流行美語: bomb ; mess up

[流行美語]又和大家見麵了。Michael這個美國學生今天好象什麽事都不太順當。他的中國同學李華也發現他好象有心事。到底是什麽事呢？你聽了Michael和李華的對話就知道了。他們在對話中會用到兩個美國年輕人常用的說法， 一個是to bomb；另一個是to mess up。

L: Michael, 怎麽啦？你好象有心事。

M: I think I just bombed my history test. I don't think I'm going to pass.

L: 噢，你怕剛才曆史測驗會不及格。嗨，沒必要，這又不是大考。 Michael，你剛才說什麽"bombed my history test"，bomb不是炸彈，或 是爆炸嗎？你可不要開這樣的玩笑，現在大家對安全問題都很敏感。

M: No, I said I bombed my test, that means I did very poorly, and probably will get a very low mark.

L: 考得不好，分數低，這我都聽懂了，就是那個詞bomb用在這裏 有點怪。我想，這就是中文裏說的考試考糊了。那除了考試外還 能用在哪裏呢？

M: Well, sometimes we might say a movie or a play "bombed". That means that no one wanted to see it, and it probably lost a lot of money.

L: 噢，還可以指電影，或話劇太次，沒有人要看，賣座率太低。我上 星期去看了一次電影，劇院裏沒幾個人。後來我才看到報紙評論 說這部電影太糟了。我能不能說："The movie I saw last week bombed"?

M: Sounds like it bombed to me. Remember the play we went to a few weeks ago? The actors were terrible!

L: 對，你說幾個星期前去看的那場話劇，有幾個話劇演員簡直是 太糟 了。That play really bombed! 我說得對不對？

M: Absolutely! Hey listen, Li Hua, can we please change the subject? I don't want to think about failure right now. What would you like to eat? It's my treat.

L: 你不要再談這種喪氣的事情，沒問題！要請我吃飯，行，我 吃沙拉和三明治。不過，Michael，你真是得省點錢，要是老是考 試不及格，研究院會把你開除的！

M: Please! Don't mention tests!

L: 跟你開玩笑嘛！

M: Ah, here's my hamburger. Ack! They messed up my order! There are onions on this burger!

L: 你說什麽呀？ 他們把你的漢堡包怎麽啦？

M: I told them not to put onions on my burger, but they forgot. Therefore I said that they "messed up my order". I can also just say "they messed up."

L: 噢，你叫他們不要放洋蔥，他們忘了。所以，to mess up就是做 錯了事，對嗎？

M: That's right. Also, "to mess up something" can mean to break or damage something.

L: 噢，to mess up something還可以指把什麽東西弄壞了。昨天，和 我同房間的學生問我借自行車，等她還我的時候，自行車的鏈子 斷了。我是不是可以說："She messed up my bike"？

M: Sure! Hey, you'd better tell her to buy you a new chain.

L: 對啊，我是讓她去買新鏈子，可是她說都是我不好讓她差一點沒 出嚴重的車禍。

M: What? She broke your bicycle, and she's angry at you? That's just wrong!

L: 她就是那樣的人，上回她把借來的電視機給弄壞了。

M: She messed up the TV she borrowed? You don't need a roommate like her.

L: 雖然她弄壞了我的自行車，其他方麵她還是很好的。嗨， Michael，你能幫我修自行車嗎？

M: Well, I'm really out of luck today. I bombed my test, they messed up my burger, and now I have to repair your bike!

L: 這也算什麽倒黴呀！沒幾分鍾你就修好了。我先謝謝你了！

M: Ok, ok!

今天李華學到兩個常用語，一個是：to bomb，另一個是：to mess up。這次[流行美語]就到此結束， 我們下次節目再見。

(ZT)