課本上學不到的口語表達第三波
01 I beat you to it.
►beat somebody to it:
比某人搶先一步做了某事。
▷I was just about to open some wine but I see you've beaten me to it.
我剛想開瓶酒呢,看來你搶在我前頭開了啊。
02 Jimmy stood me up last night.
►stand someone up:
放某人鴿子。爽約。
▷He stood up his date while he played basketball with the guys.
他因爲和基友們打籃球,放了女朋友的鴿子。
03 All I want to do is zone out in front of the TV.
►zone out:
指讓思想放空,對週遭事物渾然不覺。Zone是區域的意思,zone out相當於思想遊離到另一個地方去了……
▷At the end of a long, stressful day, all I want to do is go home and zone out in front of the television.
經過漫長的壓力山大的一天,我現在只想回家坐在電視機前發呆。
►in the zone:
相反的,in the zone就是指精力集中,精神狀態極佳,尤指運動員、表演者的表現。
▷I love when I'm running on a nice day with my headphones on and I just get in the zone. I feel like I can keep running forever.
我喜歡天氣好的時候戴上耳機去跑步,感覺精神狀態特別好,好像能永遠跑下去。
04 Without further ado, I would like to...
►without further ado [ə'du:]:
閒話少說;進入正題。Ado意思是忙亂、紛擾、麻煩……
▷And so, without further ado, let me introduce you to tonight's speaker.
所以,閒話少說,下面就有請今晚的演講嘉賓。
05 I'm sure we haven't seen the last of him.
►haven't seen the last of (something):
某事物消失了,但你覺得它還會捲土重來,就可以用這個表達。
▷We got rid of the ants in the kitchen, but I bet we haven't seen the last of them.
我們把廚房裏的螞蟻都弄走了,不過我打賭它們還會出現的。
這是一個比較戲劇化的說法,所以常在電視裏聽到。比如反派被打敗了,也許會有這樣的臺詞:
▷You win this time, but you haven't seen the last of me!
這次算你贏!但別以爲我就會這麼消失!滅哈哈哈……
06 It will come to me.
►it will come to someone:
會想起來的。忘了什麼事的時候,可以說這句話。
▷It'll come to you. The minute you stop trying to find it, it will find you.
你會想起來的。你不去費勁去找它的時候,它就會自動出現。
07 We went out of our way to please the visitor.
►go out of one's way:
努力、費盡麻煩做某事。
▷I went out of my way to make sure they were comfortable.
我費盡心力確保他們能住得舒服。
▷We appreciate anything you can do, but don't go out of your way.
你做的一切我們都很感激,但千萬別太麻煩自己。
08 Hold on. Just hear me out first.
►hear someone out:
聽某人說完他想說的,或者,傾聽某一方的說法。
▷Let him talk! Hear him out! Listen to his side!
讓他說!聽他說完!看看他怎麼說!
▷Hear out the witness. Don't jump to conclusions.
我們要所有證人的證詞都聽一遍,不要武斷下結論。
09 So do we have an agreement?
►do we have an agreement:
通常在商定一件事後說的話。對方同意了,就表示討論的事情就這麼定下了。
也可以說:
▷Do we have a deal?
那就這麼定了?
▷Do we have an understanding?
我們都很明確對方的想法對吧?
10 Just a heads up.
►a heads up:
給某人提個醒,提前告知一聲。“Heads up”說法來自體育運動,在扔球前,讓對方擡頭,別被砸着。後來廣泛用於社交場合。
▷Just a heads up - we're going to have to meet soon.
先跟你說一聲,我們很快會見面的。
▷I wanted to give you a heads up that I'll be sending you the revised form for your approval.
我想提前告訴你一下,我一會兒把修改好的表格發給你審覈。
11 When's it due?
►due:
通常指交作業、交賬單的最後期限。
▷When is this paper due?
論文要什麼時候交?
另外,如果due的對象是人,那麼意思多半指預產期。
▷When are you due?
你啥時候生?
12 Well, what's done is done!
►what's done is done:|
無法改變的事情,只能將就了。文縐縐一點就是,覆水難收、木已成舟。
▷It's too late to change it now. What's done is done.
現在換已經來不及啦,認了吧。
13 Can you put me up for a few days?
►put someone up:
給某人提供臨時住宿。
▷When my in-laws were here we put them up at the Four Seasons.
老婆家的親戚來的時候,我們安排他們住四季酒店了。
14 I might take you up on that.
►take someone up on something:
接受某人的邀請,或接受某人提出的建議。
▷I took him up on his offer to take me out to dinner.
他邀我約會吃飯,我答應了。
也可以用這個表達來接受某人的打賭挑戰。
▷He bet me twenty bucks that I couldn't get a perfect score, and I took him up on it.
他賭20塊我考不好,我決定跟他賭一把。
15 I'm keeping my options open.
►keep one's options open:
等待中,尚未做決定。Option是選擇、選項。
▷I want to keep my options open, so I didn't sign the contract yet.
我想再等等看,所以還沒簽合同。
16 You might want to reconsider it.
►you might want to (do something):
建議某人做某事的禮貌說法。適用於各種場合,是對陌生人、同事或親密的人都可以用的句法。
▷Babe, you might want to trim that beard...
親愛的,你是不是該修修鬍子啦……
▷You might want to spend more time studying and less time playing video games.
你應該多花些時間在學習上,少玩些遊戲。
►類似地,告誡對方不要做某事,可以說,you don't want to...
▷You don't want to rush things.
不要操之過急。
17 We've just been catching up with each other.
►catch up with (someone):
朋友之間彼此瞭解近況。
▷It was so lovely catching up with you.
能和你聊聊近況真開心。
18 There is just no such thing as God.
►There is just no such thing as... :
某種情況是不存在的。
▷There's no such thing as love. It's just fantasy.
根本沒有“愛情”這回事。不過是你的幻想而已。
19 I think you need to get your priorities straight.
►get one's priorities straight:
分清主次。Priority [prai'ɔrəti],指優先考慮的事情。
▷Our top priority right now is making sure that everyone is OK.
我們目前的當務之急是確保每個人都無恙。
▷Amazing how fire exposes our priorities.
大火能暴露我們最在意的東西,真神奇。
20 To put it another way, I don't like it.
►to put it another way:
換言之。Put,有表達的意思。
▷You're still very young, Tom. To put it another way, you don't have any idea about what you're getting into.
湯姆,你還太年輕。換句話說,你不知道自己現在正陷入什麼。
▷Well, that's one way to put it.
好吧,也可以這麼說。
▷The subject matter makes the painting a little, how shall I put it, undesirable for public display.
這幅畫的主題有點……該怎麼說呢,不大適合展覽出來。
21 I get yelled at all the time.
►get yelled at:
字面意思就是被人吼,被人罵。指受到批評、責罵。
▷I got yelled at for not calling.
我沒打電話,被罵了。
▷Do you get yelled at a lot in the military?
在部隊裏會經常被訓斥嗎?
22 I will check on Jeff while he's not feeling well.
►check (up/in) on something/someone:
查看某人某事的情況,比如監督下屬的工作狀況、關心病人的病情、留意小孩是否安全等……
▷Go upstairs to check up on the children and make sure they're all asleep.
上樓去看看孩子們睡了沒。
▷I just thought I'd check in on you and see how you're doing.
我就是想來看看你好些了沒。
23 It happens. Don't worry about it.
►it happens:
糟糕的事情發生時,用來安慰人的說法。相當於說,倒黴的事時常發生,別太在意。粗俗一點,還可以說,shit happens。
▷A: My girlfriend just broke up with me.
我女票跟我掰了……
B: It happens.
節哀順變。
▷John stepped in a big pile of dog shit, so Tom said "it happens".
約翰踩到狗屎了,湯姆說,踩踩更健康。
24 It's on me.
►it's on me:
我來付賬。也可以說,This one's on me.
▷John: Check, please.
你好,結賬。
Bill: No, it's on me this time.
別啊,這頓我請。
►商家免費送的商品或服務,可以說on the house.
▷I was the ten thousandth customer, so my dinner was on the house.
我是第一萬個客戶,所以那頓晚餐就免費了。
▷Here, have a cup of coffee on the house.
免費送您一杯咖啡,請慢用。
25 My computer is acting up again.
►act up
(疾病)發作;(機器)出毛病;(孩子)調皮搗蛋。
▷My left knee acts up in damp weather.
天氣一潮我左膝蓋就發作。
▷The children have been acting up all evening.
整個晚上孩子們都在調皮搗蛋。
26 Is that a thing?
►(something) is a thing:
很流行很出名,或者人人熟知的某事物,可以叫“a thing”。這是年輕人常用的口語說法,正式場合慎用。
▷A: His ideas are so out-of-the-box. They're boxless!
他腦洞實在太大了,想法好新奇,完全是boxless!
注:out-of-the-box:形容不同尋常的創意想法。
B: "Boxless?" Is that a thing?
Boxless?現在人們都這麼說了麼?
A: No, I just made it up.
呃,沒,我剛瞎編的。
▷Huge, baggy suits were kind of a thing back in those days.
那時候特別流行那種寬寬大大的西裝。
27 It doesn't hurt to ask.
►it doesn't hurt to:
做某件事有百利而無一害。
▷It doesn't hurt to have a group of talented, educated people living in your community.
小區裏住着一羣有才、有教養的人沒什麼不好的。
28 I'm just looking.
►just looking...
表示隨便看看,是購物時遇到推銷的導購,最好的回答。
▷-Hi, can I help you?
你好,需要幫忙嗎?
-No thanks, I'm just looking!
不用了,謝謝,我就隨便看看。