流行美語: couch potato ; nuts

Michael是個美國學生，在紐約上大學。他的一個要好同學是從中國大陸來的李華。今天Michael剛好在校園裏碰到李華。李華會在談話中學到兩個常用語：couch potato和nuts。

L：嗨，Michael, 你上哪兒去呀？

M：I'm going to meet Jon at the subway. You've met Jon, haven't you?

L：嗯，是不是上次在一次party上你給我介紹的那個帶眼鏡的人？

M：Yes. I want to drag him out to do something. You know, he's such a couch potato.

L：他是什麽？ Couch potato? 什麽是couch potato? 他愛吃土豆？

M：No, couch potato is an expression used to describe someone who sits in front of the TV all the time eating junk food, such as potato chips.

L：噢，原來coach potato是指一個人老坐在電視機前吃零食。 這個常用語挺有趣。那couch potato是不是隻能指人呀？

M：Yes, it is only used to describe people, those who are lazy and unmotivated.

L：噢，隻能指人，指那些懶懶散散，沒有動力的人。好，下回我就叫我哥哥couch potato。他老是看電視，一看就看到三更半夜，吃的東西撒在地毯上，沙發上，到處都是。

M：My father's like that too. My mother is always angry with him. But he doesn't care.

L：喲，你爸爸也是這樣呀！要我是你媽，我也會生氣的。

M：But sometimes, after a really hard week at school, I also just want to collapse and be a couch potato.

L：一個星期在學校念書實在很累了，回家當一回couch potato， 我想這還是可以的，隻要不是每天這樣就行了。

M： Yes, I agree. Li Hua, would you like to join us? Jon and I are going to play tennis.

L：你們要打網球呀，那太好了，我正在學打網球呐。

M：That's wonderful. You know, some people think I'm nuts to have a friend like Jon.

L：有的人認為你是什麽？ Nuts？Nuts不是花生，杏仁那樣的果仁嗎？你跟Jon交朋友跟吃花生有什麽關係呀？

M：No, nuts here means someone who is crazy.

L：原來nuts在這裏是說一個人做的事很怪。大概就象中文裏說的：你瘋啦！對嗎？

M：That's right. Jon can be rude, and he also argues a lot. Sometimes he does drive me nuts.

L：他看起來不象會對別人無禮，愛跟人爭論的人哪！你剛才說drives me nuts 是什麽意思啊？

M：Drives me nuts means he makes me crazy.

L：噢，還可以說drive me nuts， 或者是drive someone nuts。嗨，Michael， 那天我上移民局去辦手續，排隊好長，我站了一小時，我真是火死了。我能說：They drove me nuts 嗎？

M：Of course. You know, my mother used to make me clean my room every night when I was in high school and that drove me nuts.

L：你念中學的時候你媽媽每天晚上要你打掃房間？那是有點受不了。嗨，Michael，你認識我的朋友張紅嗎？

M：Oh, yes, she is nuts. She spent $200 for a dress, and it's ugly.

L：對，張紅這個人是有點問題，化兩百美元買件難看的衣服。不過，Michael，你總是批評別人買的東西。 You sometimes drive me nuts too.

M：Li Hua, I think you are learning these words too fast.

今天李華學了兩個常用語，一個是：couch potato，指那些常坐著看電視，吃零食的人；另一個是：nuts，就是說一個人不正常，做的事很怪。今天的[流行美語]就到此結束， 再見。

(ZT)