美語訓(xùn)練班132

　　B: Welcome to American English Mosaic, I'm Mike Bond!

　　A: And I'm Lin Yang.

　　B: Bullet trains are popular in Asian and European countries, but are nowhere to be found in the United States. In today's business etiquette, we will introduce to you the ways Americans travel.

　　A: 今年最棒的一部電影會(huì)是什么? 我們?cè)谙旅娴墓?jié)目中為你介紹。

　　B: And in words and idioms, we will learn what "tit for tat" and "to a tee" means!

　　A: All coming up on this edition of American English Mosaic!

　　B: Now let's go into our first segment, Learn a word!

　　Learn A Word 1885 hands-down

　　今天我們要學(xué)的詞是 hands-down. Hands-down is spelled h-a-n-d-s, hands, and d-o-w-n, down, hands-down. Hands-down 意思是肯定地，輕而易舉地。流感季節(jié)到了。In terms of safety and effectiveness, soap and water beats sanitizers hands-down. 從安全和有效性的角度看，用肥皂和清水洗手，絕對(duì)勝過洗手液。2013年還沒有結(jié)束，不過，很多影評(píng)家都認(rèn)為，Captain Philips, played by Tom Hanks, is hands-down the best movie of the year. 湯姆.漢克斯出演的菲利普斯船長(zhǎng)絕對(duì)是今年最棒的一部電影。好的，今天我們學(xué)習(xí)的詞是 hands-down, hands-down, hands-down.

　　A: So how was your Thanksgiving Mike?

　　B: It was great! We had a great traditional thanksgiving dinner: we had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie!

　　A: Wow, that's a lot of food! Sounds like it could feed an army!

　　B: Yep, we have a saying in my family: calories don't count on Thanksgiving. It's a holiday about overfeeding yourself, and enjoy quality time with the people you love.

　　A: That's the holiday spirit! We do the same thing during The Spring Festival in China.

　　B: Yep, from how you looked when you came back last year, I could tell!

　　A: A tit for tat, Mike, I'm going to get back at you...just wait for it...

　　B: Haha, I'll waiting right here! And...you mentioned a good idiom: tit for tat. Let's listen to today's words and idioms and find out what it means!

　　Words and Idioms 887 TIT FOR TAT

　　美國習(xí)慣用語第 887 講

　　人們常說遠(yuǎn)親不如近鄰，可鄰里間鬧矛盾的事兒也不少。這不，我隔壁的鄰居Jean就對(duì)對(duì)門的鄰居Alice不滿，說Alice總是不參加公共區(qū)域的大掃除。Jean還說，為了給Alice一個(gè)教訓(xùn)，她決定不參加Alice組織的rummage sale--清倉義賣會(huì)。這兩個(gè)人你來我往的，讓我想到了一個(gè)習(xí)慣用語，那就是：

　　M: Tit for tat. Tit is spelled t-i-t, and tat; t-a-t. Tit-for-tat. Tit for tat.

　　Tit for tat 就是“以牙還牙”，以同樣的方式報(bào)復(fù)。我的鄰居Jean對(duì)Alice就是tit for tat：你不參加集體掃除?那好，我也不會(huì)在你組織的活動(dòng)中出力。這可以說是“以其人之道還治其人之身”。

　　在生活中，這種針尖對(duì)麥芒的事兒經(jīng)常發(fā)生。我們來聽聽一個(gè)父親是怎么描述他的兩個(gè)女兒的：

　　M: "My daughters have really been acting childishly lately. It started when Ginny borrowed Esther's game without asking. As a result, Esther wouldn't let Ginny play with her doll. That made Ginny so mad she took back the book she'd lent Esther. How much longer is this TIT FOR TAT going to last?"

　　這段話意思是：最近，我兩個(gè)女兒都在耍小孩脾氣。事情的起因是Ginny沒和Esther打招呼就擅自拿走了Esther的游戲。結(jié)果，Esther就不讓Ginny玩兒她的布娃娃了。這下子，Ginny不干了，把以前借給Esther的書搶了回來。不知道她們這種針鋒相對(duì)的報(bào)復(fù)還要持續(xù)多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間。

　　哈哈，小孩子之間常有這種事兒，你打我一下，我就必須得踢你一腳，誰也不愿意吃虧! 讓我們?cè)賮砺犅爠偛拍嵌卧?

　　M: "My daughters have really been acting childishly lately. It started when Ginny borrowed Esther's game without asking. As a result, Esther wouldn't let Ginny play with her doll. That made Ginny so mad she took back the book she’d lent Esther. How much longer is this TIT FOR TAT going to last?"

　　不過，別以為這種事情只發(fā)生在小孩兒身上，有些成年人也會(huì)這樣以牙還牙以眼還眼地相互報(bào)復(fù)，而這種行為可能會(huì)帶來嚴(yán)重的后果! 比如，在下面這段話中，一個(gè)城市的犯罪量突然增加，我們來聽聽是什么原因。

　　M: "The police investigator determined that the sudden increase of crimes was no coincidence. A gang of drug dealers wanted to punish a rival gang for shooting their leader. That led to a TIT FOR TAT series of murders, kidnappings and arsons that has paralyzed the city."

　　這段話的意思說：警方的調(diào)查人員膂b定，犯罪行為突然增加并非偶然。一個(gè)販毒團(tuán)伙的頭目被對(duì)立的幫派槍殺了，這個(gè)團(tuán)伙于是展開報(bào)復(fù)行動(dòng)。這導(dǎo)致雙方以牙還牙的交惡，從謀殺、綁架到縱火，無所不為。整個(gè)城市因此陷入癱瘓狀態(tài)。

　　每次聽到這種消息，我總是既憤怒又傷心。前幾天，華盛頓還發(fā)生了類似的事。一個(gè)年青人為了報(bào)復(fù)偷自己金項(xiàng)鏈的小偷，在街上開槍，結(jié)果打死了好幾個(gè)路人。更諷刺的是，那個(gè)所謂的“報(bào)復(fù)目標(biāo)”其實(shí)并不是偷他項(xiàng)鏈的人，是他認(rèn)錯(cuò)了! 唉，這一切是多么愚蠢! 我們?cè)賮砺犅爠偛拍嵌卧挘?/p>

　　M: "The police investigator determined that the sudden increase of crimes was no coincidence. A gang of drug dealers wanted to punish a rival gang for shooting their leader. That led to a TIT FOR TAT series of murders, kidnappings and arsons that has paralyzed the city."

　　Tit for tat 這個(gè)說法從16世紀(jì)中葉就有了，可見，人類千百年來都是愛記仇和報(bào)復(fù)。唉! 我覺得，大家在生活中都應(yīng)該把肚量放大些，不要對(duì)人睚眥必報(bào)。比如，上個(gè)禮拜，我發(fā)現(xiàn)有個(gè)同事把我放在冰箱里的午飯給吃了。我就想，她一定是看錯(cuò)了，拿錯(cuò)了，我不會(huì)幼稚到隔天去偷她的午飯，作為報(bào)復(fù)。I refused to engage in a tit for tat。

　　好的，這次美國習(xí)慣用語就到此結(jié)束。

　　M: Until next time.

　　下次節(jié)目再見。

　　M: This has been Words and Idioms.

　　A: I usually refuse to engage in a tit for tat. I find most of the time, letting go is way more useful than trying to get revenge.

　　B: I agree. People tend to treat you the way you treat them, so being nice and forgiving to your friends actually means having friends who will treat you well in return.

　　A: True. Speaking of which, could you offer me a ride to the airport for my flight back to China? Please?

　　B: Ugh...I knew something was coming...

　　A; Haha, I will take that as a yes! It's really inconvenient that there's no bullet trains here in the U.S., otherwise I would just take that!

　　B: Tell me about it. Bullet trains are widely popular in Asian countries, but people in America seems to prefer other forms of transportation.

　　A: We will get to know some American ways of traveling in today's business etiquette.

　　B: Let's go take a look!

　　禮節(jié)美語BE-259 Bullet Trains I

　　Lewis 在走廊上遇到同事 Jay.

　　Lewis: Hi, Jay!

　　J: Hi, Lewis. Are you ready for your big trip to Chicago?

　　L: Oh, yeah! I'm gonna nail the presentation.

　　J: I'm sure you will. Hey, I thought I remembered from an earlier conversation that you have relatives in the states, right? Any chance you'll get to see them?

　　L: I'd like to, but they're not in Chicago. My uncle moved to LA five years ago. I was thinking about going over to visit him but I don't have a lot of time...maybe I could just hop on a bullet train from Chicago.

　　Lewis要到美國芝加哥出差，對(duì)完成任務(wù)信心滿滿，說自己一定會(huì) nail the presentation 出色完成演示任務(wù)。在英語里，to nail something 意思是出色完成某事。比如，父母問你考試考得好不好，你就可以回答說，I nailed it. 我考得好極了。Jay問Lewis是否準(zhǔn)備順便去看望一下自己在美國的親戚。Lewis說，叔叔五年前搬去洛杉磯，離芝加哥很遠(yuǎn)，他時(shí)間有限，準(zhǔn)備 hop on a bullet train from Chicago. bullet train 子彈頭列車，相當(dāng)于高鐵。 Jay說,

　　J: That's not going to be possible.

　　L: Why not? It's probably only a few hours ride.

　　J: America doesn't have any bullet trains.

　　L: Really? You're kidding me!

　　J: No, actually I'm quite serious. The fastest train we have is called the Amtrak Acela Express. It goes from Boston to Washington DC, via Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City. But it's not really a bullet train....The Acela Express generally runs at not much more than 130 kilometers an hour.

　　L: One hundred and 30 kilometers an hour? That's not a high-speed train.

　　Jay說，美國沒有高鐵，最快的列車是 Amtrak Acela Express, 從波士頓到華盛頓特區(qū)，途經(jīng)過巴爾迪摩，費(fèi)城和紐約。可即便是這趟列車，一般時(shí)速也就是130多公里。Lewis說，Really? You're kidding me! 表示難以置信。

　　J: Sometimes the Amtrak train can push speeds up to over 240 kilometers per hour, but most of the time it cruises at only around 130.

　　L: Wow! I thought America was more advanced than that. We have trains that can easily run at 300 kilometers an hour! Japanese bullet trains run at about 260 and the Europe super fast trains travel at almost 300 kilometers an hour!

　　J: Yeah I know. Even Taiwan has a high-speed rail that goes at least 200 kilometers an hour. But America is a very large country, and for the last several decades flying has been cheap and easy.

　　Amtrak雖然最快也能飆到時(shí)速240公里，但一般情況下，只保持在130公里左右勻速行駛，這里用的動(dòng)詞 cruise, cruise is spelled c-r-u-i-s-e, cruise 意思是不緊不慢地勻速前進(jìn)。Jay說，美國地域遼闊，坐飛機(jī)方便便宜，這也許是鐵路不發(fā)達(dá)的原因之一。

　　A: Lewis本來準(zhǔn)備hop on a bullet train，乘坐高鐵去看他在洛杉磯的叔叔，但是Jay說， that's not going to be possible, 那是不可能的，因?yàn)槊绹鴽]有高鐵。Jay說，美國最快的列車是 Amtrak, 但也是 cruises at only around 130，只保持在130公里左右勻速行駛, it's not a high-speed train at all. 完全沒有達(dá)到高鐵的要求。

　　B: Yeah, America is a very large country, and flying is very affordable here. A lot of people also love to go on road trips!

　　A: I know! My uncle used to drive 2 hours to work and 2 hours back, that's 4 hours total in travel time! But he seemed to be fine with it!

　　B: I enjoy driving as well. Get ya some great music, snacks, and maybe a hot dog or two, and you are ready to hit the road! Road trips are my favorite way of seeing the U.S.

　　A: That sounds like you! 我們接著來聽Jay如何介紹美國人的交通習(xí)慣吧!

　　禮節(jié)美語BE-260 Bullet Trains II

　　Lewis要去美國芝加哥出差，想坐高鐵去洛杉磯看家人，但同事Jay告訴他說，美國沒有高鐵，原因之一是坐飛機(jī)十分方便。

　　Lewis: So there's been no incentive to build super fast trains.

　　Jay: Yeah, that's right. Also, Americans like to drive.

　　L: I've noticed in a lot of movies that Americans seem to enjoy road trips.

　　J: I'm from San Francisco, and I have friends who live in Los Angeles. It's a nine-or-10-hour drive, but I've done it many times. There's no convenient public transport in L.A. so I would have to rent a car anyway. So I just load up my CD player with good music, grab some coffee and hit the road.

　　除了坐飛機(jī)，美國人還喜歡開車。They enjoy road trips. Road trips 就是開車去一個(gè)地方，邊走邊玩。Jay說，從加州舊金山開到洛杉磯，需要九到十個(gè)小時(shí)，他來回開過很多趟，每次都是準(zhǔn)備了好聽的音樂，帶上咖啡，然后就上路了。 hit the road 是上路的意思，hit 在口語里，后面還經(jīng)常跟 the gym, to hit the gym 就是去健身房。

　　L: So driving really is a part of American culture.

　　J: Yeah. Most of us get our first driver's license when we are around 16 years old. I used to drive about an hour and a half to work every day--that's three hours round-trip-- and I didn't think it was a big deal.

　　L: So aside from New York, there really isn't much public transport infrastructure in the U.S.?

　　J: Many U.S. cities have some kind of light rail or subway system but except for New York, they don't really completely cover the city in the same way as the Beijing or Shanghai subway does.

　　看來，開車還真是美國文化的一個(gè)重要部分。Jay說，美國孩子16歲左右就可以拿駕照。他以前每天開三個(gè)小時(shí)上下班，and he didn't think it was a big deal. 而且也沒覺得這有什么大不了的。 a big deal 經(jīng)常在口語里出現(xiàn)。比如，It's a big deal for me. 這對(duì)我很重要。What's the big deal? 有那么嚴(yán)重嗎?It's no big deal. 沒什么大不了的。美國的很多城市都有地鐵火車，但是除了紐約以外，其他城市的公交系統(tǒng)都不像北京或是上海的地鐵那么發(fā)達(dá)。

　　L: I think high-speed trains are great! They are safe, fast, quiet and convenient. You can work on your laptop or read a book...it's a good way to relax.

　　J: That's true...driving can be very stressful. Americans have been talking about building high-speed rail lines for years. But to be honest, I don't know when or if it's ever going to happen.

　　L: Well, I hope they start building them soon. But in any case...I'm going to have to look into flights to LA now.

　　J: Yep. And you're probably gonna have to rent a car when you get there. Good luck and have a great trip!

　　L: Thanks Jay! See you in a couple weeks.

　　坐高鐵可以放松，看看電腦讀讀書，不像開車，會(huì)讓人 stressful精神疲勞。不過沒辦法，Lewis 這次出差，如果想從芝加哥到洛杉磯去，就必須得 look into flights 看看坐哪趟班機(jī)了。

　　A: Jay說，driving is part of the American culture. 開車是美國文化根深蒂固的一部分，美國人一般16歲就拿駕照了。美國人喜歡road trips, 邊開車邊玩兒，所以鐵路系統(tǒng)非常不發(fā)達(dá)。Lewis說，I'd better look into flights, 看看坐哪趟班機(jī)去看自己的叔叔了。

　　B: Yep! In big cities like DC, you probably can live without a car, but in places like my hometown, you are not going to have a social life if you don't own a car.

　　A: I know what you are talking about. When I just got here, I didn't have a car for two years. And living in California without a car is a total nightmare, you basically can't go anywhere!

　　B: Yep! Alright, enough about road trips, let's go ahead with our class.

　　A: Let's listen to another learn a word!

　　Learn A Word 1889 exhibit

　　今天我們要學(xué)的詞是 exhibit. Exhibit is spelled e-x-h-i-b-i-t, exhibit. Exhibit 意思是展覽。The Smithsonian Institution is putting on what is believed to be the first art exhibit on yoga. 據(jù)信是第一個(gè)關(guān)于瑜珈的藝術(shù)展在史密森學(xué)會(huì)的博物館隍7d展。The Chicago History Museum is relying on online "crowd sourcing" to come up with an exhibit idea. 芝加哥歷史博物館在網(wǎng)上征求意見，集思廣益，尋找有趣的展覽主題。A photo exhibit on super storm Sandy opened on the storm's one-year anniversary. 超級(jí)風(fēng)暴桑迪一周年之際，一個(gè)關(guān)于桑迪的攝影展正式開幕。好的，今天我們學(xué)習(xí)的詞是 exhibit, exhibit, exhibit.

　　A: I love museums, and that's one of the most attractive things about DC. So many free museums!

　　B: Yeah, do you know there's an Anchorman exhibit at the Newseum? I heard the exhibit displays the whole production process to a tee!

　　A: I have to go see! 不過大家知道 to a tee這個(gè)詞兒是什么意思嗎? Let's check it out in today's words and idioms!

　　Words and Idioms第888講

　　昨天晚上，我去一個(gè)朋友家吃飯，飯后，朋友的太太給客人們表演了一場(chǎng)模仿秀。她不僅模仿了一些明星，居然還模仿了我! 而且模仿得太象了! 不僅舉手投足，連聲音都唯妙唯肖! 這種模仿功力讓我想到了一個(gè)習(xí)慣用語，那就是：

　　M: To a tee. To is spelled t-o, and tee; t-e-e, or simply the capital letter T. To-a-tee. To a tee.

　　To a tee 就是“完美”“恰到好處”。我朋友太太的模仿秀達(dá)到了to a tee 的答7b度。我想，下次如果我有事不能來主持節(jié)目，完全可以讓她來代班，觀眾朋友們八成聽不出區(qū)別!

　　除了模仿秀，其它很多藝術(shù)工作也追求逼真、傳神，讓我們來聽聽下面這段話：

　　M: "My wife suggested that we have a nice portrait painted of our family. So we sat for the artist and a couple of weeks later he told us he'd finished. I had my doubts that the painting would come out really looking like us. But when he unveiled it, I was astonished! He captured our likenesses TO A TEE."

　　這段話意思是：我太太說，我們應(yīng)該請(qǐng)人畫個(gè)全家福，于是我們找了一位藝術(shù)家，讓他給我們畫。幾個(gè)星期后，他告訴我們，作品已經(jīng)完成。我本來還心有疑慮，覺得他可能會(huì)畫得不像，但是，當(dāng)他把作品拿到我們眼前時(shí)，我完全驚呆了! 他完全抓住了我們的神態(tài)，畫得太逼真了!

　　這個(gè)畫家真有本事! 我對(duì)畫畫是一竅不通，不過，我先生說我在烹飪方面很有天賦。去年他生日的時(shí)候，我照著菜譜做了一次烤牛排，結(jié)果大獲成功! 牛排的火候和味道都是To A Tee--恰到好處! 模樣也和菜譜上的照片相差無幾! 好，讓我們?cè)賮砺犅爠偛拍嵌卧?

　　M: "My wife suggested that we have a nice portrait painted of our family. So we sat for the artist and a couple of weeks later he told us he'd finished. I had my doubts that the painting would come out really looking like us. But when he unveiled it, I was astonished! He captured our likenesses TO A TEE."

　　做飯要掌握火候，作人也是一樣。比如買衣服，就要買符合自己身材和氣質(zhì)的。我們來聽聽下面這段話：

　　M: "With my job interview coming up, I wanted to look my best. I decided it was worth spending extra money on a high-quality designer suit. After trying on several, I found one that fit me TO A TEE. It was as if a tailor had made it to my exact measurements."

　　這段話的意思說：我過幾天要去一個(gè)工作面試，所以我想，我得以最佳形象去見未來的雇主。我決定多花點(diǎn)錢，買一套高品質(zhì)的名牌西服。在試穿了好幾套之后，我終于找到了一套特別合適的。這衣服太合身了，簡(jiǎn)直像是裁縫為我量身定作的。

　　我想，這個(gè)年青人的面試一定進(jìn)行得不錯(cuò)，因?yàn)樗犐先ズ茏孕拧６?，一套得體的西服能夠給他的外表加分，能給雇主一個(gè)好印象，正所謂"clothes make the man - 人靠衣裝”嘛! 衣服不僅要大小合適，還要符合個(gè)人氣質(zhì)。比如，我妹妹是個(gè)非常熱情、外向的人，所以她的衣服大多是顏色鮮艷，款式瀟灑的，我覺得，這些衣服suit her to a tee非常適合她。好，我們?cè)賮砺犅爠偛拍嵌卧挘?/p>

　　M: "With my job interview coming up, I wanted to look my best. I decided it was worth spending extra money on a high-quality designer suit. After trying on several, I found one that fit me TO A TEE. It was as if a tailor had made it to my exact measurements."

　　To A Tee 這個(gè)說法由來以久，據(jù)說在17世紀(jì)時(shí)就有了。當(dāng)時(shí)，這個(gè)短語中的tee指的是英文書寫中細(xì)微的筆劃。所以，to a tee，原意就是每一筆一劃都精準(zhǔn)。后來，就變成了“恰到好處，剛剛好”的意思。

　　M: Until next time.

　　下次節(jié)目再見。

　　M: This has been Words and Idioms.

　　B: Yang Lin, I think this show fits you to a tee.

　　A: Really? How so?

　　B: Its simple and fun! Just like you!

　　A: Did you just call me simple?????

　　B: Uhh, I meant it as a compliment?

　　A: Tit for Tat Mike, Tit for Tat..... 好了同學(xué)們，這次節(jié)目時(shí)間就到這里了。

　　B: Tune in next time for American English Mosaic!

　　A: See you next time!