Chris早上在咖啡間跟同事Ben打招呼。
Chris: Hey, Ben...did you catch the game last night?
Ben: Uh...what game?
C: Baltimore defeated Texas by 17 points!
B: Um...and what sport are we talking about here?
C: Football of course!
B: Oh...football. Football is cool. I usually try to catch the World Cup finals.
Chris 問Ben, Did you catch the game last night? 意思是昨天晚上有沒有看比賽,英語里看比賽,看表演在口語里都可以用動詞catch, 比如,Let's go catch a movie. 咱們看電影去。Chris說的是美式足球比賽,football,巴爾的摩烏鴉隊(duì)贏了德克薩斯人隊(duì)17分。Ben說,足球好看, 每次World Cup finals世界杯決賽我都看,他顯然是把soccer和美式足球football混了。Chris說,
C: No, I'm talking about American football. The World Cup is soccer.
B: Oh, I understand. I can't say I'm a big fan. I'm from China, and football doesn't have a really big following over there.
C: So Chinese people prefer soccer or basketball?
B: Yes, I think so. But to be perfectly honest, I'm not really a sports nut.
When I was in high school I played on the school volleyball team. Are you a diehard football fan?
Ben 說自己不是特別愛看美式足球,I can't say I'm a big fan. 在中國,美式足球沒有多少球迷。Football doesn't have a really big following. Following 在這里是名詞,指粉絲,追隨者,仰慕者。Ben還說,To be perfectly honest 意思是老實(shí)說,I'm not a sports nut. 這里的nut, n-u-t, nut是俚語,意思是對某事非常熱衷愛好的人,比如history nut, movie nut 還有Ben所說的sports nut。Ben問Chris是不是鐵桿美式足球球迷,a diehard football fan. diehard is spelled d-i-e-h-a-r-d, diehard 意思是死忠。Chris回答說,
C: Oh, certainly. I wouldn't miss a game for the world. My girlfriend says I have an addiction. And actually, if I had to choose between her and my games...I'd probably pick football.
B: It seems Americans are very passionate about sports. Is this just a part of your culture?
C: Oh, yeah! I think the love of sports starts when kids are very young. Americans come from many different backgrounds so I guess sports are something we can all enjoy together.
Chris 承認(rèn)自己是鐵桿球迷,I wouldn't miss a game for the world. 不會因?yàn)槿魏卧蝈e(cuò)過比賽。not miss something for the world是一種很常見的說法,強(qiáng)調(diào)無論如何都不會錯(cuò)過,比如,I wouldn't miss your concert for the world. 我絕不會錯(cuò)過你的音樂會。Chris說,美國人熱愛體育,是從小培養(yǎng)的,大家來自不同背景,但是運(yùn)動卻能讓彼此走到一起。