故事梗概
在fniends第1季第1集中， Monica與酒吧調(diào)酒師Paul的約會給眾人的生活掀起了小小的波瀾。在約會的閑聊中， Paul向Monica講述了自己被前任女友甩掉的遭遇，他的經(jīng)歷讓Monica既吃驚又同情。在跟Paul有了一夜情之后，Monica沉浸在甜蜜的幸福之中?？蓻]想到幸福轉(zhuǎn)瞬即逝。第二天早上上班時，Monica從同事的口中得知原來Paul是專用謊言騙取女人跟他上床的愛情騙子……
經(jīng)典對白1：
[Scene: A Restaurant, Monica and Paul are eating.]
Monica: Oh my God! Paul: I know, I know, I'm such an idiot. I guess I should have caught on when she started going to the dentist four and five times a week. I mean, how clean can teeth get? Monica: My brother's going through that right now, he's such a mess. How did you get through it? Paul: Well, you might try accidentally breaking something valuable of hers, say her- Monica: -leg? Paul: (laughing) That's one way! Me, I- I went for the watch. Monica: You actually broke her watch? Wow! The worst thing I ever did was, I-I shredded by boyfriend's favorite bath towel.
講解
在傾聽Paul講述自己被甩的經(jīng)歷時，Monica不時地發(fā)出Oh，my God!(天哪!)Wow!(哇!)的驚嘆聲。英語口語中類似表示驚嘆的句子還有很多。如果某天突然遇到多年沒有音信的老友，想必你也會這樣驚嘆道：For the love of Mike，I didn’t expect to meet you here!(老天爺!我做夢也沒想到競在這兒遇見你!)當(dāng)然你也可以像Monica那樣用Oh，my God!(天哪!)
Wow!(哇!)，或用I can’t believe it!(真叫人難以置信!)My goodness!(天哪!)Oh，that's incredible!(哦，簡直不可思議!)What a surprise!(真出人意料!)Gee!(哎呀!)等等來表達(dá)你此時驚訝的心情。
記得前些日子與朋友聊起生活中的奇聞軼事。當(dāng)聽說有人活吞了一只老鼠時，朋友兩眼圓睜，脫口而出：What，eat a rat alive?(什么!活吞一只老鼠?)類似的表達(dá)方式還有：Oh，no!How dreadful!(哦，不!太可怕了!)Youmust be kidding!(你一定是開玩笑!)Really?(真的嗎?)It can't be!(這不可能!)等等。
女友跟別人好上了，自己卻渾然不知。Paul說：I'm such an idiot．(我真是個大白癡。)Monica由此想起了哥哥Ross由于跟同性戀的妻子分手而整日魂不守舍，便說：My brother's going through that right now，he's such a mess．(我哥哥正被此事所擾，他真是不可救藥的大笨蛋。)mess一詞在此并不是指我們通常所理解的臟或亂的狀態(tài)，而是形容某個人是不可救藥的傻瓜或笨蛋。比如說：Honey，I can never follow what you really mean．I'm a mess．意思是說：親愛的，我總不能領(lǐng)會你的本意，我好混啊!
但就像我們一直所強(qiáng)調(diào)的那樣，任何事都不能枉下論斷。前幾日正在陪寶寶玩耍的丈夫跑過來喊道：Come on，there's a mess in our baby's diapers．(快過來呀，寶寶在尿布上拉屎了。)如果此時你把mess理解成傻瓜，在別人眼里你豈不turn into a mess?(成了不可救藥的蠢蛋?)關(guān)于mess一詞的其他用法，請參考本書“5-24每個人都會緊張”這一單元。
經(jīng)典對白及講解之二：
1-01-2離婚之痛
故事梗概 本集的另一情節(jié)圍僥Ross展開，由于Ross的妻子Carol是同性戀，兩人離了婚．但Ross為此深受打擊，無法面對現(xiàn)實(shí)，認(rèn)定自己再婚無望，整日一付失魂落魄的樣子．Chandler和Joey竭力寬慰Ross，鼓勵他“不要在一棵樹上吊死”，要鼓起勇氣重新尋找幸?！?/p>
經(jīng)典對白2：
Chandler: Look, Ross, you gotta understand, between us we haven't had a relationship that has lasted longer than a Mento. You, however have had the love of a woman for four years. Four years of closeness and sharing at the end of which she ripped your heart out, and that is why we don't do it! I don't think that was my point! Ross: You know what the scariest part is? What if there's only one woman for everybody, y'know? I mean what if you get one woman- and that's it? Unfortunately in my case, there was only one woman- for her... Joey: What are you talking about? 'One woman'? That's like saying there's only one flavor of ice cream for you. Lemme tell you something, Ross. There's lots of flavors out there.
講解:
Chandler想規(guī)勸Ress放棄婚姻的念頭，因?yàn)椋篎our yvars of closeness and sharing at the end ofwhich she ripped your heart out．．．(四年之中你們親親密密，有福同享，有難同當(dāng)，可到頭來她卻讓你如此心碎……)英語中我們通常也用break one's heart來表示“令某人心碎”。但相對而言，rip one's heart out所表示的程度更強(qiáng)烈些。
Heart一詞非?；钣?，它能跟其他詞構(gòu)成多種常用的表達(dá)方式。如果有人跟你說：You know what?Yesterday 1 witnessed a car accident，and my heart was in my mouth when I saw the bloody scene．(你知道嗎?昨天我目睹了一場車禍，那血淋淋的場面把我嚇得要命。)這句話千萬不能根據(jù)字面意思直接翻譯過來理解，否則會鬧出笑話。如果你想夸贊一個人有一副好心腸，可以說：You've got a heart of gold．反之則為：You've got d heart of stone．(你真是鐵石心腸。)相互鐘情的男女都會彼此wear their heart on their sleeve(流露愛意)；單相思
(lovesickness)的人往往set his heart on love(渴望得到愛情)；被戀人．Dump (甩掉)的人則會cry his heart out(痛哭流涕)。和heart相關(guān)的詞語還有很多，大家可以在學(xué)習(xí)中多多積累。You get what you put in．(種瓜得瓜，種豆得豆。)
Ross擔(dān)心：What if there's only one woman for everybody?(假如一個男人一生中只能有一個女人怎么辦?)那離婚后的他豈不永遠(yuǎn)成為孤家寡人?為打消Ross的顧慮，Joey說：What are you talking about?One woman?That's like saying there's only one flavor of ice cream for you．Lemme tell you something．Ross．There's lots of flavors out there．(你在說什么呢!只有一個女人?你這就等于說你只能吃一種口味的冰激凌。Ross聽我說，有千百種口味的冰激凌等著挑選呢。)Joey想通過冰激凌這個比喻來讓Ross明白男人不能在一棵樹上吊死，
女人千千萬，關(guān)鍵他得有勇氣變換不同的口味，嘗試去跟不同的女人交往。
Joey的比喻惟妙惟肖，正如Joey所說，在美國冰激凌確實(shí)口味繁多。據(jù)說餐后吃點(diǎn)甜的東西，可以調(diào)節(jié)油膩。因此，冰激凌以及蛋糕、派、布丁等食品成為美國人餐后普遍食用的甜點(diǎn)(dessert)。美國的冰激凌含脂肪較多，甜味較重。這也可能是美國患有overweight(肥胖)的人較多的原因之一吧!
美國最有名的冰激凌是Howard Johnson's公司的二十八種口味(28Flavors)及Baskin Robbins公司的三十一種口味(3l Flavors)冰激凌。冰激凌的容器叫dish，我們常說a dish ofice cream(一盤冰激凌)，但是冰激凌店零售外賣時則用a scoop ofice cream(一勺冰激凌)，不能說a bowl ofice cream或a glass of ice cream。我們在KFC及冰激凌店常見的圣代英文叫Sundae，是指加有壓碎的堅果、水果、果汁、糖漿等的冰激凌。香蕉船的英文名字叫Banana Split，是將一根香蕉劈成兩半，平放在玻璃容器內(nèi)，上面放三種不同口味的圣代，看起來像是一只香蕉船。Baked Alaska有人翻譯成火燒冰激凌，這是一種冰激凌及果凍的組合物，上面覆以海綿蛋糕及一層厚厚的蛋白甜糕，食用前先放在烤箱中烤成黃褐色，也可以加上各種新鮮水果作為點(diǎn)綴。想必這些描述已經(jīng)make your mouth water(讓你直流口水了)，那就趕緊去stuff your face(吃個痛快)吧!
經(jīng)典對白及講解之三：
1-01-3逃跑的新娘
故事梗概
Rnchel以逃跑的新娘(runaway bnide)形象出現(xiàn)在眾人面前。就在自己的婚禮開始之前， Rnchel逃離了婚禮現(xiàn)場，前來投奔她惟一認(rèn)識的高中校友Monica。此時的Rnchel沒有工作,手頭拮據(jù)。然而，找工作連遭失政的命運(yùn)似乎并沒有影響她購物的欲望。仰仗由父親買單的信用卡， Rachel花錢依然大手大腳。大家都勸Rachel馬上毀掉信用卡以便早日獨(dú)立……
經(jīng)典對白3：
[Scene: Monica and Rachel's, everyone is sitting around the kitchen table. Rachel's credit cards are spread out on the table along with a pair of scissors.]
Rachel: Oh God, come on you guys, is this really necessary? I mean, I can stop charging anytime I want.
Monica: C'mon, you can't live off your parents your whole life.
Rachel: I know that. That's why I was getting married.
Phoebe: Give her a break, it's hard being on your own for the first time.
Rachel: Thank you.
一直依賴父母生活的Rachel并不想馬上自立，為此Monica鼓勵她把信用卡都?xì)У粢员悛?dú)立：c'mon，you can’t live off your parents your whole life．(動手吧，你總不能靠父母一輩子呀。)美國人有強(qiáng)烈的獨(dú)立精神。他們通常不仰仗個人的社會背景或家庭出身去獲得成功。如果你靠pull some strings，也就是我們中國人所說的靠“走后門”來出人頭地定會遭到多數(shù)美國人的鄙夷，因?yàn)樗麄儓孕艂€人的學(xué)識(knowledge)、智慧(wisdom)、創(chuàng)造精神(creativity)以及良好的品性(moral character)才是成功必不可少的條件。
因此Monica他們一再鼓勵Rachel跟信用卡說bye-bye。 C’mon是come on的縮略形式。曾經(jīng)聽一位在美國留學(xué)的同學(xué)抱怨說在那里說英語似乎總是比聽懂英語容易。造成這個問題的主要原因是縮略形式在英語中的廣泛運(yùn)用。毫無準(zhǔn)備的聽者往往聽不懂這些詞，加上縮略語使得語速加快，理解英語便成了大難題。相信不懂縮略語的讀者很難猜出這句話的意思：dj’ask’cr yet?其實(shí)這句話用標(biāo)準(zhǔn)英語表達(dá)很簡單：Did you ask her yct?再比如：Dushi speak English?相當(dāng)于：Does she speak English?其他常見縮略形式包括：va＝are you，’cause＝because，dunno＝don't know，gimme＝give me，’n＝and等等。C’mon，不管是縮略語還是英語中的其他困難，只要你能keep your chin up (不灰心喪氣)，Everything's gonna bc fine．(一切都會好起來的。)
盡管大家再三給Rachel加油鼓勁，她仍然猶豫不決。這時Phoebe說道：Give her a break，it's hard being on your own for the first time．(別逼她了。你們第一次獨(dú)立的時候不也費(fèi)了好大的勁。)
break用作名詞時會使很多人聯(lián)想英語課堂上老師常說的一句話：Time is up．Let's have a break．意思是說：本堂課結(jié)束了，課間休息一下吧。break在此的意思為“課間休息”，“間歇，停頓”。比如說現(xiàn)在很多公司都給員工提供tea break(用茶休息時間)；電視臺靠break for the commercial(插播商業(yè)廣告的間歇)盈利；如果你work for 10 hours without a break before computers(不間斷地在電腦前工作10小時)則對你的健康極為不利。然而如果照此意思來理
解give sb．a(chǎn) break就會大錯特錯。give sb．a(chǎn) break用于口語，其意思是“給某人一個機(jī)會；放某人一馬；不難為某人”。作為老師每每考試之后都會聽到學(xué)生說類似的話：老師幫幫忙讓我過了吧，否則我就得重讀二年級了。這句話用英文表達(dá)就是：Give me d break and pass me，or else I’ll have to bc a sophomore again．但萬事都不是絕對的，有時一句Give me a break!或Gimmc a break!則表示不相信別人胡謅亂編，相當(dāng)于：得了吧!別拿我當(dāng)傻子!收起你那套噱頭!因此對英語語言的理解不能take everything for granted(把一切都想當(dāng)然)，否則會讓人笑掉大牙。
