【原文】

Amanda: Hi, Mike. What are you reading?

Mike: Oh, these are just some books I picked up at a local poetry festival that took place a couple of weeks ago. Even though a lot of what the featured poets read wasn't in English, it was still neat to see that there are so many people who appreciate poetry in Taiwan.

Amanda: I didn't know you were such a poetry lover, Mike. Personally, I've always found that stuff a little bit boring and hard to understand. All that flowery language gives me a headache! I'd rather read a nice long novel any day.

Mike: I'll admit that poetry's an acquired taste. But once you learn more about it, you'll find that poems aren't all flowery and incomprehensible－they don't even have to rhyme! One of my favorite poets is Billy Collins, who writes really funny, clever poems in simple everyday English.

Amanda: I'll have to look him up. Say, have you ever written any poetry of your own? Some love sonnets, perhaps?

Mike: No love sonnets, but I did try to write some poems a long time ago. They were all really bad. Once I spent three hours trying to come up with a word that rhymes with "panda"!

Amanda: Silly Mike! How could you not think of "Amanda"?