情景对话

As our knowledge of health and fitness increases, people are becoming more and more interested in not only taking care of themselves physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. Yoga’s origins lie in Hidu philosophy, which was developed thousands of years ago in India. There are eight schools of yoga, each varying in its area of emphasis.

随着我们对健康和健身知识的与日俱增，人们不仅仅关心体格身体的健康，还越来越关心着心理与精神的健康。起源于印度哲学的瑜伽在印度已经发展了数千年。如今瑜伽已经有八大流派，每一派强调的领域都各有不同。

Part 1

A: You are always keeping up with the changes in fashion. I hear now you are warming up to yoga. How is it?

B: Marvelous! It's fun! And I especially enjoy the headstands and handstands.

A: But to the best of my knowledge, most enthusiasts are women.

B: Yes, that's true. At the beginning, women go in for it mainly. But as its popularity grows, men are becoming more receptive to the idea. As a boy, I liked to stand on my head. When my wife started taking yoga four years ago, I thought I should try it.

A: Why did you want to have a go?

B: Because my back was so stiff I couldn't sleep on my stomach anymore.

A: It cannot be a thing to easy start, right?

B: sure, the first few classes were tough, but I stuck with it. The first major effect I noticed was that I'd feel very relaxed after a class. I become stronger, more flexible and my posture improved.

A: You must be used to it now.

B: I still find the physical side of yoga challenging; I also like the contemplative side.

A: It sounds beneficial. And it calls for a great perseverance.

B: You are right. However hard it may be, a number of men are exercising “mind-fully”, including many athletes-the Yankee’s Orlando Hernandez, known as E1 Duque, practices yoga, and tiger woods does another holistic exercise method called Pilates. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in holistic fitness techniques like yoga, pilates, tai chi and the Feldenkrais Method.

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1 keep up with… 紧随 keep up with the changes in fashion就是紧随着潮流的变化，紧跟时尚的脚步.在英语中还有一个习语，keep up with the Jones’, 跟隔壁Jones一家比比高低，表示左右攀比，不甘落后。

2 warm up to… 热衷于某事.Warm up to yoga, 热衷于练习瑜伽.从字面上很好理解，warm up, 热身起来，投入到运动中来.Become enthusiastic of something or some kind of sports.

e.g: Lately many young people are warming up to bungee jumping, a risk to challenge their nerves.

3 Marvelous! It’s fun! 棒极了!真有趣!在听到对方陈述自己的某一项兴趣爱好和谈论成绩成就的时候，听者往往是先表达一下自己的赞美或者羡慕之情，这个时候往往就要用到一些词语，它们是：Marvelous! Great! Fantastic! Amazing! (意思相近，都是“了不起!，棒极了!太让人惊叹了!类似的含义。)

4 especially enjoy…. B说到他感到瑜伽练习很有趣，他尤其喜欢头支撑倒立和手支撑倒立，I especially enjoy headstand and handstand. 也就是 among all yoga exercises I prefer headstand and handstand, 或者I love headstand and handstand most among all yoga exercises.

5 to the best of my knowledge. 就我所知, 相当于so far as I know… 这样的一些短语并没有实际的含义，通常都用在句首，说话人要表达的观点，态度都在后面。

e.g: To the best of my knowledge, few Chinese movies are competitive in the world’s movie festivals.

6 sb become more receptive to sth…某人开始逐渐接受某物。例如：中医的针灸疗法在国外已经逐渐得到一些人群的接受，这句话怎么说呢：

Westerners have gradually accepted acupuncture, a branch of traditional Chinese medicine. 或者说：Westerners have become more receptive to acupuncture, a branch of traditional Chinese medicine.

7 want to have a go 试一试。这是口语中常用的表达“尝试一把”的说法。

8 sleep on my stomach, 趴着睡。从字面上就很好理解，睡在我的肚皮上，当然就是趴着睡了。B 说因为我的背Stiff, 僵硬得很，所以不能趴着睡觉。

9 A问起了B练习瑜伽的感受怎么样，B 说开始的时候感觉比较困难，tough, 艰难，难耐。但是后来终于坚持下来了，Stuck with it=go on with it, not giving up halfway.

10 there has been increasing interest in sth。人们对于某一样事务有持续不断的高涨的热情。

e.g: there has been increasing interest in volunteering work related to Beijing 2008 Olympic games. 越来越多的人热情高涨地参与到北京2008奥运会志愿者的行动中来了。

Useful expressions 脱口而出：

you are always keeping up with the changes in fashion.

你总是跟紧时尚的变化啊。

Marvelous! It’s fun!

棒极了!那真有趣!

Do you want a go?

要不要试一下?

It calls for great perseverance[,p?:si:'vi?r?ns].

那需要很大的毅力