Emoticon 表情符

Neil: Hello, this is Real English from BBC 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.

　　Feifei: 英語是一種十分程式化的語言，所以了解現實生活中人們經常使用的固定表達和俚語自然就很有用了。

　　Neil: 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 definition. An emoticon is a symbol or combination of symbols to convey emotional content in written or message form.

　　Feifei: Well, I'm still not sure. Emoticon 我們可以叫它“表情符號”或者“表情符”，就是把一些字母和符號放在一起做成的表情傚果。比如說我們在電子郵件和短信儅中經常用到的微笑表情 smiley faces, 或者嘴角下彎的沮喪表情，都是用引號、分號和括號這樣的符號而組成的。 Are we talking about smiley faces Neil?

　　Neil: Yes, we're talking about the little yellow faces we can send in emails and instant messaging 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.

　　Feifei: 括號。

　　Neil: Dashes.

　　Feifei: 破折號。

　　Neil: And colons.

　　Feifei: 冒號。

　　Neil: To make smiley or sad faces. These are also emoticons.

　　Feifei: 讓我們聽聽下麪這兩個人對有關表情符號所作的對話。

　　Example

　　A: You know I always find it difficult to really express my emotions when I'm sending an instant message.
　　B: 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: Ok then, I'll have 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.