本篇文章主要介绍了第14期“看美剧学英文”专栏的内容,讲解了modern family中的一些高频语言点,包括一些特定的词汇、短语和表达方式。同时,文章还介绍了相关美剧和电影中的经典表达。
包含当下最热点的话题文章,新增丰富的社群互动环节。
”看美剧学英文“专栏第十四期来了。
这期我们聚焦Modern family 第11季第2-4集的十个高频语言点。
大家注意用心体会,通过朗读、背诵例句、主动造句等方式学习和不断巩固,直至能运用自如。
the third wheel
第三个轮子,本来是指汽车上挂拖车的轮子,引申为“冗员,不需要的人”,英文解释是
someone who is in a situation where they are not needed or are ignored by most people
,后来往往指约会中的“电灯泡”。比如:
◇ I do not like going out with my couple friends. Being
the third wheel
sucks!
我不喜欢和我的情侣朋友出去玩。做电灯泡最讨厌了!
注意图中台词里
count on sth
不是我们熟悉的“依赖,依靠”的意思,而是指“预计,期望,料想到”
(to expect something to happen and make plans based on it)
。比如:
◇I'm
counting on
the meeting ending on time, or I'll miss my bus.
我指望会议准时结束,否则我就要错过公交车了。
◇
Sorry I'm late, I didn't
count on
being held up in the traffic.
对不起,我迟到了,我没想到路上会塞车。
moon over sb
表示“为...出神,痴痴地思念...”
(to spend time thinking about sb that you love, especially when other people think this is silly or annoying)
。比如:
◇She sits
mooning over
his photograph for hours.
她一坐就好几个小时,对着他的照片出神。
月亮在中国文化里代表美好、爱情或者团圆,比如我们可以形容女子生得“花容月
貌”,或用“露从今夜白,月是故乡明”表达对家乡和亲人的思念,或用“月上柳梢
头,人约黄昏后”描写情人约会的甜蜜。
但是在西方文化中,月亮的意象却是疯狂、反复无常、病态的。比如在《罗密欧与朱丽叶》第二幕第二场中,罗密欧把朱丽叶比作太阳(sun),然后说道,
“Arise fair Sun and kill the envious moon
(起来吧,美丽的太阳! 赶走那妒忌的月亮).” 随后,当罗密欧要对着月亮发誓以表爱情的忠贞时,朱丽叶说道,“
O swear not by the Moon the inconstant Moon
(啊!不要指着月亮起誓,它是变化无常的).”
再比如,英文单词
lunatic
便来自拉丁语luna(=moon),表示“发痴的,失控的,疯狂的”,因为当时的人们相信月的盈亏可引发人或动物暂时的神经错乱。
lunatic
还可作名词,表示“精神错乱的人,狂人”。比如《经济学人》一篇关于世界未来趋势的文章是这样开头的:
◇To anyone who reads a newspaper, this can
seem a miserable world. Syria is still at war.
Another
lunatic
has gone on a gun rampage in
an American school. The tone of political
debate can rarely have been as crass andpoisonous as it is today.
任何一个看报纸的人可能都会觉得自己身处一个悲惨世界。叙利亚仍饱受战火摧残。又有一个持枪的疯子在美国校园大开杀戒。几乎没有哪个时候的政治辩论气氛像如今这样,粗野而又充满敌意。
moon about/around
表示无精打采地“消磨时光,闲逛”
(to spend time doing nothing or walking around with no particular purpose, especially because you are unhappy)
。比如:
◇I wish you’d stop
mooning about
and do something useful!
我希望你别再闲混,去做点有用的事情!
be over the moon
也是一个高频表达,表示"欣喜若狂",相当于
extremely happy and excited
。比如:
I was
over the moon
when I passed my speaking test.
put a stop to sth/put an end to sth
表示“结束,终止,废除”。比如:
◇How can we
put an end to
the fighting?
我们怎样才能制止这场打斗呢?
再扩展一个高级表达:
put the kibosh on sth
put the kibosh on sth
[ˈkaɪbɒʃ] 表示“阻止某事发生,挫败某计划”,英文解释是
to stop sth from happening; to spoil sb's plans
。比如:
◇The rain certainly
put the kibosh on
our plans for a picnic.
这场雨无疑毀了我们的野餐计划。
这个短语据说来自于爱尔兰语caip bhais 死刑帽,指的是法官宣判死刑时佩戴的帽子。因此
put the kibosh on sth
引申为“令...死亡”,即“阻止,挫败”。
a tad
表示“少量,一点”,相当于a small amount或slightly,比如:
◇It’s a tad expensive.
这有点贵。
jump the line/quene
,指“插队,加塞儿”
(to go to the front of a line of people without waiting for your turn)
。
be up for sth
表示“愿意参与”某活动(willing to take part in a particular activity ),比如:
◇We're going clubbing tonight.
Are you up for it
?
我们今晚去夜总会,你愿意来吗?
be up for sth
还可表示“提供作...”
(on offer for sth)
。比
如:
◇The house is up for sale.
这所房子正待出售。
pin sth on sb
pin作名词是“大头针”的意思,作动词表示用大头针“固定,别上,钉住”,pin sth on sb 把…钉在…上,喻指“使…承担过失”,比如:
◇No one would admit responsibility. They all tried to
pin the blame on
someone else.
谁也不肯负责,大家都竭力把过失推给别人。
◇You can't
pin
this one
on
me—I wasn't even there!
这事你不能怪罪我。我当时根本不在场!
近义表达还有blame sb for sth, lay the blame for sth on sb, hold sb responsible for sth。
a cautionary tale
为惯用词组,一个警告的、告诫的故事,指“警世故事,前车之鉴”
(a story that gives a warning)
。这是外刊中的高频表达,比如《经济学人》一篇关于优衣库的文章有这样一句话:
◇Though they are very different markets, Europe and America
offer a cautionary tale
.
虽然欧美市场与亚洲的情况迥异,但优衣库在欧美的经营还是可以作为前车之鉴。
再比如《经济学人》一篇关于人工智能的文章有这样一句话:
◇Some futurists see
a cautionary tale
for humanity in the fate of the horse: it was economically indispensable until it wasn’t.
一些未来学家从马的命运中看到了对人类的警世寓言:它在经济上不可或缺,直到它被替代。
《大西洋月刊》一篇关于童星出身的Justin Bieber的文章便用到了这一表达:
notch
本来是”等级,档次“的意思,
take sth down a notch
,把...的档次往下降一个档,引申为
”灭某人的威风,挫某人的锐气,压下某人的气焰“。
反义表达
take sth up a notch
便表示“把...的档次往上升一个档”。
外刊里还有一个高频表达
notch up
,表示“赢得,获取”
(to achieve sth such as a win or a high score)
,相当于achieve,score, attain。比如《经济学人》一篇关于全球经济的文章有这样一句话:
◇China’s growth, meanwhile, is slowing – and once again relying heavily on spending elsewhere. It
notched up
its own record trade surplus in January.
与此同时,中国的增长正在减缓,而且同样是很大程度上依赖于他国的消费。一月中国的贸易顺差创历史新高。
◇
Since then Apple has sold some 1.2bn phones and
notched up
more than $740bn in sales from the bestselling tech gadget in history.
至今苹果已售出约12亿台手机,销售额超过7400亿美元,是史上最畅销的科技设备。
我们在
经济学人:停课不停学,网课怎么上效率更高?|外刊精读
也学过一个类似的表达:
rack up sth
,表示“累积,聚集”
(to collect sth, such as profits or losses in a business, or points in a competition)
,原句是:
If you want to become a licensed cosmetologist in New Hampshire, you will need to have
racked up
1,500 hours of training.
stoke (up)
本义是”给...添加燃料“,引申为”加剧,激起“
(to cause something to increase)
,比如《经济学人》一篇关于经济的文章有这样一句话:
Yet the recessions
stoked
by monetarism did immense harm.
然而,货币主义引发的经济衰退造成了巨大的危害。
再比如《经济学人》一篇关于澳大利亚大火的文章是这样写的标题的:
stoke (up)
还可表示“煽起,激起”恐惧、愤怒等情绪
(if something stokes up fear, anger etc, it makes a lot of people feel frightened etc)
。比如:
◇He has sent his proposals in the hope of
stoking up
interest for the idea.
他已经提交自己的建议,希望能激起大家对该想法的兴趣。
第14期就到这里啦,感谢阅读