Friends英语赏析【26】因果报应

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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