被問(wèn)到How r u?你是不是條件反射的想回答Fine,thank you,and you呢?
中國(guó)人學(xué)英語(yǔ),有好多好多的莫名其妙的固定用法。其實(shí)語(yǔ)言是用來(lái)溝通的,當(dāng)然不是只有一種回答??!有個(gè)題主在知乎上發(fā)起了提問(wèn)“哪些英語(yǔ)用法是普通中國(guó)學(xué)生最生疏的?”,讓我們來(lái)看看點(diǎn)贊5000+的精彩回答吧?。?/span>
看看你中槍啦幾個(gè)吧!~
以下全是日常所見(jiàn)所聞,并且在國(guó)內(nèi)未曾學(xué)習(xí)到的。
1. No problem!
在國(guó)內(nèi)學(xué)到的是:
-Could you help me with xxx?
-No problem!
而在這邊聽(tīng)到的往往是:
-Thank you!
-No problem.
有時(shí)甚至:
-Oh sorry!
-No problem!
2. Go by
在課堂自我介紹時(shí),有時(shí)會(huì)說(shuō)中文名,然后英文名。Instead of saying "My Chinese name is xxx, and my English name is xxx.", 你可以這樣說(shuō):
-My name is xxx(你的原名), and I go by xxx(你的英文名).
一些美國(guó)學(xué)生不樂(lè)意用自己的原名,而偏好昵稱(chēng),也可以用go by來(lái)表達(dá):
-My name is Catherine, and I go by Cat.
3. Appreciate it!
每次從校車(chē)上下來(lái)時(shí),大家都會(huì)禮貌地對(duì)司機(jī)表示感謝,有次看到四個(gè)小哥魚(yú)貫而出,每個(gè)人表達(dá)感謝的語(yǔ)句都不同。
除了常見(jiàn)的"Thank you very much!","Thanks a lot!"以外,我覺(jué)得最好聽(tīng)的就是“Appreciate it!"
4. Have a good one!
美國(guó)人很喜歡互相道好,無(wú)論認(rèn)識(shí)不認(rèn)識(shí)。每次和人再見(jiàn)的時(shí)候(可能是下班,結(jié)完賬離開(kāi)超市,下課等等),往往會(huì)對(duì)同事/收銀員/老師/...說(shuō)聲"Have a good day/night"之類(lèi)的。有時(shí)下午5,6點(diǎn),天還沒(méi)黑,我總會(huì)把”Have a good night!"說(shuō)成"Have a good day!",后來(lái)發(fā)現(xiàn),還有種更簡(jiǎn)易的表達(dá),日夜均可使用,即"Have a good one!",簡(jiǎn)單順口,客套必備。
5.賓語(yǔ)前置
這是種B格很高的表達(dá)方式,在每張美元背面都有一句話"In God We Trust"(如下圖)
此外有次等紅燈時(shí),看見(jiàn)前面一輛車(chē)的車(chē)牌上的Motto寫(xiě)的是"United We Stand",當(dāng)時(shí)瞬間感受到這種句式的力量與B格,于是腦補(bǔ)出一句“A Sandwich I Had"。
6. Without further ado
這句在YouTube視頻里經(jīng)常聽(tīng)到,那些YouTubers在視頻開(kāi)頭往往先介紹這個(gè)視頻是干什么的,再順便扯幾句近期生活,然后在切入正題之前,有時(shí)會(huì)用這么一句"Without further ado, let's get started."這句話的意思就類(lèi)似于“廢話少說(shuō),讓我們開(kāi)始吧?!?/span>
每次聽(tīng)到這句,我都會(huì)聯(lián)想另一個(gè)四字常用詞匯“原來(lái)如此”,真希望它在英文里也有完全對(duì)應(yīng)的翻譯,我就不用每次都將說(shuō)了半句的“搜迪斯卡”咽下去了。
7. Figure
當(dāng)想表達(dá)“我覺(jué)得/我認(rèn)為/我猜”的時(shí)候,有個(gè)很好用的表達(dá)就是“I figure.."
-I figured you might wanna be alone for a while, so I didn't bother you.
8. Petite/plus size/pale/fair/tan/dark
這幾個(gè)都是形容外貌的,就放在一起說(shuō)。
在形容人個(gè)子矮的時(shí)候,short可能不夠委婉,一般說(shuō)petite。
在形容人胖的時(shí)候,fat明顯不夠委婉,可以說(shuō)plus size。
在形容膚色時(shí),長(zhǎng)得白和黑不是white和black(慎用?。莗ale/fair(形容白),tan/dark形容黑
9. Email常用禮貌用語(yǔ)
-I hope this email finds you well.用于開(kāi)頭。
-Any response will be appreciated.用于結(jié)尾,通常正文是找對(duì)方詢(xún)問(wèn)事情。
-Please feel free to let me know if there should be any question.用于句尾,通常正文是上交文件,材料,或者回答問(wèn)題等。
-It would be great/the best if you could...這就是傳說(shuō)中比"Could you please..."還要更加委婉的請(qǐng)求式句型了。
10. I'm good.
這句可以用來(lái)回答How are you?此外,常用于:
-Do you want some chips with your sandwich?
-No, I'm good. Thanks.
-Do you have any questions?
-No, I'm good.
也可用作委婉拒絕。
-Do you wanna go to a strip club?
-I'm good.
11. Shoot
除了“射擊”之意,還有以下日常用法:
-Whenever you need help, just shoot me an email. (比send更口語(yǔ)化)
-I've collected some negative comments on you.
-Shoot. (類(lèi)似于Go ahead說(shuō)吧)
-I was shooting for 100, but 98 is ok. (意為本想沖擊100分)
-Oh shoot...(其實(shí)就是Oh s**t! 的委婉說(shuō)法)
12. 結(jié)束對(duì)話用語(yǔ)
-I'll leave you be. (類(lèi)似于“打擾了”,“告辭了”,是在《紙牌屋》里看到Claire對(duì)一個(gè)白宮工作人員或是記者說(shuō)的)
-As you were. (這句通常上司對(duì)下屬講完工作之后可能用到,是在《基本演繹法》里看到的)
13. Off the hook
意為“從麻煩脫身”,可以想象一條魚(yú)脫離魚(yú)鉤的樣子。
-He paid all the fines so he's finally off the hook now.
-He's off the hook, he doesn't do drugs any more.
《絕望主婦》里面Bree問(wèn)她兒子Andrew,現(xiàn)在年輕人還說(shuō)"Awesome"嗎?Andrew告訴她,他們現(xiàn)在都說(shuō)"Off the hook",可見(jiàn),這個(gè)詞組也有Cool, awesome之意。
-That party was off the hook!
印象中《宋飛正傳》里Jerry, Elaine和George有對(duì)off the hook和on the hook的一段討論,但是在網(wǎng)上搜出來(lái)的似乎都是小黃網(wǎng)站,于是隱隱覺(jué)得似乎這個(gè)表達(dá)不是什么好表達(dá)了。。。
14. Hands down
有“絕對(duì),毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)”之意??梢赃@樣聯(lián)想,因?yàn)楹翢o(wú)疑問(wèn),所以不會(huì)舉手提問(wèn),也就是hands down。
-My favorite TV show is hands downFriends.
15. Though
大家都熟悉though用于句首和句中表轉(zhuǎn)折,但可能不太了解它放在句末的用法。
-Do you want me to get you a cup of coffee?
-No, I'm good. Thank you though. (意為不過(guò)還是)
另外一個(gè)用法是在Instagram上看到的,關(guān)注了一個(gè)賬號(hào)整天推送搞笑短視頻,內(nèi)容都是人和動(dòng)物摔倒啊,被砸啊,被嚇到啊等等很?chē)宓膱?chǎng)面。然后這個(gè)賬號(hào)經(jīng)常配的文字就是以though結(jié)尾的語(yǔ)句,可以感覺(jué)到明顯的譏諷意味。例如:
(一個(gè)男人被電梯整蠱嚇得尖叫)
-That scream though. (重音在scream)
(一只狗打了一個(gè)噴嚏,然后全身狂抖)
-That sneeze though.(重音在sneeze)
16. Sure/Of course/Certainly
當(dāng)時(shí)初中學(xué)英語(yǔ)的時(shí)候記得這三個(gè)詞經(jīng)常一起出現(xiàn),表達(dá)“當(dāng)然”,一直模模糊糊地認(rèn)為他們是一個(gè)意思,后來(lái)慢慢地才了解到他們的用法的區(qū)別。
Sure一般用來(lái)表達(dá)欣然同意對(duì)方的提議,意為“好呀”:
-Can I give you a call?
-Sure!
-Would you like to get a cup of coffee or something?
-Sure!
而Of course則有“那當(dāng)然了”,“不用多說(shuō)”的意味在里面:
-There are, of course, exceptions to the rule.
-What do you do now?
-Still farming.
-Of course.
(此對(duì)話來(lái)自《唐頓莊園》里莊主Robert問(wèn)他領(lǐng)地里的一位農(nóng)民現(xiàn)在做些什么,農(nóng)民回答還是做農(nóng)活,并且一臉頹喪的樣子,潛臺(tái)詞是“我還能做啥,還不是做做農(nóng)活而已”,Robert聽(tīng)后稍愣了一下,大概覺(jué)得自己?jiǎn)柕膯?wèn)題有點(diǎn)愚蠢,于是說(shuō)了句Of course. 可見(jiàn),如果問(wèn)了一個(gè)本該知道答案的問(wèn)題,對(duì)方回答后,你可以說(shuō)這么一句Of course.)
Certainly則比較少見(jiàn),在Google上查到它的使用頻率也是漸漸下降:
不知道是不是一個(gè)漸漸淡出江湖的詞匯。
17. 模糊語(yǔ)氣
在表達(dá)“差不多”,“接近”,“...的樣子” ,“之類(lèi)的”等模糊的意思時(shí),除了nearly, approximately, almost, kind of, sort of 等詞匯外,更口語(yǔ)的說(shuō)法還有or so, -ish, ...something等:
-He has worked in the company for a year and two months or so.
-After dinner I had 30 cherries or so.
-That movie was good-ish.(此人應(yīng)該覺(jué)得電影并不怎么好看)
-That color is blue-ish.
-Let's meet around 9-ish.
-30 books every twenty-something girl must read.
(類(lèi)似于知乎豆瓣經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)的20多歲女孩的必讀書(shū)單)
-Wanna a cup of water or something?
18. Sense
sense的意思非常多,有“...感”,“意思/意識(shí)”,“目的”等,無(wú)法和一個(gè)中文詞匯完全對(duì)應(yīng)。國(guó)內(nèi)用到a sense of的標(biāo)配經(jīng)常是a sense of humor,其實(shí)可以使用的范圍非常廣。
-What is the sense of going out in the rain?
(意為“目的”)
-The purpose of the meeting is to let you get a sense of how we work.
(好難翻譯!請(qǐng)意會(huì))
-Does that make sense to you?
(這句話很常見(jiàn),通常在解釋完某個(gè)復(fù)雜的事情或事物后,為了解對(duì)方是否聽(tīng)明白,會(huì)問(wèn)這么一句,配以擰巴的眉頭,微傾的頭顱)
19. 沒(méi)聽(tīng)懂對(duì)方的話時(shí)
聽(tīng)不懂或沒(méi)聽(tīng)清對(duì)方的意思,這種狀況常常發(fā)生,不論你是不是native speaker。除了Sorry? Excuse me? Could you repeat that? 以及英語(yǔ)課本里教的I beg your pardon? 可以用來(lái)要求對(duì)方再說(shuō)一遍外,還可以這樣告訴對(duì)方你沒(méi)聽(tīng)清:
-!#%^*>??#^&
-Sorry, you lost me.
-#%^&^$(!_+?><
-Sorry, I didn't follow.
20. A touch of
意為"一點(diǎn)兒", 但是不是比a little, a bit of聽(tīng)起來(lái)要更有畫(huà)面感?
-"Chinese White Tie" means White Tie with a touch of China. (這是美國(guó)Vogue雜志主編Anna Wintour給記者解釋剛過(guò)去的中國(guó)主題Met Gala的dress code的含義時(shí)用的原句。)
-I have a touch of flu and need some rest.(意為“輕微的”)
21. Shy of
意思類(lèi)似于short of。
-He's just shy of 6 feet. ("接近"6英尺=1.8288米)
《老友記》里面有次6人玩撲克牌,Ross加注的時(shí)候發(fā)現(xiàn)錢(qián)不夠了,說(shuō)了句"Joey, I'm a little shy here.",意思是錢(qián)不夠了,想找Joey借錢(qián),結(jié)果Joey傻了吧唧地拍了拍Ross肩膀,說(shuō)有哥們兒在,不怕。還好Chandler聽(tīng)出了shy的第二層意思,掏出了錢(qián)包。
22. Dress up/down
Dress up可不是穿上衣服的意思,而是穿著正式的意思,相應(yīng)的穿著隨意則是dress down.
-You need to dress up for the dinner. But during the daytime, you can dress down as you like.
23. 又是幾個(gè)對(duì)話常見(jiàn)表達(dá),適用于特定場(chǎng)合。
在賓館/圖書(shū)館/售票處/電話客服..辦事結(jié)束后,經(jīng)常會(huì)聽(tīng)到一句"You're all set." 聽(tīng)到這句話就知道事兒已辦妥可以拎著東西滾了。如果不知道自己的事兒是不是弄好了,而對(duì)方又專(zhuān)心致志作敲鍵盤(pán)狀時(shí),可以問(wèn)一句"Am I all set?" 不要像樓主第一次住完賓館在前臺(tái)傻了吧唧地站在那兒等人家給我receipt等了二十分鐘,人家終于忍不住問(wèn)我"What else can I help you with?"才知道我早就可以滾了。
有時(shí)用公共飲水機(jī)/洗手池時(shí)有可能不巧地前面正好有人在使用,于是站在別人身后兩英尺處耐心等待,同時(shí)說(shuō)一聲"Take your time" 讓對(duì)方不用太著急,對(duì)方使用完可能對(duì)你說(shuō)聲"All yours"讓你放心上前使用,文明的世界真美好。
24. At some point
這個(gè)表達(dá)非常好用,可以表示過(guò)去某時(shí)刻,也可以表示將來(lái)某時(shí)刻。
-At some point I decided she was no longer my friend. (表示之前某時(shí)刻)
-Do you want me to add that information in the document?
-No. But at some point we will need that.
(表示將來(lái)某時(shí)刻,比in the future明顯更適用)
25. Comfort
Comfort的意思大家都懂,就是舒服,舒適,爽。在國(guó)內(nèi)的時(shí)候,我只知道俺家的沙發(fā)是comfortable的,而在老美的口語(yǔ)表達(dá)中,這個(gè)詞可以使用的語(yǔ)境實(shí)在是多。
-You should make sure you are comfortable with the height every time you jump off. (這是樓主第一次去攀巖俱樂(lè)部玩抱石時(shí),教練對(duì)我說(shuō)的,comfortable在這里的意思更貼近于“沒(méi)有不適,能接受”)
-If no support was provided, we should perform audit steps to obtain comfort that the item was appropriately included. (這里意譯過(guò)來(lái)應(yīng)該是“確保”,意思等同于make sure)
可見(jiàn)comfortable這種狀態(tài),不一定是躺在沙發(fā)上全身放松,還可以是生活工作中每一個(gè)細(xì)小的,讓你呼吸平穩(wěn),心跳規(guī)律的狀態(tài)。
26. Thing
除了“事物”之意外,在口語(yǔ)中還有以下常見(jiàn)用法:
-I think he has a thing for you. (就是中文里“他對(duì)你有意思”的意思)
-Being funny is Chandler's thing and Ross's thing is getting divorced. (來(lái)自《老友記》,這里thing不好翻譯,可以理解為“某人最顯著的特質(zhì)”,即讓別人想到你就聯(lián)想起來(lái)的東西。)
27. Have/get your back
意為“罩著你”,“挺你”或者“有我在”。
-If you ever need help, just ask. You know I have your back.
-Just go ahead. Don't worry. I got your back.
28. In the middle of nowhere
意為“荒郊野外”。
-Bree once dropped her teenage son in the middle of nowhere.
29. Walk through
雖然這個(gè)詞組里有walk這個(gè)動(dòng)詞,但是通常和行走沒(méi)有太大關(guān)系??梢岳斫鉃椤斑^(guò)一遍”。
-Could you walk me through the process so I can get a better understanding of your business?
30. 標(biāo)點(diǎn)符號(hào)的說(shuō)法
仔細(xì)想想我們還沒(méi)有好好學(xué)習(xí)過(guò)標(biāo)點(diǎn)符號(hào)的英語(yǔ)表達(dá)呢,那就一起總結(jié)一下吧!
, comma
. period
— dash (破折號(hào),用法為句子A - 句子B,注意字符兩邊都有空格)
# pound (#有時(shí)候可作編號(hào)之意,比如“#1”為“編號(hào)1”, 而No.1則為“排名第一”)
/ slash
\ backslash
"" quote
() [] {} brackets
*star
_ underscore
- hyphen (連字符,用法為word-word,組成一個(gè)新詞,例如anti-discrimination,字符兩邊沒(méi)有空格)
~ tilde
! exclamation point/mark
? question mark
' apostrophe
: colon
; semicolon
? bullet
numerator 分子
denominator 分母
(真是漲姿勢(shì)啊?。?/span>
31. Doesn't hurt to do something
意為“做什么事有好處/不會(huì)有壞處”。
-It does't hurt to take a look of what you've done and see if it could be improved.
32. You might wanna/you don't wanna
這可以是給別人建議做某事/別做某事時(shí)使用的短語(yǔ)。
-You might wanna have a cup of water at hand in case that food is too spicy.
-You don't wanna call her in the middle of the night. You don't know how grumpy she could be.
33. Can use some
意為“正需要”。
-After a long week, I can really use some rest.
-That shirt is too flashy.
-You can use some flash.
(來(lái)自《宋飛正傳》)
34. At the end of the day
意為“到頭來(lái)”,“到最后”,“最終”,并不是“一天的最后”。
-They all said they would help me, but at the end of the day nobody did.
35. The last thing I wanna do
可不是“最后一件想做的事”,而是“最不想做的事”。
-The last thing I wanna do is hurting your brother.
(來(lái)自《老友記》Rachel對(duì)Monica說(shuō)她不會(huì)傷害Ross)
36. Be my guest
這個(gè)表達(dá)可不是邀請(qǐng)對(duì)方做客,而是在對(duì)方提出要做某件事的時(shí)候給出允許。
-Can I have the last piece of cake?
-Sure! Be my guest.
老友記里面有一集Monica和Rachel樓上的鄰居把地毯撤掉了,各種噪聲通過(guò)天花板傳來(lái)聽(tīng)得一清二楚,Pheobe問(wèn)她們?cè)趺床簧先ズ湍侨苏f(shuō),Monica表示那人太帥了,她沒(méi)法開(kāi)口。Phoebe不信,決定要上樓去教訓(xùn)下那個(gè)人。Monica和Pheobe之間有這樣一段對(duì)話:
MONICA : He took up the carpets and now you can hear everything.
PHOEBE : Well, why don’t you go up there and ask him to just, like "step lightly, please"?
MONICA : I have, like five times, but they guy is so charming that I go up there to yell and then I end up apologizing to him.
PHOEBE : Ewww, that is ...(angrily) silly. I’ll go up there, I’ll tell him to keep it down.
MONICA : Alright. Be my guest.
37. Gut
直譯過(guò)來(lái)是“肚子”,但在英語(yǔ)里面有“直覺(jué)”之意。
-I don't know how to decide.
-Well, what does your gut tell you?
有時(shí)又指“膽量”。
-I hate that guy! I want to punch him in the face!
-You don't have the guts.
38. It works
這個(gè)表達(dá)在日常口語(yǔ)中實(shí)在太常見(jiàn)了。在國(guó)內(nèi)時(shí)work往往指工作,但在英語(yǔ)中更像是說(shuō)某件事“有效運(yùn)行”。
-I don't understand how polygamy works.
-We tried a new model and it worked!
39. Buy that
除了“買(mǎi)它”的直譯外,還有“相信一個(gè)說(shuō)法”的意思。來(lái)看例句理解吧:
-He said he didn't do it but I don't buy it.
-She told me she missed our date because she had to work.
-That's so made up! I can't believe you bought it.
40. Table
幾個(gè)和table有關(guān)的表達(dá):Bring to the table和On/Off the table。
Bring to the table指“帶來(lái)的好處”:
-Do you have any advice for me on the interview?
-Just be yourself and talk what you can bring to the table with all the experience you have.
On the table指“考慮的”,相應(yīng)的,Off the table指“不作考慮的”:
-The proposed new bill will soon be on the table in Parliament.
-We will take no options off the table to achieve that goal.
例句來(lái)自Google,眾多美劇英劇,答主親耳所聞,和現(xiàn)場(chǎng)腦補(bǔ)。其余想起再更。