本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写!
第八篇
Chandler 已戒烟多年,可最近又开始吞云吐雾了,老友们对此很不满,而他更是觉得大家对他不公平:
Chandler: Hey, this is so unfair!
Monica: Oh, why is it unfair?
Chandler: So I have a flaw! Big deal! Like Joey’s constant knuckle-cracking isn’t annoying? And Ross, with his over-pronouncing every single word? And Monica, with that snort when she laughs? I mean, what the hell is that thing? …I accept all those flaws, why can’t you accept me for this?
【世博视角】
说到某人有什么缺点或小毛病,我们大概马上就会想到shortcoming这个词,但在上面的对话中,Chandler却用了flaw这个词来表示相似的意思。Flaw一般是指某件事物有瑕疵,当然用在人身上的话就表示性格方面的某个不足之处,比如: Jealousy is Mary’s major flaw.
Chandler觉得抽烟只是一个小小的缺点而已,没啥大惊小怪的,所以他说: “So I have a flaw! Big deal!” big deal其实并不big, 恰恰相反,它总是表示说你觉得某件事情根本不像别人认为的那么重要,这是个很常用的口语,比如:So you’ve got a part-time job in the supermarket? Big deal! 另外,我们也可以用it’s no big deal 来表示什么事情并不重要或没什么大问题, 例如:It’s no big deal if you can’t come – just let us know in time.
接着Chandler开始数落起其它几个老友的flaw, 像Joey没事就喜欢把指关节摁得直响(knuckle-cracking)、 Ross说起话来每个字的发音都那么铿锵有力(with his over-pronouncing every single word)、Monica笑起来会打隔(with that snort when she laughs),然后他说:“what the hell is that thing? …I accept all those flaws, why can’t you accept me for this? (这些又都怎么说呢?我能忍受你们的这些小毛病,为什么你们就不能接受我抽烟呢?) What the hell…也是一种很口语化的表达方式,表示 “很吃惊或很生气地质问”,例:
What the hell does he think he’s doing?
Where the hell have you been?
顺便说一下,在比较正式的场合下我们最好是用what on earth…来代替what the hell…。