VOA流行美語 Unit 29: loser; to bug

大家都知道Michael這個美國學生正在學中文。他和中國學生李華約好每個星期至少在一起活動一次。今天他們決定到一個公園去滑冰。李華會學到兩個常用語：loser 和to bug。

L: 今天的天氣真好呀！正是運動的好天氣。我已經好久都沒有滑冰了。

M: You're a very good skater. I just keep falling down.

L: 學滑冰總是會摔跤的。多練習練習就好了。

M: I know, but I feel like such a loser. I keep getting passed by little kids. They laugh at me.

L: 小孩肯定比我們滑得快，別怕他們笑話你。你剛纔說你覺得自己 是什麼？ Loser? 滑冰又不是比賽，怎麼會輸掉呢？

M: I said I feel like a loser, it means that I feel like a failure. It doesn't mean I lost a game.

L: 你是說loser就是一個人做某件事總是做不好。嗯， 我們在中文裏常說：“我怎麼老學不好，真是個笨蛋”。這跟loser的意思 差不多吧？不過，Michael，我肯定你在滑冰方面不是個笨蛋，你只 要多練習就行了。

M: Thanks for the encouragement, Li Hua. But I've always been kind of a loser at sports. Growing up, I was always picked last for the baseball and soccer teams.

L: 原來你在體育方面從小就不行。不過，Michael， 在其他方面你 一點也不笨。

M: What do you mean, Li Hua?

L: 這還不明白嗎？女孩子都很喜歡你呀，你還有其他好多朋友呀。

M: You're right, I do have a lot of friends. But if they could see how many times I fell down today, I'm sure they would not want be friends with such a loser.

L: 得了吧，Michael，要說笨蛋，那天晚上我們見到的那個人纔是呢。 他自以爲挺帥，老是想去和女孩子搭訕，可是，誰都知道他是個 沒出息的人，誰都不要和他交朋友。Michael，我們能叫這種人 loser嗎？

M: Yeah, very good, Li Hua. That guy really is a loser. He never studies at all. I think he's in college just to party.

L: 他從來不念書呀？Michael，你還滑不滑？

M: I guess wait up for me, in case I fall down again. Okay, let's go!

(滑完冰以後)

L: Michael，運動一下真舒服。

M: Yeah, you had been bugging me about going skating for so long, I guess it was about time that I came along with you.

L: 什麼是bugging ? Bug不是小蟲子嗎？

M: No, bugging means to bother or annoy someone about something. I didn't mean it in a serious way, I was just kidding.

L: 噢，to bug就是爲了某件事去麻煩別人，讓人討厭。 Michael, 你 再舉一個例子好嗎？

M: Sure. You can say that something is bugging you, such as an assignment that you haven't been able to finish or a problem that you cannot solve. You could also...

L: 等等，讓我先弄清楚你說的。你是說，我沒能完成的功課， 或者解決不了的問題都可以用to bug這個動詞。那就是說："This assignment is bugging me"，或者是：“This problem is bugging me"，對 不對？

M: Yes, you can also say that a habit someone has really bugs you.

L: 我知道，象Mary，她老是打斷我說話，讓我很煩，很討厭。

M: You could say "It really bugs me when Mary interrupts me in the middle of a sentence." I can also say it really bugs me when you try to tell me what to do.

L: 嗨，我告訴你該怎麼做是爲了你好。老實說，it bugs me that you never listen to me.

M: It seems that you've learned how to use "loser" and "to bug". Let's go home.

李華今天學了一個名詞“loser"，指一個人老是不會做某件事；她還學了一個動詞“to bug"，意思是爲了一件事老是去麻煩別人，讓人討厭。這次這次[流行美語]就學習到這裏，我們下次再見。