中國(guó)人在美國(guó)：口語(yǔ)表達(dá)也要入鄉(xiāng)隨俗（03）

11. A peeking Tom

When small children peek through fences or into windows，they are probably just being curious。When a grown man does the same thing，it is often because he has other motives-and they aren't always innocent or respectable ones。A man snooping like that is a a peeking Tom，"The neighbors have called the police，They are certain there is a peeking Tom in the neighbourhood tonight。

Peek是窺視地意思，一個(gè)小男孩從圍墻或窗戶(hù)外偷看別人，可能是由于出于好奇心的驅(qū)使。但是當(dāng)一個(gè)大男人做出同樣的舉動(dòng)時(shí)，他就可能有猥褻的念頭。我們稱(chēng)這樣的人叫”Peeking Tom“。”鄰居們都打電話報(bào)警，說(shuō)今天晚上有個(gè)偷窺狂在附近出沒(méi)!

peek / pi:k; pik/ v [I, Ipr] ~ (at sth) look quickly and often secretively (at sth) 匆匆地(常為秘密地)看(某物); 偷看; 窺視: * No peeking! 禁止窺視! * peek over the fence 向籬笆那邊瞥一眼 * peek at sb's diary 偷看某人的日記.

12. A WINDFALL

Many words in English began as idioms.

A windfall is one of them.

It once referred to fruit that had been blown to the frond by the wind, but has now come to mean sudden good luck--Particularly in receiving money unexpectedly.

eg: "Felix won some money in the lottery and got a welcome windfall."

(那這個(gè)也算吧?)

13. John

John在美國(guó)算是大眾化的名字，除了我們實(shí)驗(yàn)室又一個(gè)John外，每次上德文課，當(dāng)老師叫一聲John來(lái)回答問(wèn)題時(shí)候，此時(shí)教室里又好幾聲回應(yīng)。

一天，我有事情找隔壁實(shí)驗(yàn)室的Albert，找了半天，也不見(jiàn)他的蹤影。正好看到Chuck在聚精會(huì)神的做試驗(yàn)。我問(wèn)他有沒(méi)有看到Albert, Chuck忙的頭也不抬用手往外一指說(shuō)：“Check the john。”我想他八成太忙沒(méi)有聽(tīng)清楚，就在重復(fù)了一遍，并且強(qiáng)調(diào)我要找的是Albert，不是John。

Chuck抬頭錯(cuò)愕的看了我一眼，干脆停下了手里的實(shí)驗(yàn)，說(shuō)：“Follow me。”我們兩個(gè)走到實(shí)驗(yàn)室外，chuck指著不遠(yuǎn)處的廁所說(shuō)：“Albert is in the john。”

這是，Albert正好從廁所出來(lái)，一時(shí)間我和Chuck不禁相視大笑，我也知道了，John除了用作人名之外，竟然還是廁所的代號(hào)!

14.吹horn

大衛(wèi)和我是搭檔，同一室工作，他頗得公司賞識(shí)。

一天，經(jīng)理叫我請(qǐng)大衛(wèi)去辦公室走一趟。不料大衛(wèi)頭也不抬就答道：“I don't blow my horn。”

辦公室那里有horn(號(hào)角，喇叭)呢?我只好將原話象經(jīng)理復(fù)述。不料他說(shuō)：“Then you blow for him。”當(dāng)我發(fā)呆不語(yǔ)時(shí)候，他解釋說(shuō)：總公司派人來(lái)了解大衛(wèi)，想表彰他。

我明白了，就一五一十地介紹了大衛(wèi)，給他吹了一次“horn”。

15.Egghead...

星期天，我們到朋友Helen家看錄像帶。她的弟弟正在電腦旁打報(bào)告，抬頭向我們打了一聲招呼后，完全不受干擾的又繼續(xù)埋頭工作。

Helen說(shuō)：“我們看我們的電影，不必管他，he is such an egghead!”“雞蛋臉?不會(huì)吧!我覺(jué)得他應(yīng)該算是方面大耳的國(guó)字臉呀!“我如此的回答。

看我一本正經(jīng)的模樣，大家都笑了起來(lái)。原來(lái)，Egghead是指那些有呆氣的讀書(shū)人或者愛(ài)講道理的知識(shí)分子，和什么臉形，面相都無(wú)關(guān)系!

egghead n (infml derog 口, 貶) very intellectual person 很有學(xué)問(wèn)的人:

* The eggheads at the university know nothing about business. 大學(xué)的飽學(xué)之士對(duì)做生意一竅不通.