Donny 在北京學(xué)漢語,他的中國朋友要是遇到了不知道用美語怎么說的詞,就會來請教他。今天是Jimmy要問的:別慌。
Jimmy: Donny, 大事不好了!
Donny: What happened, Jimmy? You look terrible!
Jimmy: 兩小時(shí)后....我要和女朋友約會,她剛提醒我,今天是我們認(rèn)識一周年紀(jì)念日,還給我準(zhǔn)備了禮物。But I totally forgot! 怎么辦?她肯定會生氣,會罵我,會分手,還會......
Donny: Hey! Hey! Don't have a cow!
Jimmy: 啊?你說什么?cow? cow 不是奶牛么?
Donny: What I meant is-- you need to calm down. "Don't have a cow" 也就是中文里說的不要慌張。
Jimmy: 哦,讓別人冷靜,別慌,就說 Don't have a cow! 哎?還有別的說法么?我記得有個(gè)詞叫 chill, c-h-i-l-l?
Donny: Yes! You can say chill out. It means calm down, or "don't panic".
Jimmy: 啊! 要是我今晚跟女朋友坦白講:我就是忘了咱倆認(rèn)識一周年這回事了,你能把我怎么樣?她肯定會抓狂。然后我就說:Honey! Chill out!
Donny: 呃....I think you better say "Honey, I'm really sorry. How can I make up to you?"
Jimmy: 呵呵,我開玩笑的。
Donny: Oh, speaking of the word "chill", you can also say "take a chill
pill". It's another way of saying "calm down".
Jimmy: Take a chill pill. Pill, p-i-l-l, pill是“藥丸”的意思,所以, take a chill pill字面意思就是“吃個(gè)冷靜藥丸”,就是叫人別激動,別慌。
Donny: You got it. So what are you going to do for tonight's date?
Jimmy: 還能怎么辦,抓緊這兩小時(shí),趕緊去買禮物唄! 走啦!
Donny: Before you go, tell me what you've learned today!
Jimmy: 今天學(xué)了讓人別慌的三種說法。第一,Don't have a cow;
第二,Chill out;
第三:Take a chill pill.
這次的"美語怎么說"就到這里結(jié)束了。如果你也有不會說的詞,請寫信給 Donny, 電郵請寄[email protected]
B: See 楊琳,you really just need to take a chill pill. It's obvious that with skills like mine, it won't be long before I will be so famous that I will be able to afford all the luxury goods I want!
A: 你可真不像一般的美國人。There's a stereotype that Americans don't really care about luxury brands. 你說大街上大家不都穿T-shirt和牛仔褲么!
B: You forget- I'm not "everyone." I'm a unique and beautiful flower! 哈哈哈,開個(gè)玩笑! 我個(gè)人可不喜歡這些刻板印象,不過in today's Go English, we'll take a look at different stereotypes from around the world!
A: Let's listen!
Culture: Intermediate
各位聽眾,大家好!今天我們?yōu)槟コ?ldquo;美語三級跳”節(jié)目“社會文化”單元的中級課程。
Jane 和Will初次約會,聊到彼此的家庭背景。我知道Jane 的父母來自中國,所以我很想聽聽,作為一個(gè)亞裔美國人,Jane的成長經(jīng)歷是什么樣的。
Professor: That's right, Winnie, let's listen to what they have to say.
Will: So Jane, you said that both your parents are from China. How do they like living in America?
Jane: They really like it, but of course they miss their friends and family back home sometimes.
Will: Yeah, I can imagine. So do you consider yourself Chinese or American?
Jane: Well, that's a complicated question. Of course I'm American, but I'm ethnically Chinese as well.
Will: I see. So you consider yourself both?
Jane: That's right.
Will總是問一些嚴(yán)肅的問題! 他問Jane,覺得自己是中國人還是美國人。Jane回答說,自己既是中國人,也是美國人。
Professor: Right. Jane is an American citizen, but she is also ethnically Chinese.
Ethnically? 我明白了,ethnic是民族的意思.
Professor: Exactly. For example, I could say that Hispanics are one of the largest ethnic groups in America.
所以,從民族上講,Jane認(rèn)為自己是華人。
Professor, 拉美裔人,是美國人口最多的少數(shù)族裔之一?那么,亞裔人口又怎么樣呢?
Professor: Asians make up about 4.5 percent of the American population.
Will: Did you face a lot of stereotypes growing up?
Jane: Of course, all minorities face some stereotypes. For me, lots of people assume that because I'm Asian, I'm smart and good at math.
Will: That doesn't sound like a bad stereotype to have!
Jane: No, it's not a very offensive stereotype. But it's still wrong for people to assume things about me because of how I look. I hate math!
Will: Me too! I guess that's one thing we have in common.
stereotype, s-t-e-r-e-o-t-y-p-e, stereotype,是“刻板印象”、“先入為主的看法”。Jane說,因?yàn)樗莵喴?,所以很多美國人對她持有stereotype,一看她的亞洲臉,就認(rèn)定她的數(shù)學(xué)一定很好!
Professor: But Jane thinks that stereotypes are wrong, doesn't she?
當(dāng)然啦! Jane說,以貌取人是不對的。她其實(shí)很討厭學(xué)數(shù)學(xué)。
Professor: That's right. She and Will both hate math, so that's one thing they have in common.
Will: Did people tease you when you were growing up because you're Asian?
Jane: My school was very politically correct, so people tried really hard not to say things that would offend me.
Will: Right. Race can be a sensitive subject in America. People like to talk about it, but only in a polite way.
Jane: That's true. People these days try hard to be tolerant, and are careful not to say things that other people may think are racist.
看來Jane 是在比較 tolerant--“寬容”的環(huán)境下 長大的。人們沒有因?yàn)樗莵喴岫芭2贿^,Professor, 什么叫“politically correct”?
Professor: Being politically correct is making sure that the things that you say won't offend people in minority groups and disadvantaged groups.
哦,politically correct,在政治上保持正確,也就是言行上避免有歧視少數(shù)族裔或弱勢群體之嫌。
Professor: Right. People don't want to say anything racist, so they make sure all their words are very polite.
沒錯,racist--“種族歧視性”言行,肯定不能讓你做到 politically correct.
Jane: It's pretty easy for me living in the US because it is such a diverse country. There are many other minorities, so I don't feel different.
Will: That's true. The US is a country of immigrants, so it is very diverse.
Jane: Yup. My university is especially diverse. It tries to find students from all over the world.
Will: Oh yeah, my university has lots of minority students too. I've really enjoyed learning about lots of different cultures from them.
Professor: Winnie, do you know what "diverse" means?
Diverse就是“多樣化”。Jane和Will的大學(xué)都很diverse, 不僅有來自各族裔的學(xué)生,還有來自世界各地的留學(xué)生! Professor, Jane和Will初次約會就談了宗教、種族這些嚴(yán)肅話題,而且聊得挺高興。我看他們真是天生一對兒!
A: 我覺得上面說得很對,我來美國最大的文化沖擊就是這種多元化! Learning about all these different cultures is definitely fun, but sometimes it's challenging not to offend anybody!
B: 那你干嘛還說我買LV包包嘛!
A: 我這不是為你好嗎?!
B: 哈哈,yeah yeah I get your point. Actually everybody has some kind of hobby that they end up pouring cash into! Let's follow up with our friend the tech-head in Business Etiquette and see what he ends up buying!