全网最酷美语怎么说:第30期 纠结

 　　Nick: Hi everybody, this is Nick. Welcome to teaching series "how do you say this in American English."大家好，我是Nick.

　　Brad: 大家好，我是Brad

　　Nick: 今天我们来学一个词，叫做纠结。纠结应该怎么说？纠结一般是用在有很多options，有很多选项的时候，你不知道选哪一个。这时候内心的想法就是很纠结。

　　Nick: I went to a shopping mall yesterday. I wanted to buy a wallet for my dad. I love my dad. I wanted to buy one for him. So I saw two wallets, one was like rectangular one. And the other one was a square one. Both of them were pretty good. So I was swaying between the two.

　　Brad: Yeah I could see how could be like weighing the options between having a longer wallet where you can fit more stuff in it versus² a square wallet where although looks nicer but you can't hold as much stuff in it. I can see why you'd be on the fence about that.

　　Nick: On the fence? What do you mean? Is it something about the fence?

　　Brad: You are not literally³ on a fence. It is used as the same thing as "weighing between the options" or "swaying between the options". You are in between two different things. For instance, as a Chinese international student, you could be on the fence whether or not if you wanna stay studying in China, or if you wanna hop¹ on the other side of the fences and study in the United States.

　　Nick: So it's like the fence and then it divides it into two parts

　　Brad: It doesn't have to be places. It could just between two options. You are on the fence…

　　Nick: It's a metaphor⁴.

　　Brad: Yeah it's a metaphor

　　Nick: Some of them they wanted to go the United States and study something but some of them, the wanted to stay in China

　　Brad: Yeah I could see China, I'm sure, is more familiar for them. It'll be more familiar for me to stay in America. Let's say may be they wanna see the other twenty percent of Americans probably fat. People have drugs. But if they wanna see the other eighty percent who are .

　　Nick: They are not fat…

　　Nick: 刚刚呢我们就是说，纠结，你可以说是weighing among the options.就是说在不同的选项之中纠结。或者是说像我刚刚说的，swaying among the options,也是一样的，就是说在选项中纠结。或者是on the fence, 它不是说actual的一个东西，不是实际的一个篱笆活着一个桩之类的，它一样也是指纠结的意思。你不知道选哪个，好像站在篱笆上，左右都可以去，不知道去哪边。大概就是这个意思。So this is pretty much for this time, I'll see you guys next time, bye.

　　Brad: 再见

1 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

2 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

3 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

4 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。