【大纪元1月29日讯】
今天李华忙着批改中文班学生的作业。李华会从Larry那儿学到两个常用语﹕go easy on和 go cold turkey。
LH: 哎﹗这些学生﹗看看他们的考卷儿﹐简直糟透了﹗也不知道他们是不是真想学中文。
LL: Hey, go easy on your students, Li Hua. They’ve only been studying Chinese for a few weeks. It’s a difficult language!
LH: 你说什么﹖你要我把中文课改得再容易一点儿﹖
LL: That’s not what I said, Li Hua. I said you should go easy on them. That means you should show some restraint – don’t be too angry with them.
LH: Hmmpph! Go easy on them﹐就是别这么厉害﹐别那么恼火。可是Larry, 他们每天才学五个单词﹐要是你问我啊﹐I am going easy on them.连这点最基本的中文都考不好﹐那还有什么希望呐﹗
LL: I just mean you shouldn’t yell or get angry at them. Why are you always in such a bad mood these days?
LH: 我这几天是情绪不好﹐没耐心﹐也不知道是什么原因﹐可能是因为咖啡喝得太多﹐晚上睡不好觉的缘故吧。
LL: A lot of coffee – huh? No wonder you can’t sleep well. I think you should go easy on the coffee.
LH: Go easy on the coffee? 等等﹐Larry, 刚才你让我对学生要客气点儿 – go easy on my students﹐现在又说我应该go easy on the coffee﹐这又怎么解释呢﹖
LL: When I say “go easy on the coffee”, I mean you should show some restraint and drink less coffee.
LH: Go easy on the coffee, 就是让我少喝点儿咖啡。可是﹐go easy on the students就是要对学生客气点。我不是太清楚﹐Larry, 你能不能再给我举个例子﹖
LL: Sure. Whenever you see me drinking at a party, you always tell me to go easy on the beer.
LH: 对呀﹐每次参加party 的时候我都劝你别喝那么多啤酒﹐喝醉了会出洋相的﹗哎哟﹐Look at this! 这个学生﹐五道题里只回答了一道﹐我只能给她不及格了。
LL: Hey, hey, don’t give her an ‘F’! Go easy on her. And go easy on the coffee,
******
LH: 啊﹐我累死了﹗
LL: How are you feeling now that you’re drinking less coffee?
LH: 嗯﹐我已经三天没喝咖啡了﹐晚上睡觉是好多了﹐可是白天我怎么老是觉得精力不够﹑昏昏沉沉的呢﹖
LL: No coffee for three days? I told you to go easy on the coffee, not go cold turkey!
LH: Go cold turkey? 你在说什么呀﹖你让我少喝咖啡﹐多吃冷火鸡呀﹖
LL: No, I said you went “cold turkey”. That means to suddenly quit doing or consuming something that is addictive.
LH: 噢﹐原来go cold turkey不是 “吃冷火鸡”呀﹗Go cold turkey是“突然停止做那些习惯做的事﹐一下子戒掉原来上瘾的习惯”。哎﹐Larry, 你觉得我过去喝咖啡到上瘾的程度了吗﹖
LL: Ok, you’re not really addicted to coffee. But quitting coffee isn’t easy, right? When I said you went cold turkey, It implied that quitting is not easy.
LH: 是啊﹐突然一下子一点儿咖啡都不喝了﹐是够难的﹐怪不得我老没精神呢﹗不过Larry, 要把戒咖啡和戒烟相比﹐我看﹐戒烟恐怕更难吧﹖
LL: That’s true. One day, my friend Rick went cold turkey on cigarettes. It almost drove him crazy, but he never smoked a cigarette again.
LH: Wow, 你的朋友Rick可真了不起﹐说戒烟一下子就戒掉了。我记得我叔叔也试过一下子戒掉 – go cold turkey on cigarettes﹐可是他试了三次都没成功﹐不过他现在抽得比以前少多了。
LL: I’m glad your uncle is going easy on cigarettes.
今天李华从Larry那儿学到了两个常用语。一个是go easy on someone 就是“对某人客气些”﹐要是说go easy on something﹐那就是“有节制地使用某件东西”。李华学到的另一个常用语是go cold turkey on something, 意思是“突然停止做某件事”。
(转载自《美国之音》)
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