和老外聊天的地道口语第145期:早起的鸟儿有虫吃

S: you are an early bird, Tom. What do you do in the morning then?

T: exercise. The morning hours are the most precious period within a single day. We should not pass them up easily. Seize the time and do something useful.

S: so, you choose to spend it on bodybuilding. Where do you exercise?

T: usually, I run to the Black Bamboo Park as a warm-up. Admission is free. Then I start my activites.

S: do you do the same exercises every day?

T: no, I've deliberately kept a balance between various exercises: parallel bars, push-ups, sit-ups, bunny-hops, five-kilometer run, and so on. I alternate them over the weekdays. Sometimes, when I find myself in a bad state, I will simply idle about in the park.

S: why don't you just stay in bed when you feel unfit for exercising?

T: It's not easy to keep a good habit, you know. I fear that if I fail to get up early one day, I may find it still more difficult to rise early the next. Besides, a mere walk in the early morning is much fun, too. Here and there in the park, you meet whole gangs of senior citizens who might be singing operas or old songs, playing er'hu, chess, or just chatting and gossiping. It's interesting to join them.

S: oh, yes. Singing is also a good way of keeping fit, at least mentally.

汤姆,你通常起得很早.那么早起都做些什么呢?
锻炼.早晨是一天当中最美好的时光.我们不该轻易放过他.要充分利用时间,做点有用的事情.
所以,你把时间花在晨练上了.那你都在哪儿锻炼呢?
通常我跑步去紫竹院,正好热热身.那里不用买门票.然后才开始我的活动.
那每天都做同样的运动吗?
不是的.我有意在多项运动之间保持平衡:双杠,俯卧撑,仰卧起坐,兔子跳,五千米跑…一周之内轮流做.有时候,如果发现自己不怎么舒服,就只在公园里闲逛.
不舒服的时候,为什么不干脆多睡会?
你知道,保持一种习惯不容易.我担心的是,哪天我要没能早起,第二天早上恐怕就更难早起了.再说,清晨走一走也是乐趣多多.在公园里四处走走,总能碰上一群老年人,在唱戏或者其他老歌,拉二胡,下棋,或者只是闲聊.跟他们在一起也挺有意思.
是的.唱歌也是保持健康的好法子,哪怕只是精神上的.

Early bird: 早起者
In the business world, remember: the early bird gets the worm. 身在商业界,切记:早起的鸟儿有虫吃.
He's quite an early bird. 他是个早起者.

Warm-up: a short practice or a series of gentle exercises that you do to prepare yourself for doing a particular sport or activity (体育运动等前的)适应性活动,准备活动;热身练习
He swam ten lengths of the pool as a warm-up. 他在游泳池里游了五个来回作为热身活动.
warm-up exercises 热身练习

admission: the amount of money that you pay to go into a building or to an event 入场费;门票费
admission charges/prices 入场费／票价
£5 admission 入场费 5 英镑
What's the admission? 门票多少钱?

Alternate: to make things or people follow one after the other in a repeated pattern 使交替;使轮流
Alternate cubes of meat and slices of red pepper. 交替放置肉丁和红辣椒片.
Alternate cubes of meat with slices of red pepper. 交替放置肉丁和红辣椒片.

Idle: to spend time doing nothing important 混时间;闲荡;无所事事
They idled the days away, talking and watching television. 他们天天在闲聊和看电视中消磨时光.
They idled along by the river(= walked slowly and with no particular purpose). 他们沿着河边闲逛.

Unfit: not capable of doing something, for example because of illness (因病等)不能做某事,不宜做事
He's still unfit for work. 他还不宜工作.
The company's doctor found that she was unfit to carry out her normal work. 公司的医生认为,她不宜从事正常工作.

pass something↔up: to choose not to make use of a chance, an opportunity, etc. 放弃,不要(机会)
Imagine passing up an offer like that! 真想不到居然放弃人家提供的大好机会!