TUTOR: OK, Jim. You wanted to see me about your textile design project.

导师：好，吉姆。你想和我谈谈你的纺织品设计项目。

JIM: That's right.

吉姆：是的。

I've been looking at how a range of natural dyes can be used to colour fabrics like cotton and wool.

我一直在研究如何用各种天然染料给棉花和羊毛等织物上色。

TUTOR: Why did you choose that topic?

导师：你为什么选择这个话题?

JIM: Well, I got a lot of useful ideas from the museum, you know, at that exhibition of textiles.

吉姆：我从博物馆得到了很多有用的想法，你知道的，就是那个纺织品展览。

But I've always been interested in anything to do with colour.

但是我一直对任何与颜色有关的东西都感兴趣。

Years ago, I went to a carpet shop with my parents when we were on holiday in Turkey, and I remember all the amazing colours.

几年前，我和父母去土耳其度假时去了一家地毯店，我记得那些所有令人惊艳的颜色。

TUTOR: They might not all have been natural dyes.

导师：他们可能并不都是天然染料。

JIM: Maybe not, but for the project I decided to follow it up.

吉姆：也许不是，但为了项目，我决定继续研究这个话题。

And I found a great book about a botanic garden in California that specialises in plants used for dyes.

我还发现了一本很棒的书，是关于加利福尼亚的一个专门种植用于染料的植物园。

TUTOR: OK. So, in your project, you had to include a practical investigation.

导师：好的。所以，在你的项目中，你必须有一个实际的调查。

JIM: Yeah. At first I couldn't decide on my variables.

吉姆：是的。一开始我无法决定变量。

I was going to just look at one type of fibre for example, like cotton ...

我只看一种纤维，例如棉花……

TUTOR: ... and see how different types of dyes affected it?

导师：还要观察不同类型的染料如何影响它?

JIM: Yes. Then I decided to include others as well, so I looked at cotton and wool and nylon.

吉姆：是的。然后我决定把其他的也包括进来，所以我观察了棉、羊毛和尼龙。

TUTOR: With just one type of dye?

导师：只用一种染料?

JIM: Various types, including some that weren't natural, for comparison.

吉姆：各种类型的。包括一些不是纯天然的染料来做比较。

TUTOR: OK.

导师：好的。

JIM: So, I did the experiments last week.

吉姆：所以，我上周做了实验。

I used some ready-made natural dyes, I found a website which supplied them, they came in just a few days, but I also made some of my own.

我用了一些现成的天然染料，我找到了一个销售网站，几天就收到了，但我也自己做了一些。

TUTOR: That must have taken quite a bit of time.

导师：这一定会花相当多的时间。

JIM: Yes, I'd thought it'd just be a matter of a teaspoon or so of dye, and actually that wasn't the case at all.

吉姆：是的，我认为只需要大约一茶匙的染料，实际上并非如此。

Like I was using one vegetable, beetroot, for a red dye, and I had to chop up a whole pile of it.

我用了一种蔬菜，甜菜根，做红色的染料。我不得不把它整个切碎。

So it all took longer than I'd expected.

所以花的时间比我预想的要长。

TUTOR: One possibility is to use food colourings.

导师：有一种可能的方法是使用食品色素。

JIM: I did use one. That was a yellow dye, an artificial one.

吉姆：我用过一个。那是一种黄色染料，一种人造染料。

TUTOR: Tartrazine?

导师：柠檬黄?

JIM: Yeah. I used it on cotton first.

吉姆：是的。我先用在棉花上。

It came out a great colour, but when I rinsed the material, the colour just washed away.

它呈现的颜色很好，但当我冲洗材料时，颜色就被洗掉了。

I'd been going to try it out on nylon, but I abandoned that idea.

我本来打算在尼龙上试试，但我放弃了这个想法。

TUTOR: Were you worried about health issues?

导师：你担心健康问题吗?

JIM: I'd thought if it's a legal food colouring, it must be safe.

吉姆：我想如果这是一个合法的食用色素，它必须是安全的。

TUTOR: Well, it can occasionally cause allergic reactions, I believe.

老师：嗯， 我相信它有时也会引起过敏反应。