"布朗尼加分"口語課堂:了不起的"老古董"
的網友們大家好。看歐美原聲電影的時候我們常常會聽到一些由兩個發音相近的詞組合在一起成爲一個新詞，並且這樣的詞充滿感情色彩，形式也很活潑。今天，我們就集中將部分這樣的詞語展現給大家。同樣，聽的過程中別忘了猜猜它的含義。
A lot of people thought Uncle Max was crazy. He was always losing things in his topsy-turvy office where papers were scattered all over, or he was trying to explain some new scientific mumbo jumbo that no one else could understand. He was so wishy-washy that I once saw him waste ten minutes trying to decide whether to wear a blue shirt or a white one.
It was only later we discovered that the old fuddy-duddy, who spent most of his time alone with his books, was a very important scientist. He worked in a secret government operation. He was a rocket technician in one of the most hush-hush project of this century.
Uncle Max被認爲有些瘋癲。在自己topsy-turvy的辦公室裏總是丟東西。其實這個詞從後面的定語從句where papers were scattered all over上也能猜出它的意思是“亂七八糟的”，相當於messy。另外，他還總會跟你說一些沒人能聽懂的 mumbo jumbo，莫名其妙的話。
這個老人還有一個毛病，就是wishy-washy，挑個襯衫也要花上十分鐘。這個詞就表示“缺乏決斷力的，優柔寡斷的”。再比如：Stop being so wishy-washy and make up your mind. 別再這麼優柔寡斷了，你得拿定主意。
不過，就是這麼一個被我們稱爲fuddy-duddy，老古董的人，卻是一個非常重要的科學家。Fuddy-duddy，守舊的人。比如：Her boss is such a fuddy-duddy. He won't allow her to chew gum on the job. 她的老闆古板的要命。不准她在工作室吃口香糖。
最後，我們知道Uncle Max是本世紀最hush-hush的一個項目的火箭技師。Hush這個詞大家也許不陌生。讓人不要說話得時候就用這個詞，相當於漢語裏的“噓，不要說話。”兩個hush放在一起，大家都不說的，也就是“機密的；祕而不宣的”。再比如：The information is all hush-hush. 那些信息都是機密。
英語中，這樣的詞語還有很多。比如pitter-patter 形容下雨時的劈啪聲；wheeler-dealer 追求利益的人，獨斷獨行的人；humdrum 單調的，乏味的；dillydally 慢吞吞地閒混；tip-top最好的；第一流的；頭等的。
好了，來看本期的小問題：If someone talks mumbo jumbo, is it clear to you?
