大家可能還記得Michael 這個美國學(xué)生以往幾次考試都考糟了,這一次情況可大不相同。今天他和他的中國同學(xué)李華約好了在圖書館見面。李華會學(xué)到兩個常用語,一個是:to ace;另一個是:peanuts。
L: 嗨, Michael,今天考得怎么樣?
M: Not bad! I aced today's history test!
L: 你歷史測驗(yàn)又考糟啦?那你還那么高興!
M: No, Li Hua, I didn't bomb my test. I said "I aced the test". I did very well on it!
L: 你考得很好,那太好了,Michael!最近你每天都到圖書館來念書,我知道你會考得比以前好的。你剛才用的是哪個字啊?
M: Ace. Here, ace is a verb, and you can add a "d" to make it past tense.
L: 噢,在這里,ace是個動詞,過去時就是在后面加一個字母 "d",變成 了aced。這個字是不是和撲克牌里的那張牌A,或者叫“尖子”的那 張牌一樣的呢?
M: That's right. The "ace" card is usually the highest value in a card game. Therefore, "ace" means to do well.
L: 對,在玩撲克的時候ace往往是價值最高的一張牌,所以ace就是 指某件事做的很好。那ace作為動詞還能用在什么場合呢?
M: Usually we can use "ace" to describe how we did on a test, or on things similar to tests. For example, I can say I aced my last job interview.
L: 噢,一般都用在和測驗(yàn)考試之類的情況,你上次找工作去面談?wù)?得很好也能用“ace" 這個詞。再說一遍你剛才說的那句話,好 嗎?
M: I aced my last job interview.
L: 你大概回答問題答得很好,所以老板就要你了。
M: That's right. Li Hua, if someone is very good at something, we can call him an "ace". I can say, for example, you are an ace at taking tests.
L: I'm an ace at taking tests, 你說我非常會考試!這也不見得,我考糊 的時候也有的。不過,比你少一點(diǎn)就是了。
M: Yes, you're right!
L: Michael, 借我$.75 買杯咖啡好嗎?
M: Well, okay. Li Hua, how much money do you earn as a teaching assistant, if you don't mind my asking?
L: 你當(dāng)然不在意你問我賺多少錢。 當(dāng)助教的工資很低,才8美元一小時。
M: Eight dollars? That's peanuts!
L: Peanuts? Peanuts不是花生嗎?你是什么意思呀?
M: That's really not much! You only make eight dollars an hour? Your wages are very low, so I said that's "peanuts"!
L: 原來你的意思是我的工資很低。你說的peanuts是不是和我們吃的花生一個字嗎?
M: That's right.
L: 我在想另外找個工作呢。我的同學(xué)王燕在圖書館工作,一個小時 就有十美元。
M: That's still peanuts compared with the teaching assistants in other departments. I make about 13 dollars an hour as a graduate assistant.
L: 喲,你一個小時賺13美元吶! 真不公平,你賺那么多錢,而我只賺peanuts.
M: I don't see how you can live on so little money.
L: 賺那么點(diǎn)錢是怎么過的日子呀?我還有獎學(xué)金吶,每個月給我四 百美元生活費(fèi)。
M: Too bad you don't really make peanuts, at least you can eat those...
L: 你真想要我賺花生,靠吃花生過日子呀。Michael, 你真廢話!
M: I'm just kidding!
今天李華學(xué)到兩個常用語,一個是:to ace,就是某件事做得很好,特別是象考試之類的事;另一個是:peanuts,這里不是指花生,而是指數(shù)量很小,價值很低。今天的[流行美語]就學(xué)習(xí)到這里,我們下次節(jié)目再見。