to take a master's degree.

很多学生继续攻读硕士学位。

JAMES: I think the four years of the undergraduate course will be enough for me.

詹姆斯：我想四年的本科学业对我来说足够了。

I'm interested in journalism and I quite like the idea of moving to Scandinavia and writing for magazines.

我对新闻学感兴趣，我非常想搬到斯堪的纳维亚，为杂志社写文章。

I'd find that more creative than translating, which I suppose most graduates do.

我认为那会比翻译更有创造力，我猜这也是很多毕业生想做的。

BETH: OK. Now how are you finding the courses you're taking this term, James?

贝丝：好的。你认为这学期你的课程怎么样，詹姆斯？

JAMES: Well, I'm really enjoying the one on Swedish cinema.

詹姆斯：嗯，我非常喜欢瑞典电影学的课程。

BETH: That'll continue next term, but the one on Scandinavian literature that's running at the moment will be replaced by more specialised courses.

贝丝： 那个课程下学期也会继续，但是现在开设的斯堪的纳维亚文学将会被更多的专业课代替。

Oh, and by the way, if you're interested in watching Danish television programmes - there's going to be a course on that the term after next.

噢，顺便说一下，如果你喜欢看丹麦电视节目——在下下学期会有一门关于它的课程。

JAMES: That sounds good.

詹姆斯：听起来不错。

BETH: Have you started thinking about the literature paper that you have to write in the next few weeks?

贝丝：你开始考虑几周以后要写的文学论文了吗？

JAMES: Yes, my first choice would be to do something on the Icelandic sagas.

詹姆斯：是的，我的首选是写冰岛传说。

BETH: Hmm. The trouble with that is that a lot of people choose that topic, and it can be difficult to get hold of the books you'll need.

贝丝：嗯。问题是很多人都选了那个主题，所以要拿到你需要的书籍会比较困难。

Why not leave that for another time?

为什么不留给下次尝试呢？

JAMES: Right.

詹姆斯：好的。

BETH: You might find modern novels or 19th century playwrights interesting.

贝丝：你会发现现代小说或者19世纪剧作家的主题非常有意思。

JAMES: I've read or seen several plays in translation, so that would be a good idea.

詹姆斯：我已经读过或看过一些翻译的戏剧，所以这是个好主意。

BETH: Fine. I'll put you down for that topic.

贝丝：好的。我会把你这个话题记下来的。

JAMES: Right. So what would you advise me to aim at in the paper?

詹姆斯：好的。所以您建议我论文的主旨是什么呢？

BETH: First I suggest you avoid taking one writer and going into a great deal of detail.

贝丝：首先，我建议你避免只谈论一位作者然后给出大量细节。

That approach certainly has its place, but I think you first need to get an understanding of the literature in the context of the society in which it was produced - who it was written for, how it was published, and so on.

那种方法当然也会有他的优点，但是我认为首先你需要理解文学作品在创作时的社会环境——作品是写给谁的，是如何出版的等等。

I also think that's more fruitful than placing it within the history of the genre.

此外，我认为这会比把作品放到文学流派的发展历史中讨论更富有成效。

JAMES: OK, that sounds reasonable.

詹姆斯：好的，听起来很有道理。