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In some cases, you might ask what someone is doing to make small talk. Maybe you’re both in the same workplace, you’re studying together, you’re on the phone, etc.在某些情況下，你問某人what are you doing 可能是想和某人閑聊。你們可能是在一起工作，也可能是在一起學習，或者你們正在打電話。
(A and B both work in the same office)（A和B在同一間辦公室工作）
A: What are you doing right now?A:你現在干嘛呢？
B: Looking through this code to check for bugs.B:我在查看代碼檢查bug。
A: That looks tedious. Wanna take a lunch break in a bit?A:這看起來很無聊，想一起吃個午飯休息一下嗎？
In this scenario, A asks the question What are you doing? to strike up a small conversation with B. Another common alternative for this is What are you up to?在這個場景中A問what are you doing?是想和B閑聊。這種情況下，可以代替what are you doing的就是what are you up to?
A: What are you up to right now?A: 你現在干嘛呢？
B: Looking through this code to check for bugs.B:我在查看代碼檢查bug。
A: That looks tedious. Wanna take a lunch break in a bit?A:這看起來很無聊，想一起吃個午飯休息一下嗎？
Of course, there are many other conversation openers you could use that can apply to more general situations.當然，大多數情況下，你還可以用許多其他的句子作為對話的開場白：
What’s up?最近怎么樣？
How’s it going?近來如何？
What’s going on (with you)?（你）怎么了？
How are you (doing)?你干嗎呢？
What are you doing these days?這些天你在忙什么？
Let’s take a look at this next dialogue:讓我們看一下下面這個對話：
Kenny: Nate! Long time no see!肯尼：內特，好久不見！
Nate: I know! Good to see you.內特：是呀！看見你太好了。
Kenny: What are you doing these days?肯尼：最近忙什么呢？
Nate: I’ve been working and taking classes part-time. You?內特：我一直在工作，空閑時間在上課，你呢？
Here, Kenny runs into Nate and asks What are you doing these days? in order to catch up with him after a long period of not seeing him.在這里。肯尼遇到內特，肯尼問他最近在忙什么？為了了解沒有見面的這段時間內特在做什么。
This is a common way to do this, but you cannot simply ask What are you doing? That would mean you want to know what someone is doing right at that moment.這是一種常見的問法，但是你不能簡單地問What are you doing。這意味著你想知道那個時候某人在做什么。
Instead, Kenny follows with the phrase these days in order to specify that he’s asking about Nate’s current life in general. Here are some alternatives:相反，肯尼用these days 來修飾what are you doing來說明他是在問內特當前的生活.這種情況下，你還可以使用一下其他的短語。
What are you doing lately?你最近在忙什么？
What are you doing with your life?你最近在忙什么？
What are you up to lately?你最近在忙什么？
How is it going these days?最近怎么樣？
How is it going lately?最近怎么樣？
You could also ask any of these questions in the present perfect progressive tense since it describes a continuous state or action up until now.你也可以用現在完成時態來提問，因為他描述了一個連續持續到現在的動作。
What have you been doing lately?你最近在忙些什么？
What have you been doing with your life?你最近在忙些什么？
What have you been up to lately?你最近在忙些什么？
How’s it been going these days?你最近在忙些什么？
How’s it been going lately?你最近怎么樣？
Kenny: Nate! Long time no see!肯尼：內特，好久不見！
Nate: I know! Good to see you.內特：是呀！看見你太好了。
Kenny: What have you been up to lately?肯尼：最近忙什么呢？
Nate: Working and taking classes part-time. You?內特：我一直在工作，空閑時間在上課，你呢？
Finally, make sure not to confuse these two questions, for they mean very different things:最后，確保不要混淆這兩個問題，因為他們的意思非常不同。
What are you doing?你在做什么？
What do you do?你的工作是什么？
While we’ve seen all the various usages for the first question, the second question specifically asks about someone’s profession. You could also ask What do you do for a living?雖然我們已經看到第一個問題的各用法，但是第二個問題是關于別人的職業的。你也可以問What do you do for a living?來代替what do you do?
A: What do you do for a living?A:你做什么工作？
B: I work at a consulting firm. And you? What do you do?B:我在咨詢公司工作，你呢？你做什么工作？
A: I’m a professor.A:我是一名教授。
As you can see, it’s a very different kind of question, even though the wording is similar. Be sure to keep that in mind!正如你所看到的，盡管措辭相似，但是這是兩個非常不同的問題。切記！
