J：What were you and Richard talking about earlier? It looked intense.

早些时候你跟理查德在谈论什么，气氛看起来有点僵呀

L：Yeah, Richard said something to me that I didn't appreciate.

噢，他讲了些让我不喜欢的事

J：Oh, no. I know how insensitive he can be. What has he done now?

不会吧，我知道他这个人常常无礼又无知，今天他怎么又做这种事了?

L：He asked me how long it took me to learn English.

他问我学习英语多少年了

J：But, you were born and raised in California!

啊，你可是土生土长的加利福尼亚人呀

L：Yeah, but I get that sometimes. It doesn't matter how many generations my family has lived in the U.S., we'll always be foreigners in their eyes.

我算是明白了，无论我家有几代人在美国生活过，在有些人的眼里，我们永远是外国人

J：What a racist! How can you stand working with the guy?

真是个种族分子!你如何能忍受与这样的家伙同事

L：You know, Richard isn't such a bad guy. He made the comment out of ignorance, not malice.

你知道的，理查德这个人不坏。他说这些话就是出于无知，而非恶意

J：So, what did you say when he asked you how long it took you to learn English?

那么当他问你学了多久英语的时候，你是如何回答他的

L：I told him 28 years. And, he knows I'm 28 years old since I just celebrated my birthday last week. He was puzzled for a minute, and then he got it.

我告诉他28年了。他显然知道我也才28岁因为上周我刚庆贺过我的生日。他一听愣了一下，随后就明白我什么意思了。

J：Are you sure he really got the message?

你确信他明白了?

L：Yeah, I'm pretty sure since I then asked him how long it took him to learn English.

是的，当我问他学习英语多久的时候，我就确信他明白我的意思了

J：That's hilarious! What did he say?

真爽，他怎么回答的

L：He said, '36 years,' and we both laughed about it. He apologized and now, it's all good.

他说，36年了。我们俩接着就都笑了。他为刚才的事道歉，现在一切都挺好

J：I'm glad. I bet he won't make that mistake again.

我觉得挺好。我相信他不应该再犯类似的错误了。