迷你對話學地道口語第478期:玩手段欺騙

Subject：Don’t try to do a number on me.

A: I have finished my homework already. May I do some surfing?

我已經寫完我的作業了。我可以上網嗎？

B: How did you finish it in such a short time? Don’t try to do a number on me.

你怎麼可能在這麼短的時間寫完呢？不要玩手段欺騙我。

地道表達：do a number on sb.

1. 解詞釋義

Do a number on sb.是什麼意思呢？我們通過下面這個例句來推敲它的意思。The man who came to fix my roof certainly did a number on me. He said he’d do the work for fifteen hundred dollars but when he finished, he charged me more than three thousand! 這句話的意思是：來爲他修屋頂的人起先開價1500美元，但是完工後要他付三千美元，比原來多了一倍，可見這人是純心欺騙他的。在這個例子裏did a number on me就是“玩弄手段欺騙人”的意思。其英文解釋爲：to damage or harm someone or something。如果我們想警告那些玩弄手段欺騙我們，就可以這樣說：“Don’t do a number on me.”

2. 典型範例

e.g. Why did she do a number on John?

她爲什麼蓄意侮辱約翰呢?

e.g. The teacher did a number on the whole class by giving them a pop quiz.

老師通過隨讓小測試把全班同學給愚弄了。

e.g. I'm not surprised Caroline doesn't like him. He really did a number on her at work.

我並不覺得奇怪Caroline不喜歡他。他確實在工作上玩弄手段來愚弄她。

e.g. Tom did a number on Mary when he went out with Ann.

湯姆欺騙了瑪麗，他和安約會去了。

Ps 1：do some surfing的意思是“上網衝浪”。例如：

Do you mind doing some surfing to find some information for me? 你介意幫我在網上查找一些信息嗎？

Ps 2：in a short time的意思是“很快地，迅速地”。例如：

In a short time, I suddenly came to understand a lot. 在很短的期間，我忽然明白了許多的事。

We marveled that he had learned six languages in a short time. 我們感到驚訝的是,他在短時間裏學會了六種語言。