2012年2月29日星期三

22 辦事容易,容易辦事 -英文補習

22 辦事容易,容易辦事 -英文補習


【節目介紹】:大家好,應友要求,《Words & Idioms》開播了。本節目適合各個階層的人學習。大家只要聽寫出音頻中的例句就可以了,本期一共四個例句。聽寫不需要打引號,句子間也不用編序號。至于文中聽到的所有習慣用語,提交答案之后都可以在譯文部分找到。Hints:LoueyHoney Old Man Jones anti-aircraft 校對:trans0829答疑:常小貓Getting grandmother to loan me the money was as easy as taking candy from a baby.Louey told us that robbing this bank would be as easy as taking candy from a baby. But somebody told the police and they were waiting for us. We had no choice but to throw down our guns and surrender.Honey, I finally asked Old Man Jones for my raise. And it was a piece of cake.At the briefing before we took off to bomb the Germans, our commander told us it would probably be a tough flight. But it turned out to be a piece of cake: no anti-aircraft fire and no enemy fighters.一般人在做任何事情的時候總是想找捷徑,越容易越好,這似乎是人的本性。因此,在英語里有不少成語和俗語是形容辦事很容易的。其中之一就是:To take candy from a baby。Candy就是吃的糖,baby在中文里就是小孩。To take candy from a baby的意思就是:某件事情很容易辦成,就像把孩子手里的糖拿來一樣。請聽下面這個例子: 例句-1: "Getting grandmother to loan me the money was as easy as taking candy from a baby." 這個人說:"要我祖母借我那筆錢那簡直是太容易了。" 我們再來舉一個例子吧。這是一個被關在監獄里的犯人在和牢房里另一個犯人說話: 例句-2: "Louey told us that robbing this bank would be as easy as taking candy from a baby. But somebody told the police and they were waiting for us. We had no choice but to throw down our guns and surrender." 這個犯人說:"洛伊對我們說,要搶那個銀行簡直太容易了。可是,不知誰去報告了警察。到我們去搶銀行時,警察在那里等著我們。我們沒辦法,只好放下槍投降。" To take candy from a baby,欺負小孩,從小孩手里拿糖,在想象當中是很容易的。但是,實際情況恐怕并不見得如此。發明這個成語的人也許從來也沒有設法把嬰兒的小拳頭扒開,然后把那小手里的糖拿來。任何做過父母的人都會告訴你孩子一般都會緊握著手里的糖不放,要是你硬是要拿,他就會大聲哭叫。可是,盡管如此,to take candy from a baby已經成為美國人經常用來形容辦事容易的詞匯了。 另外一個形容事情很容易辦的俗語也是和食品有聯系的,這就是:A piece of cake。Piece 是指一片,或一塊;cake就是蛋糕。A piece of cake的意思當然可以是指一塊蛋糕。可是,作為俗語,它的意思就成了:這件事太容易了。例如,一個工作人員,猶豫了好久,最后終于鼓足了勇氣去和老板提出增加工資的要求。他原來以為要和老板進行一番爭論。可是,出乎他的意料,老板馬上同意了,還說,他確實應該增加工資了。這樣,他喜笑顏開地回到家里對太太說: 例句-3: "Honey, I finally asked Old Man Jones for my raise. And it was a piece of cake!" 他說:"親愛的,我終于對老瓊斯提了要求增加工資的事。我沒有費吹灰之力他一口答應了。" 首先使用 A piece of cake 這個俗語的是二次世界大戰期間聯軍的飛行員。那時,他們往往是這樣說的: 例句-4: "At the briefing before we took off to bomb the Germans, our commander told us it would probably be a tough flight. But it turned out to be a piece of cake: no anti-aircraft fire and no enemy fighters." 這句話的意思是:"在我們起飛去轟炸德國人之前舉行的情況介紹會上,我們的司令官告訴我們這次飛行任務可能很艱巨。但是,結果倒是非常容易,既沒有高射炮射擊,也沒有敵機來干擾。" 上面我們講了兩個形容事情很容易辦的俗語。一個是To take candy from a baby;第二個俗語是A piece of cake。「美國習慣用語」第二十三講就到里。歡迎下次再一起來學習美國習慣用語。再見。這篇材料你能聽出多少?點擊這里做聽寫,提高外語水平>>

没有评论:

发表评论