Upper-Intermediate - Phobias (D0271)

我们周末去游泳吧！
wǒmen zhōumò qù yóuyǒng ba ！
Let’s go swimming this weekend!

我不会游泳，老实说我有点怕水。
wǒ bùhuì yóuyǒng ，lǎoshí shuō wǒ yǒudiǎn pà shuǐ 。
I can’t swim. To tell the truth, I’m a little afraid of the water.

啊，你这么大了，居然怕水？
á ，nǐ zhème dà le ，jūrán pà shuǐ ？
What? You’re this old, and scared of the water?

你别笑我。我是真的对水恐惧。每个人难免都有自己害怕的东西。你肯定也有。
nǐ bié xiào wǒ 。wǒ shì zhēnde duì shuǐ kǒngjù 。měigerén nánmiǎn dōu yǒu zìjǐ hàipà de dōngxi 。nǐ kěndìng yě yǒu 。
Don’t laugh at me. I really have a phobia of water. Everyone has a fear of something. You must be afraid of something too.

我的确有。我有恐高症。从高处往下看，我马上会头晕，双脚发抖。
wǒ díquè yǒu 。wǒ yǒu kǒnggāozhèng 。cóng gāochù wǎng xià kàn ，wǒ mǎshàng huì tóuyūn ，shuāngjiǎo fādǒu 。
I certainly am. I have acrophobia. When I look down from high places, I instantly get dizzy, and my legs start to shake.

是啊，这些好像都是天生的。就算年龄再大，也没办法克服。比如说，好多人有飞行恐惧症。情况严重的甚至不能坐飞机。这多不方便呀。
shì ā ，zhèxiē hǎoxiàng dōu shì tiānshēng de 。jiù suàn niánlíng zài dà ，yě méi bànfǎ kèfú 。bǐrú shuō ，hǎo duō rén yǒu fēixíng kǒngjùzhèng 。qíngkuàng yánzhòng de shènzhì bùnéng zuò fēijī 。zhè duō bù fāngbiàn yā 。
Yes, it seems that these kinds of things are natural. Even as we get older, there’s no way to overcome them. For example, a lot of people have a fear of flying. It’s so serious that they can’t even travel by plane. It’s very inconvenient.

嗯，我的好朋友就是这样。还有好多人有幽闭恐惧症，在狭小的空间里，就会感觉透不过气，甚至要窒息。
én ，wǒ de hǎopéngyou jiùshì zhèyàng 。hái yǒu hǎo duō rén yǒu yōubì kǒngjùzhèng ，zài xiáxiǎo de kōngjiān lǐ ，jiù huì gǎnjué tòubuguò qì ，shènzhì yào zhìxī 。
Yeah, my good friend is like that. There are also lots of people who have claustrophobia. When they are in confined spaces, they feel like they can’t breathe, even to the point that they feel like they are going to suffocate.

这些都是比较常见的恐惧症。我还认识人有毛发恐惧症，看见头发就像看见鬼一样。你说他每天看着自己的头发怎么生活呢？
zhèxiē dōu shì bǐjiào chángjiàn de kǒngjùzhèng 。wǒ hái rènshi rén yǒu máofà kǒngjùzhèng ，kànjiàn tóufa jiù xiàng kànjiàn guǐ yīyàng 。nǐ shuō tā měitiān kàn zhe zìjǐ de tóufa zěnme shēnghuó ne ？
These are all the more common phobias. I also know some people have a phobia of hair. When they see hair, it’s just as scary to them as seeing a ghost. When they look at their own hair every day, how can they cope?

是啊。看来，我们俩的情况还没那么糟糕。
shì ā 。kànlai ，wǒmen liǎ de qíngkuàng hái méi nàme zāogāo 。
Yeah. I guess our situations aren’t really that bad.

Vocabulary

怕	pà	to be afraid of
恐惧	kǒngjù	to fear
难免	nánmiǎn	to be hard to avoid
恐高症	kǒnggāozhèng	acrophobia
克服	kèfú	to overcome
幽闭恐惧症	yōubì kǒngjùzhèng	claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces)
狭小	xiáxiǎo	narrow
窒息	zhìxī	to suffocate
恐惧症	kǒngjùzhèng	phobia
狂犬病	kuángquǎnbìng	rabies (lit. “crazy dog disease”)
恐高症	kǒnggāozhèng	acrophobia
密闭	mìbì	enclosed, airtight
浴缸	yùgāng	bathtub
免除	miǎnchú	prevent; avoid
居然	jūrán	unexpectedly; to one’s surprise
竟然	jìngrán	unexpectedly; to one’s surprise
不可置信	bùkězhìxìn	cannot believe
戏剧性	xìjùxìng	dramatic quality