分类： Friends英语赏析

本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写！

第九篇

一帮老友们没事又坐在一起开侃了，这次的话题是男人和女人：

Monica: Would you let it go? It’s not that big a deal.
Ross: Not that big a deal? It’s amazing. Ok, you just reach in there, there’s one little maneuver, and bamm, a bra right out the sleeve. All right, as far as I’m concerned, there is nothing a guy can do that even comes close. Am I right?
Rachel: Come on! You guys can pee standing up.
Chandler: We can? All right, I’m tryin’ that.
Joey: Ok, you know what blows my mind? Women can see breasts any time they want. You just look down and there they are. How you get any work done is beyond me.
Phoebe: Oh, ok, you know what I don’t get? The way guys can do so many mean things, and then not even care.

【世博视角】

It’s not that a big deal. 看过上一篇赏析的朋友们肯定会对这句话很熟悉，对啦，它就表示说 ： “这没啥大不了的！” 什么事没啥大不了的？ 原来Ross觉得女人们能像变戏法一样地把bra 从衣服的袖子里拿出来真是很了不得 (It’s amazing. Ok, you just reach in there, there’s one little maneuver, and bam, a bra right out the sleeve.) maneuver 这个词源自法语，表示一种很巧妙的动作或手法，魔术师们有maneuver，政客们也会玩maneuver, 顺便说一下，在英式英语中maneuver也会拼写成manoeuvre。另外再看一下bamm，这是一个象声词，一声枪响就可以用bam来形容，但它经常被用来表示 “突然、一下子”的意思，如：I’m going around the corner when BAMM! Next thing I know I’m splattered with orange juice.

Rachel听了Ross的话后也不以为然，她说: “得了，你们男人还能站着撒尿呢 (Come on! You guys can pee standing up.)” pee是个非常口语化的词，用医学术语来表示的话就是urinate;通常我们只在熟人之间才会用pee这个词，而在一般情况下如果你内急了的话可以说 I need / have to go to the bathroom.

Joey 也发表意见说： “Ok, you know what blows my mind? Women can see breasts any time they want. You just look down and there they are. How you get any work done is beyond me. (你们知道什么让我觉得惊奇吗？女人们随时都能看到自己的胸脯，只要一低头就成。我不明白你们怎么能专心工作呢！) blow one’s mind 又是一个很好的口语，它表示 “对某件事情感到既惊奇又兴奋”，比如我的一个朋友前不久居然在网上聊天时遇到了她的小学同桌，之后两人见了面并重拾十几年前的友谊。每当谈起这事时她就可以说：Meeting him like that after so many years really blew my mind. 此外，Joey所说的这句话中还有一个词组也值得提一下，那就是 be beyond sb，beyond是个介词，基本的意思是 “超越” ，在口语中如果你说sth is beyond me, 那就表示某件事情对你而很难理解，比如：Algebra was always beyond me.

最后Phoebe 说： “Oh, ok, you know what I don’t get? The way guys can do so many mean things, and then not even care.” mean在这里作形容词，意思是 “很不好、卑鄙的”, 它后面可以用介词to, 例如：

That was a mean thing to do.
Don’t be so mean to her!

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…。

本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写！

第七篇

上回说到Monica不肯把她的约会对象介绍给大伙，但在同事的劝导之下，加上大伙再三保证守规矩(be good), Monica终于把那个叫Alan的人带来了。

送走Alan之后：

Monica: Okay. Okay, let’s let the Alan-bashing begin. Who’s gonna take the first shot, hmm?
Monica: C’mon!
Ross: …I’ll go. Let’s start with the way he kept picking at- no, I’m sorry, I can’t do this, can’t do this. We loved him.
All: Loved him! Yeah! He’s great!
Monica: Wait a minute! We’re talking about someone that I’m going out with?
All: Yeah!
Rachel: And did you notice…? (She spreads her thumb and index finger.)
The Guys: Yeah.
Joey: Know what was great? The way his smile was kinda crooked.
Phoebe: Yes, yes! Like the man in the shoe!
Ross: …What shoe?
Phoebe: From the nursery rhyme. ‘There was a crooked man, Who had a crooked smile, Who lived in a shoe, For a… while…’
Ross: …So I think Alan will become the yardstick against which all future boyfriends will be measured.
Rachel: What future boyfriends? Nono, I th- I think this could be, y’know, it.
Monica: Really!

【世博视角】

Alan一走，Monica心想那群 “土狼” 肯定要本性大暴露了，于是就先声夺人地说: “ 好，‘Alan批判会’ 现在开始，谁第一个来？（Okay, let’s let the Alan-bashing begin. Who’s gonna take the first shot, hmm）?” 这里要说一下bash这个词，它看上去似乎很简单，但用法却比较复杂，一词多义，既可作动词, 也可作名词，非正式地表示 “猛击、(用语言)攻击”等意思。它的动名词形式bashing可以和其它单词一起组成新名词，用来表示 “对…不满”，如：government-bashing, gay-bashing , etc. Monica 就用它很巧妙地创造出了 “Alan-bashing” 这个词，颇有些语带双关，因为bash还可以解释为party, 例如：He had a big bash for his 18th birthday.

这次的情况还真与以往不同，“土狼”们你看我，我看你，居然没一个先 “下手 (take the first shot)”, Monica才不信他们会这么好呢，又催了一句：“ Come on. (说呀！)，这时她的哥哥Ross终于发声音了，刚开始他还煞有介事地挑起刺来，最后他终于忍不住说出Monica最想听的一句话来: “We loved him (我们很喜欢他)。” Joey觉得Alan最棒的地方就是他笑起来坏坏的(Know what was great? The way his smile was kinda crooked.) Phoebe也连声说是，然后也不知是她的那根神经搭错了，Alan的坏笑让她想起了一首莫名其妙的安睡曲(nursery rhyme),还哼唱给大家听，大伙都被她搞得一楞一楞的，她自己也觉得有些不对劲儿……

Ross接着夸奖Alan，说他将成为衡量Monica所有未来男友的一个标准 (So I think Alan will become the yardstick against which all future boyfriends will be measured.) yardstick 本身是一种丈量工具，即 “码尺”，其引申之意也就是 “衡量…的标准或尺度”,后面跟介词of或against, 比如：Is profit the only yardstick of success?

“什么未来男友，我想这事可能就成啦！” Rachel握住Monica的手激动地说道。 Rachel的意思是指Alan可能就是Monica的真命天子，她知道大伙都明白她想要说什么，所以就简单说成I think this could be, y’know, it.

这次Monica真是激动啊!