Friends英语赏析【115】Run an errand 替人跑腿

本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写!

Rachel: Jill?
Jill: (covers her eyes and starts crying) I’m sorry Rachel, I’m sorry…
Rachel: Oh, come on! You think that’s gonna work on me?! I invented that!
Jill: Right! But, I am sorry.
Rachel: All right, it’s okay. One little setback is okay, just don’t let it happen again, all right? Now since daddy paid for all this stuff, I should take it all away. But I’m just gonna take the-the pashmina. And the uh, and the uh pants. Y’know what, I’m just gonna take it all away, ‘cause that way you’ll just really learn the lesson. Okay? All right, I’m gonna run a couple of errands and I will see you at dinner.

瑞秋:吉尔?
吉尔:我很抱歉,瑞秋,对不起…
瑞秋:噢,少来了,你以为那对我有用?是我发明这一套的!
吉尔:是啊!不过我真的很抱歉。
瑞秋:好吧,没关系。一点小错误没关系,再别犯就好。既然你是花爸爸的钱买的这些东西,我就应该把它们都拿走,不过我就拿这条披肩好了,哦,还有这条裤子。算了,我都拿走了,这样你就能好好吸取一下教训,好吧?就这样,我还要去办点事,吃晚饭时见。

【世博视角】

说到“裤子”,可能大多数人都会用trousers一词,这没有错,可是在美国“裤子”却被习惯性的叫做pants, 也就是说trousers是英式英语。pants到了英国就被理解成“短裤”了,而在美语中“短裤”是underpants.

对话中瑞秋拿走了她妹妹刚买来的所有东西,目的是为了让她“吸取教训”, 用英语来表达就是learn a lesson, 比如我们常说的“从历史中汲取经验”就是learn the lessons of history。另外我们还可以说teach someone a lesson, 表示“给某人一个教训”,如:She decided to teach the boy a lesson.

errand, 意思是“差事”,常常与动词run 连用,表示出去办些小差事,说得不好听一点就是“替人跑腿”,例如:

I used to pick up her dry cleaning and run errands for her.
Peter cleaned equipment, ran errands, answered the phone — it was all routine.

Friends英语赏析【114】On the house 免费

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Woman: Hi!
Joey: Hi!
Woman: How much do I owe you for the muffin and the latte?
Joey: Oh that’s on the house courtesy of Joey Tribbiani.
Woman: Oh great! Well, tell him thanks. And since uh, Joey seems like such a nice guy, maybe we could go on a date sometime?
Joey: Well, he’s not used to women being so forward with him; but uh, I can check with him—He says it’s okay. (She hands him her card.) Great! Thanks! Bye-bye!

女顾客:嗨!
乔伊:嗨!
女顾客:蛋糕和拿铁咖啡加在一起我要付多少?
乔伊:噢,这些免费,乔伊·崔比奥尼送的。
女顾客:噢,太好了,替我谢谢乔伊。看来乔伊这个人不错呢,或许我们哪天可以约会一下。
乔伊:哦,他通常不太习惯女人太主动的,不过我可以问问他 — 他说可以。(她给了他一张名片)好极了,谢谢,再见。

【世博视角】

On the house可不是“在房子上面”的意思,而是指“免费”的,但它只限用于餐馆或是酒吧为了吸引顾客而送的一些“免费的”小食、饮料等等。在对话中,那位女顾客所点的东西其实并不是真的免费,而是当侍应生的乔伊为了讨好那位漂亮女顾客而自作主张说是“免费的”。courtesy一词的基本解释是“礼貌”,相当于politeness, 而 (by) courtesy of somebody 意思是“得到某人的允许”、“出于某人的好意”,比如:photographs supplied courtesy of Blenheim Palace. 这句话的意思就是说这些照片是由这个名为Blenheim Palace的人友情提供的,而不是报社或杂志社出钱买来的。

Forward一词在对话中也不是解释为“向前的”,而是表示“主动地”,带有一些贬义色彩,尤其女孩子总是不希望让别人觉得自己很forward, 例如:

My father thinks she’s far too forward for a young girl.
Kirstie did not wish to sound too forward.

Friends英语赏析【113】Blah 没劲

本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写!

Janine: How are we gonna get out of that one?
Joey: What?
Janine: I can’t handle two nights in a row with them.
Joey: What-what’s wrong with Monica and Chandler?
Janine: I don’t know, they’re just a little blah!
Joey: Blah?!
Janine: Well y’know, he’s blah, she’s just—she’s very loud for such a small person.

简宁:我们怎么才能不和他们出去呢?
乔伊:什么?
简宁:我可受不了连续两天和他们出去。
乔伊:莫妮卡和钱德乐怎么了?
简宁:我不知道,他们就是没什么劲。
乔伊:没劲?
简宁:哦,你知道啦,他(钱德乐)没劲,她(莫妮卡)嘛这么小个人,说起话来声音倒是很大。

【世博视角】

Row表示“排”,电影院里一排排的座位就用row来表示,比如: We sat in the front row. in a row 可以表示“接连几次”的意思,比方说我的朋友连续四个晚上都出去和人约会,我就可以说:She’s been out four nights in a row.

Blah这个词在口语中经常出现。生活中有些人很喜欢讲话的,但讲的话题也就那么几个,不太有趣,比如:You know how Michelle talks: ‘Tommy did this, and Jesse did that, blah, blah, blah.’ blah还常常用来代替一些你不想重复说的“废话”,如:They say they want to cut taxes, improve education, blah, blah, blah. 另外,blah还可以做形容词用,表示“没劲”“不怎么有意思”,例如:

She was just blah but her friend wasn’t so bad.
The chili was kind of blah.