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流行美語:jack ; kaput

(2009-06-21 20:12:31) 下一個



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)
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