【大紀元1月29日訊】
今天李華忙着批改中文班學生的作業。李華會從Larry那兒學到兩個常用語﹕go easy on和 go cold turkey。
LH: 哎﹗這些學生﹗看看他們的考卷兒﹐簡直糟透了﹗也不知道他們是不是真想學中文。
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: 你說什麼﹖你要我把中文課改得再容易一點兒﹖
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﹐就是別這麼厲害﹐別那麼惱火。可是Larry, 他們每天才學五個單詞﹐要是你問我啊﹐I am going easy on them.連這點最基本的中文都考不好﹐那還有什麼希望吶﹗
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: 我這幾天是情緒不好﹐沒耐心﹐也不知道是什麼原因﹐可能是因為咖啡喝得太多﹐晚上睡不好覺的緣故吧。
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, 剛纔你讓我對學生要客氣點兒 – go easy on my students﹐現在又說我應該go easy on the coffee﹐這又怎麼解釋呢﹖
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, 就是讓我少喝點兒咖啡。可是﹐go easy on the students就是要對學生客氣點。我不是太清楚﹐Larry, 你能不能再給我舉個例子﹖
LL: Sure. Whenever you see me drinking at a party, you always tell me to go easy on the beer.
LH: 對呀﹐每次參加party 的時候我都勸你別喝那麼多啤酒﹐喝醉了會出洋相的﹗哎喲﹐Look at this! 這個學生﹐五道題裡只回答了一道﹐我只能給她不及格了。
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﹐我已經三天沒喝咖啡了﹐晚上睡覺是好多了﹐可是白天我怎麼老是覺得精力不夠﹑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? 你在說什麼呀﹖你讓我少喝咖啡﹐多吃冷火雞呀﹖
LL: No, I said you went “cold turkey”. That means to suddenly quit doing or consuming something that is addictive.
LH: 噢﹐原來go cold turkey不是 “吃冷火雞”呀﹗Go cold turkey是“突然停止做那些習慣做的事﹐一下子戒掉原來上癮的習慣”。哎﹐Larry, 你覺得我過去喝咖啡到上癮的程度了嗎﹖
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﹐突然一下子一點兒咖啡都不喝了﹐是夠難的﹐怪不得我老沒精神呢﹗不過Larry, 要把戒咖啡和戒煙相比﹐我看﹐戒煙恐怕更難吧﹖
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﹐說戒煙一下子就戒掉了。我記得我叔叔也試過一下子戒掉 – go cold turkey on cigarettes﹐可是他試了三次都沒成功﹐不過他現在抽得比以前少多了。
LL: I’m glad your uncle is going easy on cigarettes.
今天李華從Larry那兒學到了兩個常用語。一個是go easy on someone 就是“對某人客氣些”﹐要是說go easy on something﹐那就是“有節制地使用某件東西”。李華學到的另一個常用語是go cold turkey on something, 意思是“突然停止做某件事”。
(轉載自《美國之音》)
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