Friends英语赏析【21】囊中羞涩

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第二十一篇

Monica 刚被提升为厨师长兼采购主管，兴奋异常的她要和大伙一起出去庆祝一下(go out and celebrate)，并且说要找个好点的地方 (someplace nice)。好地方就意味着好价钱，在一家档次比较高的餐厅吃完饭后，大伙又谈到了钱的问题：

Rachel: (to Joey and Phoebe) Ok, look you guys, I really don't want to get into this right now. I think it'll just make everyone uncomfortable.
Phoebe: Fine. All right, fine.
Joey: Yeah.
Chandler: You can tell us.
Ross: Hello, it's us, all right? It'll be fine.
Monica: Yeah!
Joey: Ok, um, uh, we three feel like, that uh, sometimes you guys don't get that uh... We don't have as much money as you.
Monica: Ok.
Ross: I hear ya.
Chandler: We can talk about that.
Phoebe: Well, then...Let's.
Ross: Well umm I, I just never think of money as an issue.
Rachel: That's cause you have it.
Ross: That's a good point.
Chandler: So um, how come you guys haven't talked about this before?
Joey: 'Cause it's always somethin', you know, like with Monica's new job, or the whole Ross's birthday hoopla.
Ross: Wha—Whoa, hey, I don't want my birthday to be the source of any kind of negative—there's gonna be a hoopla?

【世博视角】

朋友之间谈到钱的问题时总会让人有些不自在，尤其是当自己囊中羞涩的时候，所以Rachel 说她不想在此刻提这事（Ok, look you guys, I really don't want to get into this right now. I think it'll just make everyone uncomfortable.）。而Ross，Monica和Chandler三人觉得朋友之间嘛有什么不能谈的，于是Joey 在支吾了老半天之后，终于憋出他、Rachel和Phoebe三人的心声，那就是 “we three feel like, that uh, sometimes you guys don't get that uh... We don't have as much money as you.” 说完之后，情况果然有些尴尬，大伙一时都不知说什么好，Ross最后来了一句“Well umm I, I just never think of money as an issue. (我从来没想到钱会个问题)” 真是站着说话不腰疼，他薪水不错，当然不用愁钱，所以Rachel马上抢白道“That's cause you have it.” Ross 也意识到自己说错话，于是就说“That's a good point.” point 作为名词其最基本的意思就是 “尖端，尖点”，数学符号中的小数点也是point, 证券市场中上升或下降了几个点也可以用point表示，如：The pound fell several points on the Stock Market today. 此外， point 还经常用来表示 “论点、观点、要点” 等等，比如有人就某个问题滔滔不绝地说了老半天但就是没切中要害，这时你就可以问“What’s your point?” 或者也可以这样说 “We haven’t got all day, so please get to the point.” 要是对方说了一个观点你觉得很对，就可以用Ross所说的那句“That's a good point ”或者是“You’ve got a point.” 还有I see/take your point or point taken也是一个常用的表达法，它表示虽然你并不赞同对方的某些观点，但你能理解对方为什么这么说。

Chandler觉得有些奇怪为什么Joey他们以前从没提起过“经济困难”的问题，所以就问 “So um, how come you guys haven't talked about this before? ” Joey 回答说是因为老是有事情发生，比如Monica的新工作啦，Ross要过生日啦，在这种时候说没钱不免有些扫兴。听到他们要给自己过生日，而且还是hoopla, Ross有点抑制不住自己的兴奋了。hoopla 这个词在英国是用来指那种投环套物的游戏，在美国它主要用来表示一种“喧闹或兴奋”，或者是媒体对于某件事情的大肆传宣，例如：

A lot of hoopla surrounded the arrival of the pop star.
In spite of all the media hoopla, the public has shown little interest in the space program this year.

*本篇所讲到的地道表达法：

come/get to the point
I see/take your point or point taken
you’ve got a point or that’s a point
hoopla