流行美语 (Popular American) 316

Larry下班后，跟李华一起去喝咖啡。今天我们要学两个常用语：brutal¹和rager.

LH: Larry, 怎么样，今天上班忙不忙？

LL: Oh it was way brutal.

LH: Brutal? Brutal 不是粗暴、残忍的意思吗？

LL: Here it means harsh. You know, like a hassle. It was way brutal.

LH: 噢，你说今天上班was way brutal 就是特别麻烦，不顺的意思。你说具体点儿，In what way was it brutal?

LL: Well for one thing, the coffee machine in my office was broken, so that was lame².

LH: 咖啡壶坏了顶多也就是不方便，也谈不上brutal啊。

LL: Well on top of that they were doing some sort of maintenance in the hall, so all day there was this high pitched drilling noise. I have a pounding headache.

LH: 一整天都有人在楼道里修房子，那可是够吵的。It IS brutal!

LL: Yeah it was totally brutal.

LH: 我这两天正在申请一家大公司的实习机会。Let me tell you, it's so brutal.

LL: How is it brutal, Li Hua?

LH: 这家公司要我证明身份，结果害得我跑了四趟大使馆，腿都跑细了。

LL: Woah, brutal. Are you at least done with the application process now?

LH: I wish! 我现在还要到学校的工作许可办公室去开证明，最后还不知道到底是不是能拿到这个实习的位置。

LL: Is it paid?

LH: 没有，是没有报酬的那种实习。

LL: Brutal. I did an unpaid³ internship⁴ once. It was alright though.

LH: 申请实习的手续麻烦点儿也就算了，我现在唯一的希望是，真开始实习了，工作上不要更加brutal。

******

李华第二天中午兴高彩烈地打电话给Larry。

LL: Hello? This is Larry London speaking.

LH: Larry?

LL: Hi Li Hua, how's it going?

LH: 告诉你一个好消息，我拿到那个实习的机会了。

LL: That's great Li Hua!

LH: 公司人事部门打电话通知我，我简直高兴死了。

LL: We have to celebrate, we should throw a rager.

LH: Rager，那是什么？听起来好象挺可怕的。

LL: No, a rager means a huge party. A raging party.

LH: 哦，我知道了，a rager就是一个特别疯狂的派对。好啊，我同意，咱们把朋友都叫来，开个rager.

LL: My friend Jack⁵ the DJ has been looking to find some more work. I'm sure he'd be willing to set up his turntables at our rager.

LH: 你是说你那个做职业DJ的朋友Jack吗？太棒了，要真能把他找来，It is bound to be a killer⁶ rager.

LL: I think it should be pretty good. We can have it at my place.

LH: 在你那儿开？你可想好了，那些人一定会把你家搞得一团糟。

LL: Eh, it's fine. I don't have anything nice that can be damaged anyhow.

LH: 你在家大吵大闹地开派对，邻居会不会有意见？

LL: Probably not, there are a lot of young people around here anyhow. I feel like somebody is always throwing a rager on this street.

LH: 太好了，那你说，咱们都请谁？

LL: Well you should tell friends in your classes, and I'll send out a Facebook invitation. Oh, When will we hold our rager?

LH: 这个星期五晚上怎么样？

LL: Mmm, this Friday isn't good. I told my friend Kevin I'd help him fix the bike. How about Saturday?

LH: 星期六好。星期六大家精神头更足。

LL: Exactly, you want people to be high energy if you are going to throw a rager. Do you think a lot of people will come?

LH: 那还用说，I think it will be a huge rager. 你说咱们的派对应该几点开始？

LL: We can say nine o'clock and no one will likely show up until 10:30 at the earliest.

LH: 十点半？那么晚啊？

LL: That tends to be how it goes.

LH: 好，就听你的，拿到这个实习的机会，我真是高兴死了。

LL: Congratulations! You earned it.

今天李华学了两个常用语。一个是brutal意思是很糟糕，很麻烦。另一个是rager指特别疯狂、特别热闹的派对。
 

1 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

2 lame   

adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的

参考例句：

• The lame man needs a stick when he walks.那跛脚男子走路时需借助拐棍。
• I don't believe his story.It'sounds a bit lame.我不信他讲的那一套。他的话听起来有些靠不住。

3 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

4 internship   

n.实习医师，实习医师期

参考例句：

• an internship at a television station 在电视台的实习期
• a summer internship with a small stipend 薪水微薄的暑期实习

5 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

6 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。