Friends英语赏析【97】On Track

本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写!

Joshua: You okay?
Rachel: I’m more than okay, I am really, really happy! Wanna know why?
Joshua: Do I?
Rachel: ‘Cause I am really happy about us. I think we are, I think we are so on the right track! Y’know? I mean, I think we are working, I think we are clicking. Y’know?
Joshua: Yeah, sure-sure, yeah, we’re-we’re-we’re-we’re-we’re clicking.

乔叔华:你还好吧?
瑞秋:我好极了,我真是,真是太高兴了。想知道为什么吗?
乔叔华:我想吗?
瑞秋:因为我实为太为我俩高兴了。我觉得我俩正朝着好的方向发展呢!我是说我们很合拍,是吧?
乔叔华:是,当然,当然,我们,我们,我们很合拍。

【世博视角】

track作为名词的基本的解释是“轨道”, 火车只要是在正确的轨道上行驶就不会有什么问题,因此be on the right track 就用来表示“方向正确”或“想法对头”,如:The figures show we are on the right track.一般说来只要方向正确,我们只要be on track就能达到预期的目标了,又如:We’re on track for 10% growth.

再来说一下click这个词,我们平时使用电脑时做得最多的一个动作就是按鼠标,也就是click,如:Select the printer icon and then click the left mouse button. 同时按属标时发出的“叭哒”声也可以用click来表示。除此之外,click 还有两个妙用,一是用来表示人与人之间的一种默契与投缘,例如:Liz and I really clicked (with each other) the first time we met. 第二,它可以表示一下子明白什么事情的意思,例如:

Then it clicked. The man at the station must have been her brother!
As he talked about his schooldays, it suddenly clicked where I had met him before.

Friends英语赏析【96】Bonding的用法

本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写!

Ross: Look at you two, bonding, making us late for the airport so…
Emily: Are you all right?
Susan: Oh, he’s fine. He’s fine. It’s just that us getting along is difficult for him, because he doesn’t like me.
Ross: Oh come on! That’s-that’s… true.

罗斯:看你们俩,又说又笑,要我们耽误去机场了,所以…
艾米莉:你没问题吧?
苏珊:噢,他没问题,只不过我们俩相处起来有些困难,因为他不喜欢我。
罗斯:哈,得了!真是, 是真的。

【世博视角】

人与人之间的交往有时就是这么奇妙,有些人刚一见面就会对彼此有好感,谈起话来更是投机,然后很快就能成为朋友,这就是对话中罗斯所说的“bonding”的意思,bonding也常常用来指母亲与刚出生的孩子之间所建立的感情,如:Much of the bonding between mother and child takes place in those early weeks. 作为动词,bond本身的解释是“粘合”,比如:It takes less than 10 minutes for the two surfaces to bond.(10分钟不到这两个表面就能粘在一起)。同样这种反应也能发生在人身上,所以才有这样的例句:The two new recruits seemed to bond immediately.(两个新人之间好像一见如故)。

说到友好相处,get along也是经常用到的一个词组, 后面可以跟上介词with,表示与某人相处得不错,例如:

Mary was chosen because she is a good administrator who gets along with everyone.
I used to argue a lot with my parents, but now we get along fine.

Friends英语赏析【95】Mess up 搞糟

本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写!

Ross: So, I just picked up a message from Emily, she and Susan are going to a poetry reading together!
Rachel: So?
Ross: So! Poetry? Susan’s gay! They’re being gay together!
Monica: Emily’s straight.
Ross: Oh, wake up!
Phoebe: Wow, Carol really messed you up!

罗斯:爱米莉留言给我说她和苏珊正打算一起去诗朗诵。
瑞秋:那怎么了?
罗斯:那怎么了!苏珊可是同性恋呢。她们一起同性恋去了。
莫妮卡:爱米莉不是同性恋。
罗斯:噢,你醒醒吧!
菲比:哇,开萝真是让你变得疑神疑鬼的。

【世博视角】

Gay一词最初是用来表示“欢乐的”, 可如今它已失去原义而普遍用来指“同性恋”了,一般说来gay大多用来指“男同性恋”,“女同性恋”的话则大多用lesbian来形容。在国外,如果碰到有同性很暧昧地和你搭讪,你只需说一声I’m straight,对方就会识趣地走开了。

再说说mess这个词,作为动词它的基本解释是“弄乱”或“弄脏”,经常与介词up一起连用,如:Who messed up the kitchen? mess up还常常用来表示“把…搞糟了”,例如:
It took me ages to get this right – I don’t want some idiot to mess it up.
It doesn’t matter if you mess it up, you can always try again.
I’m not going to let him mess up my life.

如果某个人被mess up了的话,那就表示这个人有一些问题,尤其是心理上或精神上,比如毒品就会把人给弄得人不像人:Drugs really messed her up. 还有青少年也是最容易出问题的,如:She was really messed up as a teenager.