轻松英语下.docx

1、轻松英语下Nancy: Hes a real scrooge.Victor: 他是一个真正的小气鬼。Nancy: Scrooge was a character from literature who was a miser, which means someone who has a lot of money, but never spends any of it, and is very selfish. Victor: Scrooge 是文学作品中的一个人物，有很多钱，但是一分也不花，就是我们说的铁公鸡。Nancy: The book was called A Christmas Car

2、ol by Charles Dickens; its one of the most popular stories ever written, and there are always movies and plays about it every Christmas this year, there was even one in Beijing. Victor: 原著是狄更斯写的，叫圣诞欢歌，这部名剧曾在北京上映过。Nancy: Hes a real scrooge.Nancy: Im getting too close to home.Victor: 让Nancy给我们解释一下吧。Na

3、ncy: This expression doesnt have anything to do with traveling, but instead, another person is saying something that is too close to the truth but a truth you dont want other people to know.Victor: 这个短语和旅行没关系，而是另一个人在说一件你不想别人知道的事实。Nancy: So for example, if you have a secret crush on someone, and some

4、one else teases you about this person, and you get angry, then they can say “Im too close to home,” or that joke is too close to the hidden truth. Victor: 当你知道别人的秘密时，可以用这句话跟他开玩笑。Nancy: Im getting too close to home.Nancy: Shes studying bel canto singing.Victor: 她在学习美声唱法。Nancy: For opera singers, this

5、 is an Italian technique of singing in Italian, bel canto means “beautiful singing.” Its a type of singing that puts emphasis on purity, quality and continuity of tone, which is especially good for the Italian language, which has lot of long vowels and rounded sounds, like the word Italiano.Victor:

6、美声唱法重点就在于声音的纯度、质量以及持久性，意大利语言有很多元音，特别适合用来演唱美声。Nancy: The famous tenor Fan Jingma wants to teach bel canto singing in China. Victor: 著名的男高音歌唱家范竞马就要在中国教授美声唱法。Nancy: Shes studying bel canto singing.Nancy: Its harder to make ends meet these days.Victor: 现在过日子越来越不容易了。Nancy: Remember we talked about earnin

7、g a living last week? Well this is similar, but its more negative. The person has a basic level of food, clothing and housing, but its more difficult to get them. Victor: 这是说很难达到基本的生活水准，只能勉强应付。Nancy: Making ends meet “implies some kind of struggle for what they see as basic survival at their income

8、level. This is kind of an older expression, but people still use it.Victor: Making ends meet 原来是表示在既定的收入水平下维持基本的生活所要付出的努力。Nancy: Its harder to make ends meet these days.Nancy: Shes an amateur.Victor:她是业余爱好者。Nancy: Amateur comes from the Latin root amor, which means to love, as in, you do this sport

9、or this hobby because you love it, not because you get money for it.Victor: Amateur 是爱的意思，来源于拉丁语，因为喜爱这个所以做这个，而不是为了挣钱。Nancy: In every day usage, we tend to use amateur as meaning not as good as professional, but thats not always true remember, many Olympic athletes are amateur athletes. Victor:我们一般用a

10、mateur 形容不够专业，但不一定都是这样。奥运会的运动员可都是amateur的运动员。Nancy: Shes an amateur.Nancy: Im feeling run down today.Victor: 我今天感觉像要垮掉了。Nancy: Run down means someone has been working too hard, not eating well, not exercising, and not sleeping enough,Victor: run down是说一个人工作太辛苦，吃不好，不锻炼身体，睡眠也不够。说我吧Nancy: so they are e

11、ither starting to get sick, or its the reason that they have become sick, but then you would say “I was really run down.” This happens to me a lot. Victor:当一个人感觉垮掉了时，他们身体会变得虚弱，Nancy自己就经常这样。通病相连啊。Nancy: Hes a history buff.Victor:他是一个历史迷。Nancy:A buff means someone whos very interested in a certain sub

12、ject, as a hobby.Victor:原来这是形容一个人对某种事物特别感兴趣。Nancy: So this person reads, watches movies and documentaries, and goes to museums so he can learn more about this subject. My father is a World War II buff.Victor:这个人看书、看电影、纪录片，还会去博物馆研究学习这个事物。Nancy的爸爸就是一个二战迷。Nancy: You can also say crime buff, if you like

13、 reading about detective stories, or classical buff if you love classical music.Victor:要是你喜欢读侦探小说，你就是个crime buff,喜欢古典音乐就是classical buff啦。Nancy: Hes a history buff.Nancy: I didnt just come into town on the turnip truck.Victor: 我不是刚进城的老农。Nancy: Turnips are a vegetable, similar to a beet or a potato. S

14、omeone on a turnip truck would be a country person with no money for a bus or train, so he would sit in the back with all the turnips, and remember, city people think country people are stupid.Victor: 甘蓝就是类似甜菜根或土豆的一种植物。坐在甘蓝车上的人可能会是没钱坐汽车或是火车的人，所以他只能跟满车的甘蓝菜挤在一起。Nancy:So if someone says, “be careful of

15、 your wallet on the subway,” you could answer, “I know, I didnt just come into town on the turnip truck.” Its like saying “dont call me stupid.” Victor:大家要好好学习英语，真的是很有意思哦。Nancy: I didnt just come into town on the turnip truckNancy：Come up for a nightcap.Victor: 什么是nightcap啊？Nancy：In the old days, a

16、nightcap meant a long hat that men wore to bed at night, because rooms used to be too cold. Nowadays, somehow nightcap got changed to an alcoholic drink that you have in your house before you go to bed.Victor: 过去啊，屋子里面到了夜里很冷，所以人们晚上睡觉的时候戴着帽子。现在，nightcap是说在家里睡觉前喝的酒，可以暖暖身。Nancy: So if youre out with so

17、me friends and people are about ready to go home, you can say “come up for a nightcap,” which is usually a cocktail. Victor: 所以如果你和朋友们在一起，他们想要回家的时候，你可以说：“come up for a nightcap,”通常是喝一杯鸡尾酒。Nancy: Come up for a nightcap.Nancy：The Spanish pianist is playing an evening of Latin music.Victor：那个西班牙钢琴家弹奏了一

18、晚上拉丁音乐。Nancy：Although Latin means the language of ancient Rome, Latin sometimes means of the Spanish language or culture, so this is not only Spain, but South America, or parts of Central America or the Caribbean, like Cuba and Puerto Rico.Victor: 原来拉丁的含义不仅指古罗马的拉丁语，还可以表示西班牙语言文化，所以拉丁不仅代表西班牙，还代表着南美、中美

19、、还有加勒比海的部分地区，像古巴、波多黎各。Nancy: Spanish-speaking people are called Latino for men, Latina for women, and Latinos for men and women. People used to say Hispanic, but many Latinos find that offensive. Victor: 现在我们管说西班牙语的男士叫Latino, 女士叫Latina.Nancy: The Spanish pianist is playing an evening of Latin music.

20、Nancy：Its hard to earn a living in this city.Victor：在这个城市生活不容易。Nancy: Earn a living means to make enough money to live on, but to live at a reasonable level, not at a survival level. So the person would have to at least be renting an apartment, be able to buy enough food, and to have a reasonable am

21、ount of clothing and possessions. Victor: Earning a living的意思是说维持相当的生活水平，而不仅仅是能够生存。所以你至少要付得起房租，买得起足够的食物，并且有一些衣物啊、财产啊什么的。Nancy: But rich people would never say this, unless it was “earning a pretty good living.”Victor: 这可不是有钱人说的话啊。Nancy: Its hard to earn a living in this city.Nancy：Hes a ringer. Vict

22、or：他是超级替补。 Nancy：The real meaning of ringer is when an athlete or horse is substituted for another in a competition of course, the ringer is much better than the original competitor. Victor： ringer指比原来比赛选手更棒的替补。 Nancy：However today, we just use it to mean that the person is surprisingly good but onl

23、y in competition, and its the other team that says it - “Oh, theyve got a ringer on their team.” Victor：现在只在比赛中用来比喻出乎大家意料的优秀选手。 Nancy：Hes a ringer. Nancy： Where did you get that shiner? Victor： 你怎么伤到眼睛上了？ Nancy： A shiner is a slang term for a bruise around the eye, which is also called a black eye.

24、You can get a bruise anywhere on your body, but a shiner is only for the eye. Victor： A shiner也叫black eye，专指眼睛周围的擦伤。 Nancy： People will always ask a man about where he got his shiner, because it is probably an interesting story about a fight. But no one ever asks a woman, because they will assume sh

25、e got hit by her husband or boyfriend whether its true or not. Victor： 大家可以这样问男士，可能这个擦伤的背后会有个有趣的故事，但千万不要问女性。 Nancy：Where did you get that shiner? Victor：Where did you get that shiner? Nancy：Shes a head case. Victor： 请Nancy解释一下。Nancy：This is a slang expression for someone whos crazy. If someone is ve

26、ry, very jealous, or has a really bad temper, or lies all the time, you could call them a head case. Victor： 这个俚语是指爱妒忌，脾气很暴躁，又经常撒谎的人。 Nancy：People say this about their girlfriends, boyfriends, neighbors or bosses. Victor： 可以用来说自己的男女朋友，邻居或老板。还有你讨厌的人。 Nancy：Shes a head case. Nancy：She likes soft adven

27、ture travel. Victor：她喜欢危险较小的探险游。 Nancy：Adventure travel is something like mountain climbing up Mt. Everest, or white water rafting over a dangerous river. Victor： 探险游是指那些带有危险性的旅游。 Nancy：Soft adventure might be a little bit rough, but not really dangerous, like rafting a safer river, or a walking tri

28、p over difficult terrain - nothing life-threatening. Victor： Soft adventure指安全系数相对较高的探险游。 Nancy：She likes soft adventure travel. Nancy：The restaurant has a set menu. Victor：这个餐馆有固定标价餐。 Nancy：This means that there are fixed prices for certain courses, for example, soup, salad and a steak for a certai

29、n price, or a five course dinner for Valentines Day. Victor： 这是说某些菜是固定价位。 Nancy：These are also common in restaurants in tourist areas, but then the food probably wont be great quality, because they dont expect any of these people to come back anyway, since they dont live there. Victor： 观光客常遇到的情况。这样的

30、饮食不怎么好，因为游客不会久留。 Nancy：The restaurant has a set menu. Nancy：That show closed the same night. Victor：表演当晚就结束。 Nancy：Remember we talked about long-running shows, and a show running for years? The opposite of this is something that closes right away. If something closes in one night, it means it was so

31、 unsuccessful that no one thought it would make any money. Victor：有些表演一个晚上就结束了，大家认为这样的表演比较失败，也赚不到什么钱。 Nancy: Remember in the west, they want shows to run as long as the can to make more money. Victor：在西方，表演越长越好，会比较赚钱。 Nancy：That show closed the same night. Nancy：I got the green light for the project

32、. Victor： 请Nancy解释一下。 Nancy：When youre driving your car, and you see a green light, you go ahead, right? To get the green light means that someone, usually a boss or a manager, tells you to go ahead and do your work, that its officially okay. Victor：To get the green light是说领导让你继续好好做事。 Nancy：You can also use it as a verb, as in, “My boss greenlighted the project.” Victor： 这个