月度归档： 2022年8月

本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写！

第三十篇

Chandler公司里正好缺个录入数据的人，他见Joey最近一直没戏可拍，就建议他到公司上班。Joey担心自己不行，因为他从没干过那个，Chandler鼓励他说演员不是演什么像什么吗？于是Joey就到Chandler的公司里扮演起数据录入人员Joseph了。

Joseph（也就是Joey）老给Chandler添乱，这不他又来到了Chandler的办公室：

JOEY: Hey. Mr. Douglas is looking for you.
CHANDLER: Why? Wh- wh- why is Mr. Douglas looking for me?
JOEY: ‘Cause he has a strong suspicion that you dropped the ball on the Lender project.
CHANDLER: Wha- wh- why, why, why does he suspect that?
JOEY: Becasue at first he thought it was Joseph. But after he asked Joseph about it, turns out it was you. Anyway, I just thought you should know.
CHANDLER: Alright, that’s it. Look Joey, I’m sorry, I realize this is the role of a lifetime for ya, and if I could just fire Joseph, I would, but unfortunately that’s not possible so I’m gonna have to let both of you go.
JOEY: What’re you talking about, everybody loves Joseph.
CHANDLER: I don’t, I hate Joseph, ok. I think he’s a brown-nosing suck up.
JOEY: Oh yeah. Well you can’t fire Joseph. You know why, ’cause he’s not in your department.

【世博视角】

Joey 这次是来给Chandler通风报信的，说是他的上司 Mr. Douglas 正在找他呢(Hey. Mr. Douglas is looking for you.)，原因是He has a strong suspicion that you dropped the ball on the Lender project（他非常怀疑你在蓝德项目中犯了个错误）。来看一下drop the ball 这个表达法，从字面上不难看出它源于体育用语：如果一个选手没有接到球，也就是drop the ball, 那他就会被记一次失误。后来这个用语就被广泛用来表示 “犯了个错误” 或 “错失一次机会”, 例：She really dropped the ball when she forgot to call back.

Chandler很奇怪为什么Mr. Douglas会怀疑他犯了个错误，Joey (也就是Joseph)说起先Mr. Douglas是怀疑Joseph的，可等找他谈过话后就怀疑是Chandler了(Becasue at first he thought it was Joseph. But after he asked Joseph about it, turns out it was you.)，也就是说Joseph把过错推给了Chandler.

这下Chandler可是受够了，他向Joey 喊道：Alright, that’s it. 这里的that’s it就表示说“到此为止”，他再也受不了Joey所扮演的Joseph了, 决定让他走人，这样Joseph也就不存在了。 Joey听后很受伤地说What’re you talking about, everybody loves Joseph. (你在说什么啊？大家都很喜欢 Joseph)。 “I don’t, I hate Joseph, ok. I think he’s a brown-nosing suck up.” 这是Chandler的回答，他觉得Joseph是个溜须拍马的马屁精。brown nose 和 suck up 都可以用来表示“拍马屁”的意思。brown（棕色）nose（鼻子），两词放在一起为什么会表示“拍马屁”呢？我国历史上有勾践尝吴王粪便以诊其病这一典故，想必国外也有人这么做过，结果把棕色的粪便给弄到了鼻子上，于是就落下了brown nose 这一说吧。 suck up 也常常表示对有权势的人阿谀奉承，以便自己能够up (向上爬)，例如：

He’s always sucking up to the boss.
Kristen is already sucking up to the new boss.
Harry was always brown nosing, but it didn’t help his grades.
He had just brown-nosed his way to the top.

*本篇所讲到的表达法:

drop the ball
brown nose
suck up

本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写！

第二十九篇

ROSS and CHANDLER: Hhhiiii.
RACHEL: What’s the matter with you?
CHANDLER: The mean guys at the coffee house took my hat.
RACHEL: Noo.
JOEY: You’re kiddin’.
ROSS: It was ridiculous. Ya know, these guys, they were bullies, actual bullies, ya know. We’re grown ups, this kinda stuff isn’t supposed to happen anymore.

【世博视角】

听到Ross和Chandler所说的那声Hi, 恐怕大家都会像Rachel那样问上一句：“What’s the matter with you? (你们俩怎么了？)”Chandler回答说The mean guys at the coffee house took my hat. 单词mean在这句话中作形容词用，意思是“卑鄙的”，又比如：That was a mean thing to do. 如果要表示对某某人很卑鄙，mean 后面跟上介词to, 如：Billy and the others were really mean to me at school today. 另外，mean在英式英语（British English）中也可以用来形容某人很小气，而美语的话则用cheap这个词，例如：

Rick’s so mean he never even buys his wife a birthday present.
He’s always been mean with his money.

Ross和Chandler 碰上了两个卑鄙的家伙，他们抢走了Chandler的帽子。Joey觉得这事有些滑稽，就说 “You’re kidding.” 我们知道kid作为名词可以非正式地表示“小孩子”，大人们总是不拿小孩子说的话当回事，所以当他们说You’re kidding, 意思就是“你在开玩笑”，又如：You’ve got to be kidding me! What do you mean you lost the tickets?

Ross接着说那两个人简直就是bullies, 也就是那些欺凌弱小者，每个学校里好像都会有这样的人，如：A group of kids stood by and watched the school bully beat up a smaller boy. 小时候受到这些人的欺负还有些无可奈何，可长大成人之后再碰上这种事情就有点让人咽不下这口气了，所以Ross才会说：We’re grown ups, this kinda stuff isn’t supposed to happen anymore. (我们是大人了，这种事情不应该再发生了。)

有一句话说得好：Bullies are often cowards. （欺凌弱小者常常是懦夫），他们通常只会欺弱怕强。

*本篇所讲到的表达法

mean
You’re kidding!
bully

本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写！

第二十八篇

这一天Rachel和Phoebe两人决定去纹身：

MONICA: I can’t believe you guys are actually getting tattoos.
CHANDLER: Excuse me, you guys are getting tattoos?
RACHEL: Yes, but you can not tell Ross ’cause I want to surprise him.
JOEY: Wow, this is wild. What’re you gonna get?
PHOEBE: Um, I’m getting a lily for my Mom. ‘Cause her name’s Lily.
CHANDLER: Wow, that’s lucky. What if her name was Big Ugly Splotch?
JOEY: So where you gettin’ it?
PHOEBE: I think on my shoulder.
ROSS: What? What’s on your shoulder?
PHOEBE: Um, a chip. A tattoo, I’m getting a tattoo.
ROSS: A tattoo? Why, why would you want to do that? [to Rachel] Hi.
RACHEL: Hi. Well hey, you don’t – you don’t think they’re kind of cool?
ROSS: No, sorry I don’t. Tell me why would anyone pay someone to scar their body for life? What if it doesn’t come out right Phoebe? Then it’s like, I don’t know, havin’ a bad hair cut all the time. Why’s everyone staring at me?

【世博视角】

tattoo 就是纹身，它也可以直接作动词使用，但总是以被动的形式出现，比如：She’s got a heart tattooed on her right shoulder.

去纹身可是要点勇气的，那针扎在身上多痛啊？Monica就说：“我真不相信你们俩真要去纹身。（I can’t believe you guys are actually getting tattoos.）” Chandler也觉得有些意外，问道：“Excuse me, you guys are getting tattoos?”这里的excuse me, 并不是表示打扰了别人或是要引起别人的注意，而是表示一种意外，Chandler想自己会不会听错了，所以才追问了这句。另外，excuse me (升调)，也可以用来让人再重复一下刚才所说的话，这是典型的美式用语，在英国的话则用 pardon (升调), 例如：

A: ‘What time is it?’
B: ‘Excuse me?’
A: ‘I asked you what time it is.’

对于Chandler的追问Rachel给予了肯定的回答Yes, 同时让Chandler别告诉Ross，因为她想制造一个惊喜 (but you can not tell Ross ’cause I want to surprise him.)。

Joey 觉得去纹身这种举动蛮狂野的（Wow, this is wild），接着他想知道她们打算纹什么图案(What’re you gonna get?), Phoebe准备弄朵百合花(lily)，因为她妈妈的名字就是lily。Chandler又插科打诨道：“哇，真幸运，要是你妈妈的名字是Big Ugly Splotch (又大又难看的斑点)怎么办？” Joey又问Phoebe她想纹在哪里（So where you gettin’ it?），Phoebe回答说在肩上 (on the shoulder),. 这时Ross正好走进来听到这句话，就问什么在肩上(What? What’s on your shoulder?)，Phoebe脑筋转了一下说：“Um, a chip.”这个回答很有意思，难怪我们会听到一大片笑声，原来在英语中有一个习语就是 have a chip on your shoulder, 它源自19世纪的美国，那时如果两个人想打架来解决问题的话就会各自在肩上放一块木片，一旦木片被对方撞下肩，打架便开始了，打完架当然问题也就解决了，可要是这木片一直在两人肩上的话，那可就僵了，所以后来 have a chip on your shoulder 就表示某个人很容易被激怒，它也可以引申为“心存芥蒂”或“耿耿于怀”，例如：

Mary is easily offended; she always has a chip on her shoulder.
The Doyle kid has had a chip on his shoulder ever since his mom and dad divorced.

回到对话中，Phoebe最后还是老实交待说自己要在肩上弄一纹身，Ross显然对这想法不太感冒，他问：“A tattoo? Why, why would you want to do that? （纹身？为什么？为什么你要去纹身？）” 这下本来想给Ross一个惊喜的Rachel有点慌了，她试探道：“you don’t – you don’t think they’re kind of cool?（你不觉得，你不觉得那样蛮酷的？）”

来听听Ross是怎么回答的：No, sorry I don’t. Tell me why would anyone pay someone to scar their body for life? What if it doesn’t come out right Phoebe? Then it’s like, I don’t know, havin’ a bad hair cut all the time. (对不起，我不觉得酷。告诉我为什么有人会付钱去让自己身上弄个除不掉的疤？要是纹得不好怎么办？Phoebe, 那岂不就像老是顶着个糟糕的发型嘛)。说到这儿Ross发现大伙都盯着他看，就不解地问：“Why’s everyone staring at me?（你们盯着我看干嘛？）”，难道说我的发型很糟糕？

*本篇所讲到的表达法：

tattoo
excuse me
have a chip on your shoulder