【大紀元1月8日訊】
Larry和李華正在課間休息的時候聊天﹐李華會學到兩個常用語﹕to push one’s luck和crackpot。
LH: Larry, 我已經好久都沒有為我的論文做研究了。我想今天不去上Wilkins教授的課而去圖書館。
LL: I dunno, Li Hua. You’ll really be pushing your luck if you miss class again.
LH: Pushing-my-luck? Pushing是推的意思﹐luck是運氣﹐我不懂耶﹗pushing my luck是什麼意思。
LL: I said you will be pushing your luck. “To push your luck” means to take a chance when you’ve already done something risky.
LH: 噢﹐pushing-your-luck就是已經做了冒風險的事﹐可是啊﹗還想再進一步碰碰運氣﹐是這個意思嗎﹖
LL: That’s right. The first two times, the professor didn’t give you any trouble. But every time you miss a class, you are taking an even bigger risk. You are pushing your luck.
LH: 對噢﹐那兩次沒去上課﹐教授沒說什麼。要是我今天再不去上課﹐萬一教授不高興﹐我不就麻煩了嗎﹖ Larry﹐你不也是這樣嗎﹖你那臺車﹐煞車都壞了﹐你還到處開﹐不也是碰運氣﹐希望它不出事嗎﹖
LL: That’s right. One day, I was almost in a car wreck, so I decided to stop pushing my luck and have the brakes fixed. I was so stupid.
LH: 我還不知道你差一點出車禍呢﹗哎呀﹐你看﹐你非要push your luck﹐非要到差一點出車禍的時候才去修車。真危險﹗ Larry﹐這麼說﹐to push one’s luck只能指冒風險﹐碰運氣嗎﹖
LL: Generally yes. But sometimes, if someone keeps asking you for favors, you might tell them “don’t push your luck!”
LH: 我最近就碰到這麼一個人﹐我幫了她一點忙﹐她就沒完沒了了﹐要求一個接一個。下回我就可以對她說﹕Don’t push your luck! 對了﹐Larry﹐我還真想要你幫個忙﹐我能再借你的電腦用嗎﹖這不算是push my luck吧﹖
LL: No, of course not. You’re welcome to use my computer.
LH: 謝謝﹐Larry﹐你總是那麼大方。我今天下午能借你的車嗎﹖
LL: Yeah, OK… I guess…
LH: 那我能不能把你的電腦搬回家用一個禮拜呢﹖
LL: You’re pushing your luck, Li Hua!
LH: 哈哈… 跟你開玩笑嘛﹗
******
LH: 哎喲﹐老天爺﹐ Wilkins教授真是怪。他在上課的時候花了最後二十分鐘給我們講他每天吃多少維他命﹐為什麼要吃這些維他命。
LL: What? (laughs) Don’t worry about it, Li Hua. Everyone knows Professor Wilkins is a crackpot.
LH: 他是什麼﹖你是說他吸毒嗎﹖
LL: No, of course not… I said that he’s a crackpot. A crackpot is a crazy person. Or maybe just someone who holds very strong, crazy opinions and ideas.
LH: 噢﹐crackpot是一個很怪的人﹐有稀奇古怪想法的人。嗨﹐Larry﹐有名的人是不是也是很怪的﹖
LL: Let me think… you know, most real crackpots don’t become famous. But in his time, a lot of people thought that Christopher Columbus was a crackpot.
LH: 沒錯﹐真正怪的人一般是不會成名的。可是哥倫布的情況就不一樣了。當時人們認為他很怪﹐有神經病﹐因為他說航行可以圍繞地球轉﹐但是事實證明他是對的﹐所以他是聰敏﹐不能算是crackpot。
LL: I wonder if I or other students should talk to Professor Wilkins, and ask him to not talk about off-topic subjects in class. Would we be pushing our luck?
LH: 你和其他學生去跟Wilkins教授說別在上課時講那些離題的內容﹖我想他不會在意的啦﹗
LL: What if we just told him to stop talking about his crackpot ideas in class.
LH: 你說什麼﹖叫他別在課堂上講他的那些神神道道的想法﹗Now that would be pushing your luck!
今天李華學到兩個常用語。一個是﹕to push one’s luck。意思是已經做了有點風險的事﹐還想進一步碰碰運氣。李華學到的另一個 常用語是﹕crackpot。這是指那種想法很奇怪的人。
──轉自《美國之音》(http://www.dajiyuan.com)
