场景:Monica怀疑钟点工Brenda偷了她的牛仔裤。
对话文本:
Brenda: Mrs. Bing, this tile cleaner is incredible! Where did you get it?
Monica: Oh well umm, I make it myself! It’s two parts ammonia and one part lemon juice. And now the secret ingredient is…y’know what? We just met.
Brenda: Okay. Uhh, I’m gonna go get the clothes from the laundry room now. And, when I come back I’ll clean behind the refrigerator.
Monica: I love her.
Brenda: I’ll be back in a minute.
Monica: Okay.
Chandler: See? I told you.
Monica: She stole my jeans!
Chandler: What?
Monica: I have been looking for them all week and she is wearing them!
Chandler: So she stole your pants and then she came back and wore them in front of you?
Monica: Don’t you see? It’s the perfect crime!
Chandler: She must’ve been planning this for years!
Monica: I will prove it to you! Okay? About a week ago I was wearing those jeans and I dropped a pen in my lap and it left an ink stain on the crotch. Now when she comes back I will find it and show you that stain!
Chandler: Honey, isn’t it possible that the company that sold the jeans made more than just the one pair?
Monica: I guess.
Chandler: So, shouldn’t we give her the benefit of the doubt before we go…snooping around her crotch?
Monica: Fine. I’m just glad I didn’t give her my secret ingredient.
Chandler: Out of curiosity, what is your secret ingredient?
Monica: Yeah!
词汇短语点睛
➤ tile cleaner
指的是“瓷砖清洁剂”,cleaner指人的话就是“清洁工”的意思。
➤ It’s two parts ammonia and one part lemon juice.
Monica告诉Brenda自己的配方是三分之二的氨水和三分之一的柠檬汁。要学会part这个词在句中的用法,例如在国外点餐,服务员如果说果汁可以自由搭配,你就可以根据需要来说,例如一份胡萝卜汁加两份橙汁就是one part carrot juice and two parts orange juice。
➤ ingredient
指的是“原料;配料”,多种配料(ingredients)组成的就是“食谱;配方”(recipe)。
➤ jeans
牛仔裤两条腿所以用复数。jean一般指的是做牛仔装的布料。
➤ stain
指的是“污渍;瑕疵”,也可以表示抽象意义上的“污点”,例如 a stain on his memory(他记忆中一个的污点),stain也可以作动词表示“弄脏;玷污;败坏(名声)”。
➤ lap
指的是(坐着时的)大腿前部,膝盖上。那种便携式电脑;笔记本电脑可以简称为laptop(膝上电脑)。
➤ crotch
指的是“裆部,胯部”,如果要表达“裤子的裤裆太紧,穿着就很不舒服。”就可以说It is very uncomfortable to wear pants tight in the crotch.
➤ out of curiosity
out of…这里的意思是 “出于…”out of curiosity就是“出于好奇”,类似的用法:out of respect出于尊重 / out of pity出于怜悯心 / out of jealousy出于妒嫉心理。另外out of 的意义还可以表达“失去”,例如out of control失控 / out of practice生疏 / out of patience失去耐心。
地道句型活用
➤ Where did you get it?
如果你想问一样东西是哪里买的,就可以用这句话,get在句中就相当于buy,只是用get会更强调买好这个结果。
➤ We just met.
字面意思是“我们刚刚才认识。”对话中Monica表达的是“我们两个人还不太熟”,还不到时候把自己的秘方告诉Brenda。
➤ I’ll be back in a minute.
表达的是“我立马会回来。”
➤ See? I told you.
表达的是“看到吧,我早和你说的。”注意说的时候要带着那种洋洋得意、有先见之明的情绪来说。
➤ Shouldn’t we…
表达的是“难道我们不该…/我们…不是更好吗?”,例如Shouldn’t we check the weather before we go out?(我们出去前先看看天气不是更好吗?)
美国人的洗衣文化
洗衣服的英文既没有“wash”这个单词,也没有“clothes”这个单词,它的英文叫“do laundry”,一般是指用洗衣机洗衣服。在美国也很少有人在屋前院后晾晒衣服,很多州的法律也禁止在户外晾晒衣服。在美国的公寓,通常房间没有配备洗衣机的,所有的租客一般会共用一个很大的Laundry Room(洗衣房)。因为不允许在阳台上晾衣服,所以洗完之后还会放到烘干机里烘干。
动词的过去式——不要死记语法
本课对话中Monica和Brenda说到“I make it myself!”这里用make而不是made,原因是Monica想表达的是一直以来都是自己动手来做这个瓷砖清洁剂,如果用made,给人的感觉就是钟点工Brenda手中的那瓶是Monica制作的。再比如另外两句对话例句:
➤ So she stole your pants and then she came back and wore them in front of you?
➤ About a week ago I was wearing those jeans and I dropped a pen in my lap and it left an ink stain on the crotch.
英美人能熟练运用过去的时态,并不是去死记语法概念和动词变形,而是脑海中出现过去的画面的时候,他们脱口而出的就是过去时态的动词,和中文不太一样,中文的动词不需要变形,往往是靠补充的话来说明动作发生的时间,比如“昨天,他…””吃过了,所以我们在口语练习中要刻意地训练自己培养这种“意识”,而不是死记时态。要学会在头脑中生成相应的图像,然后触发你说出这句话。