VOA慢速英语:千禧一代的消遣?桌游

Play for Millenials? Board Games

千禧一代的消遣?桌游

Welcome to American Mosaic from VOA Learning English. I’m June Simms. Today on the show, we hear about the increasing popularity of board games among young people.

欢迎来到美国之音(VOA)的美国万花筒节目。我是琼·希姆斯。在今天的节目中，我们听说棋盘游戏在年轻人中越来越受欢迎。

Toy industry experts say some people in the United States are turning off their electronic devices to play with classic toys like board games. This is especially true among the so-called millennial generation. People of this generation were born in the 1980s and 1990s. One coffee shop in Los Angeles is making profitable use of the increase in popularity of board games.

玩具行业的专家称一些美国人开始失去对电子产品的兴趣，转而玩像桌游这样的经典娱乐项目。在“千禧一代”中，这种现象尤其突出。他们大多是80后或90后。洛杉矶的一家咖啡店正在利用棋牌游戏的逐渐流行来盈利。

GameHäus Café opened in November of 2013. The café is dedicated to board games. It has more than 750 games available for its customers. The business does not feature wireless Internet connection.

GameHäus Café(一家法式咖啡屋)于2013年10月份开始营业。该咖啡屋专门经营桌游。它为消费者提供了超过750种游戏。他们不提供无线网络连接业务。

A group of friends play a board game at a cafe. 一群朋友正在一家咖啡屋里玩桌游。

Many customers like Roxanne Lee and her husband Agassi Lai think that is good. Ms. Lee praises the atmosphere of the café.

然而很多顾客(比如洛葛仙妮·李和她的丈夫阿加西·莱)觉得这样也好。Lee女士还称赞了咖啡屋里的气氛。

“I think it’s very interesting for spending quality time together so that’s why I like it.”

我觉得跟家人共度黄金时间很有趣，这是我喜欢这的原因。

Agassi Lai used to like playing video games. But everything changed when he discovered board games a few years ago. Agassi Lai likes to play a board game called “Escape the Curse of the Temple.”

Agassi Lai以前爱玩电子游戏。但是几年前当他接触了桌游后，情况就发生了改变。他现在喜欢上了一种名为 “神庙逃亡”的游戏。

“You keep rolling the dice and try to move to different places and try to escape the temple.”

“你得不断掷骰子，设法将棋子移到不同地方，并且想办法逃离神庙。”

Mr. Lai and almost all the customers playing board games at the café are millennials. Market research company Euro monitor International says the new interest by millennials in the games is expected to increase U.S. sales. But sales of video games are expected to grow more.

莱先生和在咖啡屋玩桌游的几乎所有的顾客都是千禧一代。市场调研公司欧睿信息咨询公司称千禧一代对这些产生新兴趣的桌游预计会增长美国的收益。但是电子游戏的收益预计会增长更快

Twenty-three-year-old Weland Bourne is one of those board-game-loving millennials.

二十三岁的威兰德·伯恩是喜爱桌游的千禧一代之一。

“I think more with my generation, they’re wanting to take time. They’re wanting to take it slowly and I think, too, video games have kind of lost their glamour.”

“对于我们这一代的许多人而言，他们愿意在这个游戏上消遣。他们想放慢生活节奏，而且我也觉得电子游戏已经失去了吸引力。”

Millennials are not playing the classic American games they know and love. They are choosing new games from Europe. Terry Chiu is an owner of GameHäus Café. He says many “Euro games” have become popular around the world. He believes this is because the games are not based in language. Instead, they use symbols and have simple rules.

千禧之子们不玩那些他们所熟悉和喜爱的经典的美国桌游，而是选择了来自欧洲的新桌游。赵建明是GameHäus Café咖啡屋的老板。他说许多“欧洲桌游”在全世界受欢迎。他认为这是因为这些游戏不需要语言交流。相反地，它们利用的是一些符号和简单的规则。

“Because of the rise of European games, or Euro games, or German games as they might also be known, in the last 15 to 20 years, it’s actually become sort of universal. There are certain titles that have really crossed a lot of cultures to really capture the imaginations of different people.”

“在过去的15到20的年里，可能由于玩‘欧洲人桌游’、‘欧洲桌游’或者是‘德国桌游’的玩家数量的增加或者这些游戏被大家所熟知，实际上已经普及了。有些游戏的名字实际上跨越了多种文化，以引起不同人的想象。”

Many millennials, including Kristie Nehme, say there is one thing a board game can offer that a video game cannot provide.

包括克里斯蒂·尼赫鲁在内的许多千禧一代说桌游里有一种感受是电子游戏里所无法享受到的。

“The more personal aspect of just being with friends and seeing each other in person and that’s probably the main difference, the main appeal.”

“其更人性化的一面是在游戏中可以跟朋友们待在一块，相互看着对方。而这或许是两者的主要差别，也是桌游吸引人的地方。”

Adrienne Appell is with the Toy Industry Association. She says the new generation just wants to put down the telephone and Tablet and connect directly with other people.

艾德丽安·阿佩尔是玩具产业协会的成员。她称新时代的人们想通过当面与别人交流来取代电话和平板电脑。

I'm June Simms. Join us again next week for American Mosaic from VOA Learning English.

我是琼·西姆斯，欢迎下周继续收听我们的美国之音(VOA)的美国万花筒节目。

喻陆平翻译，voa小组校对，2014-05-12