李華是一個(gè)中國學(xué)生,她在紐約上大學(xué),還在大學(xué)的中文系當(dāng)助教。今天她要去和系主任談話,要求增加助教的工資。李華的美國同學(xué)Michael陪她一起去。李華會(huì)學(xué)到兩個(gè)常用語:wimp和guts。
L: Michael,我很緊張。我不敢去和系主任談話。。。 我看就算了吧, 我不要去要求加工資了。
M: What? Don't be such a wimp, Li Hua! You have to talk to her, if you want to get a raise.
L: 你剛才說什么? Don't be什么?
M: I said don't be a wimp. A wimp is a weak person, a coward, or someone who can't take pain. If you don't talk to your boss, then you are a wimp!
L: 噢,wimp就是軟弱的人,膽小鬼,或者是怕痛的人。所以,你說要是我不和系主任談,我就是膽小鬼。哎,你這么說我太不公平了。 你才是a wimp。上星期你去捐血,針還沒有碰到你, 你就哇哇大 叫,你不是wimp是什么?
M: I was not! You were a wimp when you crashed your bicycle. You cried because you hurt your arm!
L: 我那次騎自行車摔倒,受傷可嚴(yán)重了。不管怎么樣,女孩子哭并不意味著她是一個(gè)軟弱的人。
M: But you are a wimp! Remember yesterday, you couldn't open a bag of potato chips, because you're so weak!
L: 我昨天打不開一包土豆片,我沒有力氣,這也算是wimp?我才不是吶!有一次,我們從學(xué)校走回你的家,一共三公里, 你至少在當(dāng)中休息了兩次。這才是軟弱的表現(xiàn)呢!
M: All right, all right, stop goofing around. You need to go talk to your boss. If you don't go in there, you'll be a wimp with no money.
L: 對(duì),我要不進(jìn)去談就加不了工資,人家肯定會(huì)說我沒有骨氣??磥?,我別無選擇,我就得進(jìn)去要求系主任給我們加工資。
(李華和系主任談完話以后)
M: Well, Li Hua, how did it go?
L: 一點(diǎn)問題都沒有。系主任同意我們應(yīng)該增加工資。她說她會(huì)去爭(zhēng) 取足夠的資金給我們提高工資到每小時(shí)十二點(diǎn)五美元。
M: Wow! That's not bad Li Hua. It took a lot of guts to go in there like that.
L: Guts? 進(jìn)去談要許多什么?你說我什么嘛?你可別說我壞話。。。
M: No, no, when I say it took a lot of guts, I mean you had to be brave to do that!
L: 噢,guts就是勇氣。Guts 不就是動(dòng)物的內(nèi)臟嗎?是這個(gè)字嗎?
M: That's right! You can say someone has a lot of guts. That means he is brave.
L: 嗯, a lot of guts就是有勇氣。你剛才說it took a lot of guts to go in there。所以,it takes guts to do something就是要做某件事一定要 有勇氣。
M: That's right. For instance: It took a lot of guts for you to come to the
L: 對(duì),我一個(gè)人獨(dú)自到美國來是要有勇氣才行的。你上回在我朋友 家唱卡拉OK,這也是要有勇氣的呀!
M: You are right. Americans usually don't like to sing in public if they can't sing very well.
L: 好多中國人也不喜歡在大庭廣眾唱歌呀。這確實(shí)是要有勇氣的。你那 天是因?yàn)楹攘司撇鸥页7駝t,你就是個(gè)wimp!
M: So are you! You only had enough guts today because I was here to support you. Usually you are a wimp!
L: 對(duì),你陪我一起來給我壯膽,所以我才有勇氣找系主任談話。不 過呢,我至少?zèng)]有在走回家的路上喘不過氣來。 You are a wimp!
M: I guess we both are!
今天Michael教李華學(xué)會(huì)用兩個(gè)常用語,一個(gè)是:wimp,意思是軟弱,沒骨氣;另一個(gè)是:guts,這是指有勇氣。這次[流行美語]就學(xué)習(xí)到這里,我們下次節(jié)目再見。