Friends英语赏析【42】小气鬼 cheapskate

本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写！让我们通过影视轻松学英语！未经本站授权，请勿转载！

第四十二篇

Ross刚刚搬进新的公寓,在他还在整理房间时，有人来向他筹集100元钱以作为酬谢送给即将退休的负责物业维修的Howard。Ross觉得自己刚搬进来，他连Howard是做什么的都不知道，所以不该出这笔钱，这下可好了：

Ross: …so then President Steve told everyone that I was a cheapskate, and now the whole building hates me! A little kid spit on my knee! Y'know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna throw a party. That's right. For everyone in the building, and I'm gonna sit them down and explain to them, I am not a bad guy. I am not a cheap guy! I'm just a guy who-who stands up for what he believes in. A man with principles.
Chandler: (To Rachel) Sounds like a fun party.
Rachel: Look, Ross, if you want your neighbors to like you, why don't you just pay the hundred bucks? The party's gonna cost you way more than that.
Ross: It doesn't matter! It's my principles! We're talking about my principles!
Rachel: Okay, I thought it was about your neighbors liking you.
Ross: Oh, they'll like me once they come to my awesome PAR-TAY!

【世博视角】

结果那个来向Ross筹款的人告诉了楼里的每个人说Ross不肯出钱，这使得整幢楼里的人都很讨厌Ross，一个小孩子看到Ross还向他吐唾沫（…so then President Steve told everyone that I was a cheapskate, and now the whole building hates me! A little kid spit on my knee!）。cheapskate就是我们所说的“小气鬼”或是“铁公鸡”，比如有些人平时老是噌别人的午饭吃，自己却从不肯掏钱，久而久之，一定会有人忍不住对他说：Hey, don't be such a cheapskate - it's your turn to buy lunch.

Ross决定开一个派对，邀请楼里所有的人参加，借此向大家解释并证明其实他不是一个小气的人（I'm gonna throw a party. That's right. For everyone in the building, and I'm gonna sit them down and explain to them, I am not a bad guy. I am not a cheap guy!）。举办派对我们可以说 to hold / have a party, 但在口语中老美们更加习惯说to throw a party, 如：The French club is throwing a party this Friday night. 另外在Ross的这段话里我们又看到了cheap这个词，它作形容词用，a cheap guy 就等于是a cheapskate。

Rachel 觉得如果Ross想让楼里的人喜欢他的话就干脆把那钱交了不就得了，开个派对可远不止100块钱呢(Look, Ross, if you want your neighbors to like you, why don't you just pay the hundred bucks? The party's gonna cost you way more than that.)。way 作为副词用，可以表示“更…”的意思，在上面的这句话中，way more than that 就相当说much more than that, 只不过用way 这个词会使句子听上去更口语化一点, 又比如：Her IQ is way above average. 除此之外，美国人还喜欢用way来表示very的意思，如：I think she's way cool, man.

Ross之所以不肯付那100块倒不是因为钱的原因，而是因为他觉得自己不该付这钱，这是个原则问题(It doesn't matter! It's my principles! We're talking about my principles!)。最后Ross自信地认为只要那些人来参加这个party, 他们肯定就会喜欢自己的(Oh, they'll like me once they come to my awesome PAR-TAY!)。awesome也是口语中使用频率很高的一个形容词，意思就是“very good ”,相当于我们平时说的“一极棒”“很牛”，等等，如：Their last concert was really awesome.

*本篇所讲到的表达法:

cheapskate
way
awesome