Michael是紐約大學(xué)的美國學(xué)生,他同時(shí)也在一家建筑公司實(shí)習(xí)。他的中國同學(xué)李華今天要去他的公司看他。Michael聽得懂中文,但是說還有點(diǎn)困難。Michael和李華在今天的對(duì)話里會(huì)用兩個(gè)常用語,一個(gè)是:big gun; 另一個(gè)是to quarterback。Michael現(xiàn)在在辦公室門口和李華打招呼。
M: Hey, Li Hua, Come on in. How're you doing?
L: 我挺好。你怎么樣?對(duì)了,你下午想干什么?
M: Ah, I've got a meeting with the big guns this afternoon. They want to talk to me about continuing to work here after graduation.
L: 我聽懂了你后面的一句話,他們要跟你談關(guān)于畢業(yè)后回來工作的 事。那真是太好了??墒?,你剛才說今天下午要跟誰開會(huì)?
M: Yea, I 'm meeting with my bosses. Sometimes we call them the big guns of the office.
L: 噢,你要跟你的幾個(gè)老板開會(huì)。你們把老板叫做the big guns!
M: It's an expression that can be used to describe powerful people.
L: 噢, 那是指權(quán)力很大的人, 也就是大人物。那么,總統(tǒng)的顧問能 稱為big guns嗎?
M: Yes, a president's advisors are big guns. But it can also be used in sports. In soccer the stars of a team are the big guns.
L: Big guns 還能用在體育方面。
M: OK, let me show you around the rest if the office.
L: 你要帶我去看看這公司的大樓,那太好了。Let's go!
M: This is the conference room. We had a meeting here yesterday on our plan for a new building. The project leader quarterbacked the meeting.
L: 等等,你說這是會(huì)議室,你們昨天在這里開了一個(gè)會(huì), 討論蓋 一 棟新樓的計(jì)劃??墒?,你還說那項(xiàng)目主任是踢美式足球的,是quarterback,四分衛(wèi),對(duì)不對(duì)?
M: No, no, no! Quarterback here is a verb, meaning to lead. The word quarterback is borrowed from American football, where the quarterback leads the team.
L: 噢,quarterback 在這里是動(dòng)詞,意思是領(lǐng)導(dǎo)。你說這里的 quarterback 是從美式足球里借來用的,因?yàn)?span lang="EN-US">quarterback在球隊(duì)里是主力。你剛才是怎么說的?
M: The project leader quarterbacked the meeting.
L: 現(xiàn)在我聽清楚了,你剛才說的是:項(xiàng)目領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人主持會(huì)議。
那么,to quarterback 還能用在別處嗎?
M: To quarterback is business slang. If someone is responsible for a group working on a new project that individual is quarterbacking the team.
L: 知道了,to quarterback 是用在商業(yè)方面的。要是某人負(fù)責(zé)一個(gè)新項(xiàng)目,這個(gè)人就是在領(lǐng)導(dǎo)這個(gè)項(xiàng)目的小組。要是某人在一個(gè)法律事務(wù)所主持會(huì)議,那該怎么說呢?
M: Someone quarterbacked the meeting at the law firm.
L: 你們公司的一位重要領(lǐng)導(dǎo)主持會(huì)議,討論公司的收入報(bào)告,這又 該怎么說?
M: The company's big gun quarterbacked the meeting about their revenue report. Hey, I need to get back to work. I'll call you later.
L: 好吧,那就再見吧!希望你將來成為a big gun.
M: Oh, yea, I'm sure soon I'll be quarterbacking every meeting and every project.
L: 你真的當(dāng)真吶! 還想主持所有會(huì)議,總管所有項(xiàng)目。得啦,再 見吧!
Michael 和李華在對(duì)話中用了兩個(gè)常用語, 一個(gè)是:the big guns, 意思是大人物,對(duì)決策有重大影響的人;另一個(gè)是:to quarterback,意思是主持會(huì)議,或總管項(xiàng)目。這次[流行美語]就播講到這里。下次節(jié)目再見。