《闲话美国》-邻居把孩子送我家“打工”,是为了赚钱?

英文小酒馆 LHH

可以搜索公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】或者添加【luluxjg2】加入社群,查看文稿和其他精彩内容哦~ Hello, everyone. And welcome back to America Under the Microscope, advanced episode. Hi, Lulu. Hi, James. Let's go ahead and continue our talk we were having about Americans and DIY. Last time you said DIY is partly because of money, because labor costs a lot. Certainly does. But also because people in America, you guys do find a sense of accomplishment from all these DIY projects. So Americans really get very proud with their work. What comes with that is when we are really proud of our own work is a lack of trust in other people's work. I could imagine, but bring that back a little bit. What happens when you actually have the money to hire professionals to do pretty much everything? Let's just say. You’re upper middle class, you've got the money to pay all of your contractors. Would people still do it themselves or would they consider outsourcing? Once you're in that situation, it really becomes more of not so much of a money issue, but more of a prime issue. So they are... people who are still upper middle class and have money, they might still do honey do projects and still do things. But they're gonna be focusing is like this project will take X amount of hours. This one will take two X amount of hours. So they might do the shorter project themselves but hire someone to do a longer project or hire someone who would do the project that goes well beyond their own skills. I see. So really just they're gonna do more of a cost benefit analysis and just timing and all those things. Whereas people who have lower income, they don't have that option. That actually makes sense, for example, like when I'm thinking about hiring a cleaner to clean, this is what I think if I can, within the same amount of time, make more money, then I would out source that because it makes more financial sense. Right? What about you James? like let's say if you guys moved back to the States and you bought a house, what kind of things are you willing to do yourself? What kind of things, what kind of work would you out source? Myself? any kind of painting I would do, I don't need to hire anyone to do that. Anything that evolves simple like repairs, like if I need to put up the... like fix the molding, things like this, I can do whether it's like outdoor things, fixing the fence, fixing the garden type stuff. I have no problem doing that myself. But no piping. Piping no, I would hire a plumber for that. Or if it's things related to the wiring. Electricity. Yes, then I would definitely hire a contractor for that. I don't trust myself enough like I can replace a light socket, I know how to do that. I know how to install a new light switch, that I can do; beyond that, I don't...I can't do it. Yeah, the thing is, just a side note, in my home it’s basically my dad who's doing all of that. My dad actually does not trust other people to do that. But then again, he is an electrical engineer, sort of makes sense. He has the skills. Exactly. But since last time you were talking about saying that if you go to an American's home, then they are going to talk your ear off about what they have done in terms of home improvement.

10分钟
99+
2年前

《闲话美国》-美国人DIY是因为成就感吗?其实emmm~

英文小酒馆 LHH

可以搜索公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】或者添加【luluxjg2】加入社群,查看文稿和其他精彩内容哦~ Hi, everyone. And welcome back to America Under the Microscope. 欢迎回来【美国美国】. Hi, James. Hi, Lulu. Hi, everyone. What are we going to talk about today? I have a question for you. It's actually more of an observation that I've noticed while living here. While living in China, one thing I noticed is that people are always like remodeling or fixing up their homes, right?I've never seen anyone paint their own homes. They always hire people to do it. Why is that? You mean paint their walls? Yes. Is that not normal?You're confusing me because in my understanding it’s just like you have to paint your wall or have your wall painted, then you hire a guy, you hire a contractor, hire someone who professionally...Does that, is that not the same in America? We do have professional painters and you can hire someone to do it. What you're more likely to come across in America is the Americans doing that themselves. I guess that's what we're gonna talk about today, the whole do it yourself, DIY. Because in America, DIY is a pretty big thing. And we'll talk about several reasons why that is. I mean that's kind of built in your DNA so to speak. That's a good way to put it. I mean Americans do kind of like to go their own way or create their own stuff. So the idea of doing it yourself is really ingrained in us. But come on. So when we were talking about why Americans like DIY does it not have anything to do with money? No, that almost certainly has everything to do with money. It's money because hiring people to do things for you is expensive. People are basically saying, obviously I don't really have the exact number. But is it true that contractors or let's say like plumbers, electricians, these people they actually make very good money. Yes. If I was an electrician in America, I would be making more money than I am currently as a teacher. Wow. But then I can imagine hiring someone to do painting to fix your pipes will be very expensive. Yeah, although when you're using like the term like an electrician or a plumber, those would be a couple of exceptions and most Americans would hire someone to do those things because making a mistake with wiring or pipes can lead to disaster. 水电还是要找人做的, but painting your house, what mistakes can you make? Couple of hand prints here or there, you might have painted over something you weren't supposed to, but it's pretty easy to fix. But the other thing, the reason why we like to do it is Americans really like to pride themselves on what they've accomplished themselves. So one way we kind of really express ourselves and like if you ever get a chance to go to an American’s home, they will talk your ear off about all the things that they have done to improve their home.

9分钟
99+
2年前

《闲话英伦》-英国人也活不起了?游行示威者:我们是被逼的。

英文小酒馆 LHH

可以搜索公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】或者添加【luluxjg2】加入社群,查看文稿和其他精彩内容哦~ Hi everyone, and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope. 欢迎回来【闲话英伦】. Hi,安澜. Hi Lulu, hi everyone. 安澜 I know over the years we've talked about a lot of fun topics, but today I would propose a pretty painful topic. I hope you don't mind. That's fine. How painful we’re talking? You remember last time when we were discussing the coronation of your new King, we mentioned that people had problems with this elaborate spending because there's a huge cost of living crisis in the UK. Yes. 大家看新闻, 包括中文媒体报道的可能就会每天都能看到英国, 甚至整个欧洲都有 cost of living, 就物价的上涨, 还有老百姓的各种罢工什么的. So I thought we talked about cost of living, get to the bottom of it, what cost it and how are people dealing with it? As you say, it's not a particularly light topic. So we are gonna be talking a little bit about the economy and we also be talking a little bit about the background behind this. I'm sure that there probably a few economists listening to this, so if you are, please also let us know your thoughts. Exactly. Or people who actually live in the UK. Absolutely. First of all, cost of living就是生活成本; but cost of living crisis, this is very easy to understand, it's basically it's getting more and more expensive to live in the UK. That's right. Prices and inflation have increased dramatically in a very short period of time, much faster than real incomes. Basically your income does not go up, but all of your outgoings, all of your expenses go up. That's right. So it is becoming a lot more expensive to live in the UK and I noticed it myself. I went back to the UK last year in 2022 for the first time since 2019, I was quite surprised how expensive things had got. And this basically covered everything or covers everything, right, from things you buy in supermarket to going out to have a drink in the pub. Inflation is around 10%. And as an attempt to try and stop the inflation, interest rates have also been increasing. 首先通胀率是高起10% that's pretty high. But interest rate, honestly, every time you guys increased the interest rate, I was like this has got to be the last time they do it. They can't just keep doing it and then they do it again and then they do it again. Don't mention it. I've got a mortgage in the UK and when I first got my mortgage, it was like 1% interest, now it's 6%. Jesus. 所以从1个点到6个点的增长. Yes. How many times they've been doing it? At least 8, 9 times already. I've lost count.

8分钟
99+
2年前

取关朋友圈戏精和“有毒”博主后,我感到前所未有的快乐

英文小酒馆 LHH

欢迎来到英文小酒馆的迷你双语板块【Buzzword Mix】-新词特饮,短短几分钟,让不同段位的你掌握最新最地道的英文谈资! 关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】,获取更多有趣节目内容和文稿哦~ In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is JOMO. 如果你一直有听我们【新词特饮】这个板块的话, 可能还有点印象, 之前有一集我们讲到过FOMO这个词, FOMO, the fear of missing out. 中文把它翻译成 “错失恐惧症”. Now FOMO refers to feeling or perception that others are having more fun, living better lives or experiencing better things than you are. 这种所谓的 FOMO或者 “错失恐惧症”主要指的就是在社交媒体横行的今天, 我们随时随地都会觉得别人正在过着比我们更精彩的生活, 我们很担心会错失这样的人生经历. 今天的Buzzword就是把FOMO前面的F改成了J. So what then is JOMO? Let me ask you a question, have you ever felt a sense of joy, happiness when you knew you were missing out on an invitation to a party or the latest social media posts and influencer trends because you were “unplugged”? 大家有没有经历过那种最近什么网上流行的新潮流, 但是你没有赶上, 因为你没有关注社交媒体而错过这些潮流, 你有没有感受到一种特殊的轻松和喜悦? If so, then you have probably experienced “JOMO” – the joy of missing out. “错过的喜悦”, 我还看到一个翻译叫做 “错过之欢”. In many ways, JOMO can be considered the opposite of FOMO. 刚才我们也说了FOMO这个错失恐惧症更多的是跟anxiety焦虑, 还有其他各种的负面情绪连接在一起的. It's easy to blame technology and social media for FOMO. However, in fact, FOMO is rooted in our innate tendency to socially compare ourselves to others as we seek to better understand who we are and our place in the world. 很多人就会把FOMO怪在社交媒体上, 但实际上网络也好, 社交媒体也好, 不过是一个手段. 而这种不断的想通过和别人比较, 来寻求自己在社会中的定位, 这是我们人类与生俱来的一个天性.

8分钟
99+
2年前

《英美大不同》-不小心撞见老板和女同事暧昧,我该怎么办?

英文小酒馆 LHH

"英文小酒馆致力于打造沉浸式英语学习社群,无论是微信社群、有声节目、线上活动和课程,我们都全心全意为爱好英语的你带去一份专属于英语的快乐。 关注公号: 【璐璐的英文小酒馆】 查音频节目文稿,了解广阔的世界。跟随我们的脚步,体会英语的温度。" So the first six questions is more about sort of like dealing with bosses and working overtime. Now it's more dealing with people you work with. Do we have to? Depending on if what kind of people you work with? The first one, out of the blue, someone in your office lights up a massive pipe of tobacco and starts puffing away. 开始抽烟抽烟斗了, fill in the room with smoke, being British and being American, let's start with Anlan. Well, being British, what you would do is you go okay, pour yourself a scotch. Sit down with them, drink a scotch and probably start smoking. Even if you're not a smoker. Even if you're not a smoker. You don't want to be left out and it would be rude not to join them. I can hear your breeze. It's about the entire time and this is getting louder and louder. All right. I’m sensing the American side might just tell them to cut it, to stop it. Americans would freak out. It's like, what are you doing? You're going to get a shutdown. You want the health inspectors to come here. They will shut us down. Put that out. Is it completely smoke free, sort of thing. Oh, yeah, workplaces are completely smoke free like you'll get into serious trouble. Like being taken to court serious? Like you'll be fired. Companies can get their business license suspended. That sounds pretty... Yeah, it is a no go, it does just no go. One annoying colleague down, the next one. So this one starts using the office microwave to heat up fish every morning. It makes the whole building smell like cat’s breath. So what would you do?Let's start with the American side. Not naming names, Pam, the microwave is not for heating up fish, Pam. It is for non-offensive odors, Pam. Do you work with a Pam? Everyone works whit a Pam. Would you actually say that or would you leave it like... It would be a note. Okay. The other thing is people...your lunch box in the company fridge might magically disappear. Do you actually label it?If it's a communal fridge, label your food? You should, but I didn't see a label on that fish. Don’t touch my fish. And 安澜? I would get in even earlier and cut the wire that's attached the electricity. So a mild electric shock just to prevent that fish smell? It is a very, very bad smell. I really don't like fish smells. That's okay. I need to keep my distance from you. Who microwaves fish? Fish should not be microwaved. I’ve microwaved fish before, leftover fish, you microwave it. Yeah, but not in an office microwave. I don't know, some people don't mind it, but then we digress coming back. I don't even know if this actually happens in both of your cultures. You stand up to tell your colleagues that you're just popping out for lunch,说我出去吃饭了. Does anyone need anything, you ask politely.你们要不要给你们带点什么 and one colleague had the audacity to actually say to you. Yes. And handed you a list of things that he or she needs, being American. That was a rookie mistake, you offered, American culture, you offer, you are obligated. So you can’t just do a polite offering. No, you don't, because you don't have to offer it at all, like I’m going to go out to get lunch. If I say if I’m going to go out to get lunch, anyone want anything? I'm actually offering to buy them something or not buy them but pick it up for them. So if you actually offered, but just thinking that you wanted to, for example, in the same restaurant you pack me a sandwich, but I actually handed you a list and say, James, can you get me this this this? I’m going to McDonald's and I will buy you a big Mac or a Filet-O-Fish.

10分钟
99+
2年前

《英美大不同》-演讲途中“屎意”来了绷不住,英美人的迷惑反应令人捧腹。

英文小酒馆 LHH

英文小酒馆致力于打造沉浸式英语学习社群,无论是微信社群、有声节目、线上活动和课程,我们都全心全意为爱好英语的你带去一份专属于英语的快乐。 关注公号: 【璐璐的英文小酒馆】 查音频节目文稿,了解广阔的世界。跟随我们的脚步,体会英语的温度。 Hi, everyone and welcome back to your favorite segment Across the Pond. 欢迎你们回来, 你最喜欢的, 并且一直要求回来的这么一个板块, 叫做【英美大不同】. We have in our studio James. Hi, everyone And 安澜. Hello. I'm going to give them some really awkward questions in like social settings, so that they are going to give their answers as American and British and see if they have any differences in their opinions. I'm sure we do. Are you guys ready? Oh, yes. Why not? The topic we're going to do is work. Pass. Question number one, there's a new guy at work and he asks you, what is the best thing about working for this company or this organization, being British or being American?What would you do?Let's start with James. It really depends on whether you like or not like it. Maybe if you don't like it, it would be like coffee is good. And if you do like it, you're going to be honest like we have great benefits. Boss is super approachable. He's a cool dude. Okay. So if you don't like working there, would you not come out and directly say run? Or you might say something like keep your resume updated. Subtle. And 安澜? I would think about ways I can give my work to that person. That's very sneaky. It is very sneaky, but I’m being honest here I would think it's a new guy. He'll say yes to anything. So let's see how much work of mine I can give him. But would you not tell him exactly what is good about this about working here? Absolutely. I’ll tell him about the workload. Okay. Remind me not to ask you to be the poster child for the company. Probably best not. All right. Question number two, a visitor, this is a visitor at work, goes on your work computer before you've had a chance to clear your internet search history, what is he or she likely to find and also how would you respond, 安澜 first? I was going on YouTube to do some company research and also the news BBC, those things I bought on eBay were completely necessary for my project. Would you feel offended that someone goes on just without your permission? To be honest, a work computer, they would have to have your permission because you have to have passwords and things like that. So probably I would have given permission for them to use my computer and then suddenly thought my God, they're going to find what I bought on eBay and Amazon. OK, and James. I’m going to guess they're system administrator because they got into my computer. Second, I got nothing to hide to work computer. I’m not going to put all that stuff on my work computer. That's what personal computers are for. But are you saying that when you are at work, everything you do on the internet is completely about work. So no eBay, no any of that? Usually at work, yes, on our work computers, yes, because many companies in America track what you do online. Scary. Next question, you have a half-day holiday already booked in. But after working your morning, your boss asks you, if you're all set for the afternoon’s big meeting, what would you do in this situation, James? Yeah, I’m heading up to the car now. See you on Monday. Would that not make you a… I don't know, unfavorable person in the eyes of the boss? No, because he's already approved my time off. So...

10分钟
99+
2年前

抄袭、剽窃,真相还是误解?

英文小酒馆 LHH

"欢迎来到英文小酒馆的迷你双语板块【Buzzword Mix】-新词特饮,短短几分钟,让不同段位的你掌握最新最地道的英文谈资! 关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】,获取更多有趣节目内容和文稿哦~" In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is Aigiarism. To talk about that, let's talk about ChatGPT first. Now I'm pretty sure even if you're not into technology at all, you have heard of it. It is one of the most significant language models ever created because it is capable of generating human-like text and can perform a variety of tasks, including translation, summarization, and writing code. 即使你对科技再不感冒, 相信你也听过ChatGPT, 也知道它的功能超级强大, 可以迅速生成大段的以假乱真的文本. While undeniably innovative and exciting, ChatGPT might have a dark side and people are starting to see it. 很多人都觉得ChatGPT很强大很好玩很创新, 也有不少人产生了深深的忧患意识, 这个要说到咱们今天的buzzword. First of all, what does Aigiarism mean, like many of the buzzwords we talked about before, it is a combination of two words. 这个词前半部分就是AI人工智能, 后半部分是Plagiarism. Plagiarism一般被翻译成剽窃或者是抄袭. In simple terms, Aigiarism means plagiarizing using AI, sometimes it's also called AI assisted plagiarism. 说白了就是通过AI技术进行了抄袭和学术剽窃行为. Plagiarism, by definition, is taking someone else’s work and presenting it as your own. When you take free content generated from an AI, it falls into the category of ‘not your work’, and by presenting it as your own, you are committing plagiarism. 虽然很多人可能会狡辩说, 我用AI只是用了一个科技去生成文本, 我也没有抄谁的, 但这种把不是你自己创造的内容, 当做是自己的提交上去, 本来就是plagiarism的行为. The word “Aigiarism” exists as a result of AI advancement. Since ChatGPT has made the tour worldwide, people have noticed that they could use it to generate free content for papers, articles, and other written forms. 相信试用过ChatGPT的小伙伴都知道, 比如说你想要写篇文章, 其实你只要告诉他, 你希望这个文章里面是大概写什么的, 它就会自动帮你生成一个文本, 而且还看起来非常像是人写出来的. Therefore Aigiarism is directly committing an offense to academic integrity. 大部分学术界的担心都是它会破坏academic integrity, 一般被翻译成学术诚信, 学术诚信的反面就是academic misconduct, 学术不端. Now with the rise of AI tools like text generators, things have gotten to a more complex level where the line between Aigiarism and original content has become blurred. 学术剽窃或者学术查重这些词一直都存在, 但是现在有了AI强有力的工具, 怎么界定Aigiarism就变得很复杂. Because AI generated text can often mimic human writing styles and create articles, essays, and even books that are difficult to distinguish from human written work. 这是因为随着技术的进步, 由AI生成的文本, 比如说ChatGPT它生成的文本就可以很好地模仿真人写作的风格, 让一般人很难去判定这个到底是AI写的还是人写的. And this has led to new moral and legal problems for authors, publishers, and content creators who are trying to protect their intellectual property in a time when AI technology is changing and developing super fast. 所以这就也让作者、出版商, 包括像我这样的内容主都面临着如何保护自己的intellectual property知识产权这样的一个问题. These worries are pretty fair because originality and academic integrity are foundational standards, not just in the academic world, but in content creation in general. 其实这种忧患并不是空穴来风, 因为不光是学术界, 只要涉及原创内容的出产, 那么originality原创性和academic integrity学术诚信都是基石一样的东西.

9分钟
99+
2年前
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