【英语早间课堂】话说地道美语 Lesson 23(2)之五

【课堂详说】

第七、我们可以说be a back seat driver. It is an interesting slang¹. In English, it means "a passenger in a vehicle who keeps giving advice to the driver how he or she should drive". 中文意思是对驾驶者指手画脚的乘客。后面引申为“a person who wants to be in control of sth that is not really their responsibility”的意思，中文意思是企图越权者，（不关他的事而）指手画脚指挥操纵他人的人；干涉与自己职责无关事情的人。

下面我们通过一个对话来熟悉这个习语的意思。

A: How many cleaning ladies does your company hire?

A：你们公司雇了多少清洁女工？

注解：cleaning ladies 清洁女工 cleaning是现在分词做前置定语。

B: We have two cleaning ladies.But both of them have received little education.

B：雇了两个。但她们都没受过多少教育。

注解：receive little education 文化低，没受什么教育 well-educated 文化高的，受教育层级高的A: Most cleaning ladies are illiterate². But some of them do a very nice job.

A：多数清洁工都没文化。但有些人工作做得很不错。

注解：Illiterate [i'lit?r?t] 意思是文盲的，无知的，不识字的，没有受教育的。Do a nice job意思是干某事干得非常好。例如：I give you my word that he will do a nice job. 我担保他的工作一定会干得很出色。（注解： give sb one's word 保证，担保）B: But I actually dislike another lady. She is more capable and seems to have ideas of her own. But the trouble is she is a backseat driver with some of us. She would tell you what to do and where to put things.

B：但我确实不喜欢另一个清洁工。她很能干，似乎也有自己的想法，可她就爱对我们指手划脚，总受告诉我们该做些什么，东西该放哪儿。

注解1：短语：be a backseat driver with sb 对......指手画脚 have ideas of one's own 有自己的主见，有自己的见解、思想、想法注解2： Capable是“有能力的”的意思。它的用法是be capable of sth，意思是有能力的，有......才能的，能胜任......例如：Show your teacher what you are capable of. 向你的老师表现出你的才能。She's most capable of leadership. 她极富有领导才能。这个短语还有“有.....可能”的意思。例如：A man driven by jealousy³ is capable of anything. 嫉妒心可使人什么都做得出来。He is capable of great villainies. ['vil?ni] 他有可能干出极坏的事情。

好，亲爱的朋友们，我们本次航班还未抵达目的地。下面是乘务员为您倒果汁，发面包，发蛋糕，就餐的时间了。我们下回再学习与get one's case意思相近的表述法。在就餐完后，不妨考虑一下用今天所讲的语言点如何翻译下面的9个句子。句子比较多，但是做得多，收获就多，印象就要深刻，运用就自如。No pains , no gains. （一分耕耘，一份收获。）祝您用餐愉快！See you later! (to be continued)

 

转自可可英语

1 slang   

n.俚语，行话；vt.使用俚语，辱骂；vi.辱骂

参考例句：

• The phrase is labelled as slang in the dictionary.这个短语在这本字典里被注为俚语。
• Slang often goes in and out of fashion quickly.俚语往往很快风行起来又很快不再风行了。

2 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。

3 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。