實用英語

“實用英語”是一個關于英語學習的電臺節目，希望同學們能從節目中學到英式英語的新詞匯和新說法。本期學習的新說法是emoticon（表情符號）。現在讓我們來聽聽主持人是如何介紹這個詞的用法吧！

Neil: Hello， this is Real English from Learning English， I’m Neil.

Feifei: And I’m Feifei. Hello!

Neil: In Real English， we look at words and phrases that you might not find in your dictionary. Today’s word is “emoticon.”

Feifei: What?

Neil: Emoticon.

Feifei: Don’t know what that is.

Neil: Oh yes you do， Feifei. Let’s look at the current[時下的] definition. An emoticon is a

symbol or combination of symbols to convey[表達] emotional content in written or message form.

Feifei: Well， I’m still not sure. Are we talking about smiley[微笑的] faces， Neil?

Neil: Yes， we’re talking about the little yellow

faces we can send in emails and instant

messaging注 systems that express our

emotions – we call those emoticons.

Feifei: It’s not just smiley faces though， is it， Neil?

Neil: No， you can use brackets[括號]，

dashes[破折號] and colons[冒號] to make smiley or sad faces. These are also emoticons.

Dialogue Excerpts: （對話摘錄）

A: You know， I always find it difficult to really express my emotions when I’m sending an instant message.

B: Yeah， well， why don’t you use those

emoticons more?

A: I could， yes， but I’m never really sure if they show the right emotion that I want to express.

B: Well， there are quite a lot of emoticons you can use: happy， sad， feeling mad! They express a lot of emotions.

A: Okay then， I’ll give it a go!

Neil: So， Feifei， are you a fan of the

emoticon?

Feifei: Yes， I like them actually. There’s quite a bit of variety， and you can express your emotions quite clearly when you are

messaging someone. It’s nearly as good as talking to them for real!

Neil: Well， I wouldn’t say that. There’s no way you can express your emotions in an

emoticon， Feifei!

Feifei: No， I disagree. I think they’re great!

Neil: Well， we can’t spend any more time

arguing – join us soon for more Real English.

Feifei: Bye.

注：即時通訊（IM），包括我們熟悉的QQ、MSN、短信等聯絡系統。