世博英语

本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写！

第二十七篇

Rachel还在为那张 “单子” 的事而耿耿于怀，一直不给Ross好脸色看。这天Ross想到了一个能让Rachel解气的主意：

ROSS: Hey, Rach, you know what? I think, I think I know what’ll make you feel better. How ’bout you make a list about me？
RACHEL: Wha… forget it Ross, no, I am not gonna stand here and make a list of. . .
ROSS: C’mon Rachel.
RACHEL: OK, you’re whiney, you are, you’re obsessive, you are insecure, you’re, you’re gutless, you know, you don’t ever, you don’t just sort of seize the day, you know. You like me for what, a year, you didn’t do anything about it. And, uh, oh, you wear too much of that gel in your hair.
ROSS: See there, you uhh, alright, ya, you did what I said.
RACHEL: Yeah, and you know what? You’re right, I do feel better, thank you Ross.

【世博视角】

you know what？并不是真正的一个问句，而是说话人为了引起对方注意而使用的开头语，它就相当于说 “listen to what I’m going to tell you”。Ross想到了一个什么主意？How ’bout you make a list about me？(你也来列一张关于我的单子怎么样？) 在向别人征询意见的时候，how about….这个表达法会经常被用到，比如：

How about a salad for lunch?
How about Friday evening? Would that be convenient?

how about 后面如果要跟动词的话，这个动词必须转化为动名词形式，也就是 how about doing something, 例如：How about joining us for a game of bridge（桥牌）?

对于Ross的这个主意Rachel 很不以为然，她说：“forget it Ross, no, I am not gonna stand here and make a list of. . .（算了吧，Ross, 我才不会站在这儿数落你的…）” forget it 这一口语可以表示让别人忽略某一件并不重要的事情，比如说我们帮了别人一个小忙，对方很客气地感谢道“Thanks so much for helping”, 这时我们就可以说 “Forget it, it was nothing” , 当然我们也可以说 “Don’t mention it.” 另外，当你觉得别人的某个建议或是说法很不合理的时候，你也可以说上一句 forget it, 就像Rachel 那样。

可事实上 Rachel 并没有 forget it, 在Ross说了句come on 以示鼓励后，她马上顺竿而上列举起Ross的缺点来, 来看看她用的几个形容词：whiney 来自于动词 whine, 表示“爱抱怨的”、obsessive “纠缠不清”、insecure “无完全感”、gutless “没胆量”，Rachel 还说Ross 不会 seize the day，这也是个曾经流行一时的说法，表示“抓紧时光”，也有点“今朝有酒今朝醉”的意思。最后实在没什么好说的了，Rachel就拿Ross的头发出气，说他用了太多的发胶(you wear too much of that gel in your hair.)。

听别人说自己的缺点总是不太舒服的，而说的人可就不一样了，现在的Rachel果然感觉好多了。

*本篇所讲到的表达法：

you know what?
how about …
forget it

本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写！

第二十六篇

还记得上一篇中讲到的那张列有Rachel和Julie优缺点的单子吗?(We’ll make a list. Rachel and Julie, pros and cons.) Rachel无意当中在Chandler的电脑里瞥见自己的名字，于是就追问他写的是什么，Chandler, Ross和Joey三个百般搪塞，可结果还是让Rachel看到了那张单子，这下Ross可惨了。

第二天当大伙谈起此事时，Chandler懊恼地说：

CHAN: My diary! My diary, that’s brilliant. I should have told her it was my diary, she never would have made me read her my diary.
MNCA: You know, that’s true. You’d be a great person to have around the day after an emergency.
PHOE: I… I cannot believe Ross even made this list. What a dingus.
JOEY: Hey, cut him some slack. It was Chandler’s idea.
PHOE: What?
MNCA: What?
CHAN: Oh good, I was hoping that would come up.
MNCA: This was your idea?
PHOE: What were you thinking?
CHAN: All right, let’s get some perspective here, ok? These things, they happen for a reason.
MNCA: Yeah. You!
CHAN: All right, Pheebs, back me up here, ok? You believe in that karma crap, don’t you?
PHOE: Yeah, by the way, good luck in your next life as a dung beetle.

【世博视角】

在 “单子事件” 发生以后Chandler 才想到当时他应该说电脑里面是他写的日记，这样Rachel就不会追问他到底写了些什么(I should have told her it was my diary, she never would have made me read her my diary.)，这个主意真是很高明(That’s brilliant.), 只可惜现在才想到已为时过晚了，所以Monica 对Chandler 说：“You’d be a great person to have around the day after an emergency .”这句话真接的意思是“在紧要关头过后有你这么个人倒是很好”，其言下之意就是说Chandler只会事后诸葛亮。

Phoebe接下去说：“我真不敢相信Ross居然会列这张单子(I… I cannot believe Ross even made this list. What a dingus.)” dingus是俚语，用来骂别人笨蛋的。这时Joey倒是为Ross说了句公道话“Hey, cut him some slack. It was Chandler’s idea.(别那么针对他嘛，那可是Chandler的主意)” cut someone some slack是一习惯用语，先来看看slack这个词，作为名词它可以表示“松紧”，比如说“拉紧绳子”就是 take up the slack, 那么cut some slack 肯定就是放松的意思，因此 cut someone some slack 就是指对某人放松一点，别那么严厉，例如：

Cut him a little slack – his father just died.
“Andrew’s late again.” “Cut him some slack – his wife’s just had a baby.”

听Joey那么一说，Monica和Phoebe马上把矛头指向了Chandler，相信此时的Chandler肯定很恨Joey多嘴, 可他只能略带嘲讽地承认说“噢，太好了，我正希望这会被说到呢！（Oh good, I was hoping that would come up.）接着Chandler又为自己开脱：“ 我们要透过现象看本质，这些事情的发生可是有原因的（All right, let’s get some perspective here, ok? These things, they happen for a reason.）。” “对，你(就是原因)。”Monica的回答真是够透彻! Chandler继续狡辩，搬出Phoebe所相信的“Karma”这一套来唬人，并且让Phoebe支持他一下(All right, Pheebs, back me up here, ok? You believe in that karma crap, don’t you?) back somebody up，用背把某人扛起来，也就是支持某人的意思。karma就是我们所说的“因果报应”或是“轮回”。Phoebe的回答也很有意思，她说：“是（我相信），顺便祝你下辈子做臭虫时好运(Yeah, by the way, good luck in your next life as a dung beetle.)”

*本篇所讲到的表达法：

cut someone some slack
back somebody up
karma

本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写！

第二十五篇

Ross一直暗恋着Rachel, 但他却迟迟没有行动,最后还是Chandler在Rachel生日的那天不小心说漏了嘴(spill the beans)，让Rachel知道了Ross对她的感情。Rachel开始以另一种眼光看待Ross,并且想和他在一起。可问题是Ross这时已经有了一个很不错的女友Julie,现在是他做出选择的时候了：

ROSS: I don’t know what to do. What am I gonna do? I mean, this, this is like a complete nightmare.
CHAN: Oh, I know. This must be so hard. Oh, no. Two women love me. They’re both gorgeous and sexy. My wallet’s too small for my fifties, and my diamond shoes are too tight.
JOEY: Hey, here’s a thought, Ross.
CHAN: Don’t touch the computer. Don’t ever touch the computer.
JOEY: Ross, listen. I got two words for you. Threesome.
CHAN: Ok, all right, look. Let’s get logical about this, ok? We’ll make a list. Rachel and Julie, pros and cons.

【世博视角】

鱼与熊掌不能兼得，一个是暗恋了近十年的梦中情人Rachel (I’ve been dreaming about me and Rachel for ten years now), 一个是非常好，非常在乎他的Julie，要在她俩之间做出选择真是为难了Ross，难怪他说这整个就是个恶梦 (This is like a complete nightmare.)。Chandler对于Ross的处境可是一点也不同情，相反他酸溜溜地说：“噢，我了解，这真是困难，两个女人同时爱上了我，她们又都那么性感迷人（Oh, I know. This must be so hard. Oh, no. Two women love me. They’re both gorgeous and sexy.），我的钱包不够装那些大钞，我的钻石鞋太紧了(My wallet’s too small for my fifties, and my diamond shoes are too tight.)。” Chandler说到后来颇有点“朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨”的忿忿不平之意。

在一旁的Joey好像想到了一个主意，于是他说：“Hey, here’s a thought, Ross.” 以后当你有什么想法或主意要对别人说的时候，你不妨也学学Joey的这一句 Hey, here’s a thought. 当然你也可以举一反三地说 here is an idea / a suggestion, 等等。Joey出的可不是什么好主意，他说：“我只有两个字给你，那就是threesome （三人一起玩）。” 唉，这Joey连字数都不会算，threesome明明是一个字嘛。对于这么个馊主意，Ross只能翻白眼了。

还是Chandler 恢复了理智，建议弄个单子，罗列一下Rachel 和 Julie各自的优缺点以供Ross决择(Let’s get logical about this, ok? We’ll make a list. Rachel and Julie, pros and cons.) pros and cons是一个很常用的表达法，在辩论会上，我们有正方和反方，正方就是“pro”，反方就是“con”， 两者合起来 pros and cons 就表示事物的正反两方面，也就是“the advantages and disadvantages of something”，平时我们所说的“权衡利弊”，就可以说成“weighing the pros and cons”，又比如：We need to look at the pros and cons of each system.

可是感情这种事是不能用pros and cons来决定的，尽管Rachel与Julie相比有许多cons,但Ross最后还是选择了她。

*本篇所讲到的口语表达法：

here is a thought
pros and cons