流行美語:jack ; kaput

今天李華和Larry在談暑假裏打算幹什麽，李華會學到兩個常用語：jack和kaput。

LH: Hey Larry, 你知不知道紐約附近哪個地方可以釣魚呀？

LL: Fishing, huh? I'm sorry Li Hua, I don't know jack about fishing.

LH: 哎，我問你釣魚的事，你怎麽說你不認識Jack?

LL: I'm not talking about a guy named Jack. When I say "I don't know jack about fishing", that means "I don't know anything about fishing".

LH: 噢，原來jack在這裏不是人的名字,你說 I don't know jack about fishing 意思就是"你對釣魚一無所知"。這麽說，jack在這裏就表示 "nothing", right?

LL: That's right.

LH: I don't know jack about fishing, 那不就成了I don't know nothing about fishing. 英文裏是不能用雙重否定的，不是嗎？

LL: OK, you're right, we don't use double negatives in proper, formal English. But this is slang! "I don't know jack" means "I don't know anything".

LH: 我也經常聽人說 I don't know nothing, 我知道在正規英語裏麵是不應該這麽說的。這樣說來，在口語裏是這麽用的，那"I don't know jack" 就表示"我什麽也不知道"。對了，Larry, 那你暑假不準備釣魚，你打算幹什麽呢？

LL: Well, I may just sit around. In other words, I don't do jack!

LH: You don't do jack! 我知道，你是說你什麽也不幹啊。除了"I don't know jack" ，原來你還可以說：I don't do jack! 好不容易到了暑假，你卻打算什麽都不幹？我才不會這樣白白浪費時間。

LL: Well, the reason vacation is so valuable is because I can sit around and don't do jack all day. Usually I'm a very busy guy.

LH: 你說得也有道理，就是因為放假了，才有可能懶散一點兒;什麽事情也不做。平時又要學習又要打工，是夠忙的。

LL: Well, anyway, I need to get home and start on the term paper. I haven't written jack yet!

LH: 什麽？你的期末論文一點兒還沒動手啊？哎喲，那你趕緊回家去寫吧！

******

LH: Larry, 你不是在家寫論文嗎？怎麽又跑到學校圖書館來啦?

LL: Well, I got home and started to work on my term paper, but my computer went kaput!

LH: 你說你的電腦怎麽啦？Went kaput? 聽起來就好象是電腦出問題了，是不是啊？

LL: Yes, "kaput" means "broken, ruined or not working properly." My computer went kaput, so now I have to work on my paper in the library.

LH: Oh, 原來 kaput 意思就是"壞了，沒法正常工作"。你是說你的電腦壞了，Larry, 你最近好像運氣不太好嘛.前些天，你的手機電話不是也出故障了嗎？

LL: Oh man, that's a real problem! My cell phone really went kaput and nobody could reach me.

LH: 就是啊，我給你打電話留言，你也沒收到。

LL: During that time, I was out of touch with everyone. It felt like my whole life went kaput.

LH: 有那麽嚴重嗎？你因為手機壞了，和所有人失去了聯係，讓你覺得整個生活都完蛋啦？哎喲，還是先說說你的電腦吧 - 你的電腦 went kaput，那你有沒有丟掉什麽重要文件呢？

LL: Well, I'm hoping it wasn't the hard drive that went kaput. That would be terrible!

LH: 你先別著急，即使是hard drive went kaput, 我想有的信息還是可以找回來的啦！

LL: Let's hope so. If I can't get my computer fixed soon, I won't have jack to show them in my term paper.

LH: 但願你的電腦趕快修好。學期論文要是交白卷可真是太糟糕了。

今天李華從Larry那兒學到了兩個常用語，一個是jack, 在英語口語裏 I don't know jack的意思是"我什麽也不知道"。李華學到的另一個常用語是kaput, 就相當於中文裏所說的"壞了""出了問題"。

(ZT)