在紐約上大學(xué)的Michael和李華今天在華盛頓參觀名勝古跡。他們?cè)趯?duì)話里會(huì)用到兩個(gè)常用語:ticked off ,另一個(gè)是close。
L: Michael, 大家都說紐約人開車不守規(guī)矩,我看華盛頓的人也好不了多少。剛才那輛車差一點(diǎn)撞到我!
M: Yeah, I saw that. Crossing the streets in
L: 對(duì),在紐約和華盛頓穿馬路是很危險(xiǎn)。你說什么對(duì)我沒好處? Ticked off?
M: Yes, Ticked off means to get angry or annoyed at something. Getting angry at the drivers will not do you any good.
L: 噢,ticked off的意思是為什么事情生氣。你剛才說的是我對(duì)開車的人生氣沒有什么好處??磥碜屛?span lang="EN-US">ticked off的事還挺多。
M: Yeah, like when your boyfriend broke up with you right before we started classes.
L: 你還提醒我這事!我以前那男朋友剛開學(xué)就跟我分手,當(dāng)時(shí)我真的非常生氣。不過,Michael,我覺得你也很愛生氣。
M: Well, I got pretty ticked off a few days ago when the professor gave me a low score on the exam.
L: 對(duì),和你同班的中國(guó)同學(xué)王光告訴我你那天非常生氣,因?yàn)槟莻€(gè)教授給你的考試判分判得很低。Ticked off這個(gè)說法很好,以前我就知道用angry這個(gè)字。
M: Hey, are you hungry? We haven't eaten in a while.
L: 剛才好生氣,連肚子餓也忘了。走,去吃點(diǎn)東西吧!
(Michael和李華吃完飯以后)
M: Now that we have eaten, let's walk to the White House. It's not too far from here.
L: 到白宮去?太好了,除了照片外,我還沒有看到過真的白宮呢!
M: Watch out Li Hua! Get back!
L: 喲! 我的天哪!我的天哪!真嚇?biāo)牢伊?!我以為這下我可完了!
M: Oh, my god! Are you okay? Geez, that was really a close call.
L: Michael, 我都差一點(diǎn)被車撞了, 而你還在說什么close call,這跟打電話根本沒有關(guān)系!
M: No, that's not what I meant by close call. I meant that the car nearly hit you.
L: 對(duì)啊,那車差一點(diǎn)就撞上我了,這就是 close call?
M: Actually, Li Hua, close call means that you narrowly avoided danger. Something bad could have happened to you, but you narrowly avoided a bad situation.
L: 原來close call就是說,差一點(diǎn)發(fā)生倒霉的事,我算是逃避了這倒霉事。我可以說,今天我差一點(diǎn)沒被汽車撞了。對(duì)不對(duì)?
M: Yeah, that's right.
L: 那close call是不是一定用在跟生命危險(xiǎn)有關(guān)的場(chǎng)合呢?
M: Not really. Let me give you another example. The paper you and I turned in this week was almost late. That was also a close call.
L: 對(duì),那個(gè)教授讓我們?cè)谛瞧诙鞍褜W(xué)術(shù)報(bào)告交給他,我們是星期一晚上去交的,差一點(diǎn)就過了限期,這也可以說是close call。 下回我可再也不敢這么做了。
M: Here we are! The White House!
L: 太好了! 白宮到了, 那我們趕快走把。
今天 Michael 和李華在對(duì)話中用的一個(gè)常用語是ticked off, 意思是為了什么事情生氣; 另一個(gè)是close call,意思 是差一點(diǎn)沒發(fā)生倒霉的事,或是差一點(diǎn)完不成該做的事。 [流行美語]就學(xué)習(xí)到這里, 我們下次再見。