英语博客-北美风情 180、To bite the dust

  This is a fun episode about slang for to die! Of course, all these slang terms for dying are not meant to be used about anyone or anything we really care about, because that would be disrespectful. But people do use these terms to talk about things or strangers, and these expressions are very commonly used in films and on TV. So, don’t take it seriously and enjoy learning about these funny expressions with us.

　　Maura:We’re not going to make this a serious episode, because all of these expressions about dying are not to be used in any serious circumstance. You would never use these expressions if you were talking about a real person actually dying.

　　Harp:Yes. These are expressions if a thing dies or if someone dies who you don’t know or you’re not close to.

　　Maura:Right. So what we mean by that is someone who dies in the news that you don’t know at all or a person that dies in a movie or a book, someone that’s not really real. Anyone who is actually dying in real life, in the life of a friend or someone you know, these expressions are completely inappropriate.

　　Harp:Yes.

　　Maura:But the reason we decided¹ to do an episode anyways, because there are so many expressions that mean to die.

　　Harp:Yeah, and there are fun expressions that you can hear out on the streets.

　　Maura:Yes. They’re funny, they’re not serious, and they’re not used in any serious way.

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adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。