今天是周末,Michael和李華去打臺球。李華一邊玩一邊還學了兩個年輕人常用的詞:to rule和to blow money on something.
L: 哎呀,我不想玩了。我老是輸給你,這樣玩還有什么意思啊。
M: Hey! You don't need to get angry just because I rule at the pool table!
L: ?。?你在臺球桌上做了什么?你是不是耍了什么花招,怕我生氣?。?/span>
M: Absolutely not! I said that I rule the pool table. That means that I am the best at playing pool. I can defeat anyone. Rule, R-U-L-E.
L: 噢,我明白了, rule在這里指的是你玩臺球玩得最棒,可以打敗任何人。對不對,Michael?
M: That's right! I am king of the pool table! I rule!
L: 嘿,你不要那么得意好不好。你忘了那天打乒乓球,你連連敗在 我的手下。你呀,對乒乓球這種體育運動簡直是一竅不通。
M: Sport? Ping-pong is not a sport! It's a game! You might rule at that little game. But I rule at pool, a man's game!
L: 你在瞎說什么啊。我不跟你爭了。你還是多給我解釋解釋 rule 這個詞吧。
M: Well, I can say "I rule the pool table"; that means that I dominate the game. Or I can say "I rule at" doing something. In either case it means the same thing: I am the best!
L: 好了,好了,就算你是最棒的吧。那 rule 還有什么別的用法呢?
M: Sometimes we just say something or someone rules without adding any other words. For instance, I can say "Chinese food rules!", that means I think it is great.
L: 噢,那如果我說:Michael Jordan rules!,就表示我認為他是最棒的籃球運動員,對不對?
M: That's right. When we say a person rules, that means we think they are the best, or at least that they are impressive.
L: 哎,Michael,你看那邊有個人老往我們這邊看,沒準他是想和你比賽,怎么樣,敢不敢跟他比?
M: Whatever, I rule the pool table, no matter who I play against!
L: Michael,你打得怎么樣, 輸了還是贏了?
M: Not so well. Say, Li Hua, can I borrow five dollars? I just blew my money on playing pool with them, and I need to put gas in the car so we can get home.
L: 你說你的錢怎么了?哎呀,你是不是在賭博?。?/span>
M: No, I said I blew my money on pool. That means I spent all of my money very quickly. Blew, B-L-E-W. It's the past tense for blow.
L: 噢,“blow money on something”就是為了做某件事很快把口袋里 的錢花光了。
M: That's right. Like when we were at the mall the other day, and you blew a whole week's pay on shoes.
L: 我是花了一星期的工資買鞋,可你不覺得我買的鞋價廉物美,所以不能說我浪費啊。
M: Well, I guess sometimes it's ok to blow one's money on something useful.
L: 就是嘛。哎,我倒是想起了一個你亂花錢的例子,記不記得你大 學一年級的時候到賭城拉斯維加斯,blew all of your money on black jack。
M: Ha ha ha....what a wonderful memory. but, I'll never blow all of my money like that again. I am older and wiser now.
L: 得了吧,你年齡的確是越來越大,可腦筋并沒有越來越聰明。要 不然你今天怎么會玩臺球把錢都花光呢?
M: Those guys are good. They play quickly, and they both beat me several times. Also, we agreed that the loser had to pay for the pool table. So of course I blew all of my money very quickly.
今天Michael可是夠倒霉的,輸了球,還花光了錢;不過李華倒 是收獲不小,她今天學到兩個很有用的詞,一個是:to rule,是很棒的意思,另一個是:to blow one's money on something,意思是把錢都浪費在了某樣東西上。