又中又英—Winging It or Improvising

作者：Alice的学习笔记

原文

Most politicians avoid winging it. Some, who are confident enough, sometimes wing it. Last year, I was among several people invited to hand out awards to winners of a documentary competition by university students from all over the world. When it was my turn to be on stage to present an award to a winner, I winged it. I botched it up! The expression "wing it" used this way means to speak or do something without preparation. A similar word for "wing it" is "improvise". The word "botch" means to do something badly or carelessly.

I rarely prepare or read out speeches or remarks when I am invited to events where I have to give a speech. I just have a few talking points, which means to write down a few points you want to make in your speech. I rarely accept invitations to speak except for events Icare about or am interested in. Events that involve young people who care about critical thinking interest me the most. I fully support critical thinking. It is something I hope young Hong Kong people will continue to do despite changes in the education system. I am usually quite good at winging it or improvising. But I botched up at the university award ceremony.

I didn't botch up that badly. But I compared myself to others invited to hand out prizes. Many did better with their speeches or remarks. I was reminded of the expression "wing it" when I heard it on an episode of the Netflix drama series DesignatedSurvivor. I enjoyed the first two seasons. I stayed up late watching episode after episode. But the plot (storyline) in the third and final season is wearing thin. The expression "wearing thin" has several meanings. For example, if you no longer have the patience to listen to unfunny jokes, you can say the jokes are wearing thin. But if a plot of a TV series gets boring, you can also say it's wearing thin.

单词、短语

• wing it
  临时凑成，即席而为，即兴，英文解释为：to do something without planning or preparing it。
     I hadn't had time to prepare for the talk, so I just had to wing it.
     我没时间准备发言，所以只好即兴发挥。
     We'll just have to wing it.
     我们就只好临时应付一下。

有一个很有意思的短语：waiting in the wings，中文翻译成万事俱备，伺机而动。英文解释为：If you say that someone is waiting in the wings, you mean that they are ready and waiting for an opportunity to take action.
      Other firms are waiting in the wings, ready to step in and make an offer should the current deal fall through.
      其他公司都在伺机而动，一旦目前的这笔交易谈不成，他们随时准备插进来报盘。
      Several junior managers are waiting in the wings for promotion.
      几位低层经理正等着晋升。

• hand out
  表示分发，散发
     One of my jobs was to hand out the prizes...
     我的职责之一是分发奖品。

• botch
  1）作动词表示把…搞糟，笨手笨脚地做，英文解释为：If you botch something that you are doing, you do it badly or clumsily。短语botch up同义。
     It is a silly idea and he has botched it.
     这是个愚蠢的想法，他已经把事情弄糟了。
  2）作名词表示拙劣的活。
     I've just made an awful botch of my translation.
     我译得一塌糊涂。

• improvise
  即兴，临时做。
     ...an improvised stone shelter.
     一处临时搭起的石头庇护所

• read out
  大声读出，朗读。

• remind sb of sth
  使某人想起……，使记起。

• wear thin
  ……变得索然无味；不耐烦,（因出现太多而）失去吸引力（或趣味），不再有效。
     The film begins well but the joke wears thin after about ten minutes.
     电影开始时很有意思，不过十分钟左右以后就索然无味了。
     My patience is wearing thin.
     我的耐心告罄。（变得不耐烦）
     Her standard excuse for being late was beginning to wear thin.
     她迟到时常用的借口已经开始不太管用了。

翻译

大部份政客都会避免即兴发言（winging it）；有一些很有自信的，有时也会即兴发挥（wing it）一下。去年，一个由全球大学生竞逐的纪录片大赛，我是几位受邀颁奖予得奖者的嘉宾之一。当轮到我去上台颁奖给胜出者时，我便临场即兴发言（winged it），可我搞糟了（botched it up）！习语“wingit”在里是指在毫无准备之下临场发言或即兴做某事。跟“wing it”相似的字是“improvise”。Botch则是指拙劣、笨拙地做某事，弄得一团糟。

当我受邀出席要发表演说的场合时，我很少会预备又或朗声读出讲稿。我只会有几点talking points，即写下你发言时想说的几个要点。要发言的场合我很少答允邀请，除非是我关心或感兴趣的活动。要是那些活动有关注批判思考的年轻人参与其中，我就最感兴趣。我完全支持批判思考，这是我希望香港年轻人持续去做的，不管教育制度如何改变。我通常在临场即兴（winging it 或 improvising）发言上表现不错，但我却在那个大学颁奖礼上弄糟（botched up）了。

其实我也不是表现得那么拙劣（botch up），只是我拿自己跟其他受邀颁奖的人比较，许多人发言时说得更好。我是看Netflix剧集《指定幸存者》的一集，听到有人用“wing it”时才想起这个习语的。我喜欢看它的首两季，晚上熬夜追看完一集又一集。可是到了第三季和最后一季时，剧情（plot）则变得wearing thin。习语“wearing thin”有几个意思，譬如，若你已经没有耐性去听那些不好笑的笑话，你便可以说the jokes are wearing thin——那些笑话已经失去趣味、没有甚么意思了。但若是一出电视剧的剧情开始变得沉闷没趣，你也可以说it's wearing thin。

原文作者：Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
中文翻译：七刻

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