baloney
kickback
有些人很善于說謊,或者是在形容某些事物的時候夸大其詞。下面我們給大家介紹一個美國人在這方面常用的俗語:baloney。人們用baloney這個字來形容某些人說的話一錢不值。比如說,有一個叫瓊斯的人向老板提出要求加工資。老板說了些好聽的話就把他打發(fā)走了?;氐郊依?,當(dāng)瓊斯太太問起這件事時,瓊斯說:
例句-1: Honey, the old man told me what a great job I'm doing and how I am so valuable to the company. But he said the company isn't making enough money right now to give anybody a raise, he thinks he may be able to do something about it a year from now. But I'm afraid all he gave me was a lot of baloney.
瓊斯對他太太說:"親愛的,那老頭說我工作做得如何好,我對公司來說又是如何重要。但是,他說,當(dāng)前公司沒有足夠的收入來給每個人加工資。他說明年他也許能想辦法給我加工資。不過,他說的那些話恐怕多半都是空話。"
政客們在競選的時候經(jīng)常會遭到對方的攻擊,他們也經(jīng)常用baloney這個字來回?fù)魧Ψ?。例如,一個參加競選的議員看到對方在電視和報(bào)紙上指責(zé)他和一些大企業(yè)的關(guān)系太密切。然后,他就在記者會上說:
例句-2: Baloney! That's all it is when my opponent keeps saying that my voting record always favors big business over the average citizen. Let me say it again: that's nothing but baloney!
這個議員說:"胡說!我的對立面說我在投票時老是從大企業(yè)的利益出發(fā),而不考慮一般老百姓。讓我再重復(fù)一遍:他們的這些話純屬一派胡言。"
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可是,在現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中我們也確實(shí)看到有的政客老是維護(hù)有錢人的利益,有的還甚至接受賄賂。美國人把那些政府官員接受的賄賂稱為:kickback。政府官員接受賄賂是違反美國聯(lián)邦、州和其它地方法律的,可能會受到嚴(yán)厲的懲罰。請聽一位電臺記者廣播的一則新聞:
例句-3: John Doe, the former head of the City Public Works Department, went on trial today in the district court. He is charged with taking a 50,000-dollar kickback from the Blank Construction Company after giving them a 3 million dollars contract to repair the city streets.
這句話的意思是:"以前市政工程部的頭頭多伊約翰今天在地區(qū)法院受審。他的罪名是接受布蘭克建筑公司給他的五萬美元賄賂,以換取他給該公司一項(xiàng)價值三百萬美元修理街道的合同。"
下面是一個選民在講他們地區(qū)的一位議員:
例句-4: We thought our congressman was a sure bet to be re-elected. But he's in real trouble--his opponent charges him with getting kickbacks for voting a certain way and seems to have some evidence to prove it.
他說:"大家都以為我們的議員肯定會再次當(dāng)選的,但是他現(xiàn)在可碰到麻煩事了,他的對手指責(zé)他在對某項(xiàng)提案進(jìn)行投票方面接受賄賂,而且他們好像還有證據(jù)。"
今天我們講了兩個美國人常用的俗語,它們是:baloney和kickback。Baloney是指胡說八道,kickback是指官員接受賄賂。