课堂里学不到的英语

2007/01/27 08:34 ..by zhanghongbiao

report to
英语中有个词组：report sb./sth. to sb.(向某人告发、检举某事和某人)；而report to sb.则是指对某人负责。

A: Who do you report to in your company?
B: My director, of course. I report to him, Mr. Haliday.
A: Oh, I see. I know this guy.

result Vs. consequence
这两个词的深层次含义大不相同。result指“某事的后果”，而consequence是指“某事造成的后果”。

A: Did you watch the soccer match between Britain and Denmark last night?
B: No. I worked throughout the whole night.
A: What a pity! It was so wonderful!
B: What about the result?
A: Two to zero. Britain defeated Denmark.
B: Oh no. It's impossible.
A: Yes. That's the fact.

ringer
这个单词不能用词根记忆法来理解。它的意思是“代替别人考试的人”。

A: I saw a very interesting ad on our campus.
B: What's it?
A: It's about looking for a family teacher. But the salary is really attractive. 1000 dollars per hour.
A: 1000 dollars per hour? That's impossible. It's not looking for a private tutor but hunting for a ringer.
B: Really? Oh I wish I could.

roll out
经常可以听到老美说：Let's roll out. 相当于：Let's go.

A: I hate Peter. He's so mean to me.
B: What happened?
A: This afternoon Peter asked me to go to the bar with him after work. When we finished, he yelled at me "roll out".
B: "Roll out" is an expression we Americans used to mean "let's go".

run-down
run-down除了可以形容人精神不好，还可以用来形容某物需要修理。

A: What role do you play in the show?
B: A drunkedn man, run-down, on the street. Very interesting.
A: Sounds like a very challenging role to play. Right?
B: A little bit, since it's different from all those roles I've played before. But I will try my best.

say that again
是“没错”的意思。其实外国人说you can say that again 就是要表达一种“没错，经得起推敲检验”的意思。

A: They said President Bush might visit our university next month.
B: You can say that again.
A: So you've also heard of this?
B: Everybody in this college knows it. It's not news anymore.

see eye to eye (with)
这个词的意思是指“意见一致，看法一致”。还有个through意思是说玩完了。I am through 的意思是——我不干了！

A: How about your research study with James?
B: You know, there were several points we two couldn't get in accord. It's really tough. For many times I just wanted to quit.
A: How did you tackle that?
B: Finally we saw eye to eye with each other.
A: Congratulations!

sick and tired of
它是一个整体，不可拆成 be sick of 和 be tired of，意思是“对……感到厌倦，厌烦”。有一句有趣的话：I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. 我已经对老是感到厌倦而厌倦了。

A: I'm sick and tired of preparing for the tests.
B: Then you need to take a break. Maybe things will get smooth tomorrow.
A: I hope so. Thanks. You are very supportive.

since
It's five years since he lived here. 这句话的意思是他已经搬走五年了。这句话的关键在于since后面的时态，如果是完成式的话其意思即是“已经不住这里五年了”，而如果是单纯的过去式的话则是截然不同的意思了。

A: Do you want a cigarette?
B: I forgot to tell you that it's two weeks since I smoked.
A: What pushed you to make such a hard decision?
B: I began to cough, you know, and have a lot of sputa in my throat.

sing to the piano
to在这里表示“和着、随着钢琴伴奏唱歌”之意。

A: My neighbor is a girl who is fond of singing.
B: What kind of songs do you usually hear, popular song?
A: No, almost all of them are ancient and classic ones.
B: Does she sing to the piano?
A: Of course, and I can hear the piano from her room.
B: Then shr really seems somewhat professional.

six-feet under
这是好朋友之间开玩笑用的俚语，其实是说某人dead and buried, 这样才会在土以下六英尺嘛。

A: I met Lary this morning. Remember the guy?
B: Of course, he is my best friend in college. I haven't heard from him for a while. I thought he was "six-feet under"!
A: He is still live and kicking, and I've told him your phone number. Don't you want to see him?

smell a rat
这个短语实际上是利用老鼠鬼鬼祟祟、偷偷摸摸的特点，表示“觉得某事十分蹊跷，似乎有哪里不对劲”。

A: It's really strange that he decided to go with us.
B: I can smell a rat.
A: We'd better pay special attention to him.
B: All right.

space cadet
这个俚语用英文来解释就是：someone who is out of touch with reality. 这个短语的原意是太空训练员，由于他们似乎总是远离现实，所以用来引申某人不问世事的状态。

A: You seem so careless about this!
B: No, I'm really worried about it. But I can't concentrate on anything these days. I'm just a "space cadet".
A: Then you'd better come down to the ground as early as possible!

state of the art
俚语。朗文当代英语辞典第三版增补本1408页：state-of-the-art: adj using the most modern and recently developed methods，materials,or knowledge: state-of-the-art technology. 具体用词应该视后面所接词而定，但总的来说不离最先进的、最好的这样的原意。

A: Have you seen the computer room of that company? It's really state of the art.
B: Of course, it's cool that those guys can work in such a wonderful room, though the style of layout can be further improved it seems to me.
A: I really hope I can work in a company like that after graduation.