The english we speak(BBC教學)第101期:To paint the town red 狂歡作樂

Will: Hello! I'm Will. It's Friday night-time to have fun! This is the Burning Swan-my favourite pub. I'm just waiting for Li. Oh there she is. My goodness! What is she wearing this time?

威爾：大家好！我是威爾。 現在是週五晚上，是享受快樂的時間！這裏是我最喜歡的酒吧Burning Swan。我正在等李。她來了。我的天啊！她今天穿的是什麼？

Li: Hi Will.

李：你好，威爾。

Will: Hi Li! Nice... blue overalls!

威爾：你好，李！你的藍色工裝褲……很漂亮！

Li: Thank you, these are new overalls, I bought them especially for tonight.

李：謝謝你，這是我新買的工裝褲，我特意爲今晚的活動買的。

Will: Right. Okay. Li, I don't really follow fashion, but in London at least, denim overalls are really just for builders and painters and carpenters.

威爾：好吧。李，我其實不太追隨時尚，但是至少在倫敦，棉布工裝褲是建築工、粉刷工人和木匠纔會穿的。

Li: Yes! Right, where do we start, Will?

李：是啊！威爾，我們從哪裏開始呢？

Will: Eh? What? What are you doing?

威爾：啊？什麼？你要做什麼？

Li: It's definitely very dull in here.

李：這裏簡直太單調了。

Will: Why have you got a can of paint?

威爾：你爲什麼拿着一罐油漆？

Li: That wall especially. Shall we?

李：那面牆尤其單調。我們從那裏開始好嗎？

Will: Li? What are you doing? She's finally gone mad. Li!

威爾：李？你到底要做什麼？她完全瘋了。李！

Li: What's the matter?

李：怎麼了？

Will: Look, you can't just walk into places and start repainting their walls! Don't! I love that brown colour!

威爾：你看，你不能走進一些地方，然後就開始爲那裏的牆重新刷漆！不能這麼做！我喜歡那個棕色！

Li: Didn't you want it to be red?

李：你不是想讓它變成紅色的嗎？

Will: No! No-one wants it to be red!

威爾：不想！沒有人希望那面牆是紅色的！

Li: But you said that tonight we'd paint the town red-starting with this pub!

李：可是你說今晚我們要把城市漆成紅色，就從這間酒吧開始！

Will: It's an expression!

威爾：那是一個表達方式！

Li: Not again!

李：不是吧！

Will: It means that we'll go out and have a really exciting, crazy time. We'll paint the town red-it just means we'll have fun, not actually paint things. Let's listen to some examples.

威爾：這個短語的意思是我們要出去玩，度過非常刺激又瘋狂的時光。我們要把城鎮染紅，其實這句話的意思是我們要出去玩樂，而不是實際去刷漆。我們來聽一些例子。

It's my daughter's birthday today. She's gone out with her friends. I expect they'll paint the town red!

今天是我女兒的生日。她和朋友們出去玩了。我希望他們能玩得痛快！

Go on, come out with me tonight, let's paint the town red!

來吧，今晚和我出去玩吧，我們去狂歡吧！

We had a crazy night on Saturday, we painted the town red.

週六我們度過了一個瘋狂的夜晚，我們玩得特別盡興。

Li: So now, Will, tell me about all this crazy fun we're meant to have. What's your idea of painting the town red?

李：現在，威爾，跟我說說我們要怎麼作樂吧。你要怎麼狂歡？

Will: Well we drink, we dance, we laugh loudly, we meet people, we stay up all night.

威爾：我們喝酒、跳舞、大聲歡笑，見各種人，整晚不睡。

Li: Hmm. I'd still rather just paint. Let's just do this one wall.

李：嗯。我寧願刷漆。我們就刷這一面牆。

Will: No, Li, stop, stop we'll get arrested.

威爾：不要，李，停下來，停下來，我們會被捕的。

Li: Isn't that colour so much better?

李：這個顏色更好看，不是嗎？

Will: No! No! Look, stop it! You'll ruin our night out!

威爾：不，不要！快停下來！你會毀了我們的夜晚的！

Li: It's beautiful!

李：多漂亮啊！

Will: Li! Stop!

威爾：李！停下來！

重點講解：
1. go mad
發瘋；發狂；
eg. The insult made him go mad as a March hare.
這種侮辱把他給氣瘋了。
eg. Kings go mad and the people suffer for it.
〔諺語〕國王發狂，百姓遭殃。
2. paint the town red
(多指夜生活中的)狂歡作樂；痛飲狂歡；
eg. He is going out tonight to paint the town red.
他今天晚上要玩個痛快。
eg. So when it comes to the weekend, I usually hang out in pubs or clubs with my buddies and paint the town red!
因此每到週末，我通常都會和我的朋友去酒吧或者俱樂部狂歡。
3. go out
外出交際；外出娛樂；
eg. I'm going out tonight.
我今晚要出去玩。
eg. It will be a marvellous occasion and they should go out and enjoy it.
這是個好時機，他們應該出去痛快地玩一玩。
4. be meant to do sth.
理應發生；應該做某事；
eg. Life is a journey that is meant to be experienced in full.
生活是一次旅行，人們應該完整地體驗它。
eg. The papers are meant to be think pieces , but not day-dreaming pieces.
我們希望學生經過思考去完成論文，而非憑空想像去完成。
5. stay up
深夜不睡；熬夜；
eg. I used to stay up late with my mom and watch movies.
我以前總是和媽媽一起熬夜看電影。
eg. I am going to stay up late to finish my paper.
爲了完成報告我打算熬夜不睡。
6. would rather do sth.
寧願；寧可做某事；
eg. They want a house, whereas we would rather live in a flat.
他們想要一座房子，而我們寧願住在一套房間裏。
eg. He said he would rather stay at home.
他說他情願留在家裏。