美國(guó)之音之流行美語(yǔ)Lesson 130 - tattletale / pushover
Larry和李華今天在公園玩飛盤時(shí)看到一個(gè)人隨地丟垃圾。今天李華會(huì)學(xué)到兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)：tattletale和pushover.
LH: Larry, 你看，那個(gè)人隨地丟垃圾。我們是不是該去告訴站在那邊的警察？
LL: I don't know, Li Hua. I don't really like to be a tattletale. Maybe we should just go and pick up the garbage ourselves.
LH: 我們?yōu)槭裁匆獛退麚焖睦克麘?yīng)該知道這樣是很沒有公德心的。你說你不想當(dāng)個(gè)tattletale。那是什么意思？是不是說我們向警察報(bào)告是不對(duì)的？
LL: A tattletale is someone who runs to tell the person in charge whenever someone else does something wrong. Usually, children call each other tattletales.
LH: 噢，tattletale原來就是愛告狀的人。要是一個(gè)小孩說粗話，他姐姐聽到了就跑去告訴媽媽。這個(gè)小姐姐就算是tattletale嘍？
LL: Exactly. In general, no one likes a tattletale because it seems as though that person is just trying to get attention.
LH: 對(duì)，沒有人喜歡愛告狀的人。他們就是想顯得自己比別人好而已。舉個(gè)例子來說，如果我考試做弊，你去告訴教授。這樣你就是個(gè)tattletale，對(duì)嗎？
LL: Right. You certainly wouldn't be right for cheating on the test, but I wouldn't be a very good friend, either.
LH: 我當(dāng)然不會(huì)在考試的時(shí)候做弊。嗨，那個(gè)扔垃圾的家伙已經(jīng)走了。
LL: Yeah, let's go and put the garbage in the trashcan. It's not right to leave that on the ground.
LH: 對(duì)，把垃圾扔在地上實(shí)在不好。我們?nèi)グ牙鴴饋砣釉诶袄锇?。Larry，你真是個(gè)有公德心的人。不過，我很好奇，你小時(shí)候有沒有告過誰(shuí)的狀呀？
LL: No, but my little sister was an awful tattletale. Every time I did anything she didn't like, she would run and tell our mother.
LH：真有意思，你的小妹妹老愛到你媽那兒去告你的狀。你肯定很頑皮。
LL：Not really. She's just a tattletale.
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LH: 嘿, Larry, 我倒想聽聽，你妹妹經(jīng)常到你媽媽那里告你的狀，你都怎么反應(yīng)??？
LL: I would act really sorry and my mom would forgive me immediately. My mom is a pushover, so she rarely punished me.
LH: 你好耍賴噢！故意裝出很抱歉的樣子，讓你媽媽很快原諒你。哎，對(duì)了，什么是pushover?
LL: A pushover is someone who is easy to convince. It also refers to someone who gives in easily.
LH: 噢，知道了，pushover就是指很容易相信別人，經(jīng)常讓步的人。就像你，假裝認(rèn)錯(cuò)，你媽就不會(huì)處罰你，事情就過去了。對(duì)不對(duì)？
LL: Right. Some people are pushovers because they are really nice and just want to make everyone happy.
LH: 對(duì)，這種人，pushovers，一般心地善良，總想讓大家都高興。我看的出來你就是這種人。
LL: Me? A pushover? You've got to be kidding!
LH: 我才不是開玩笑呢！我記得有一次，我們一起去看電影，你想看的電影和我想看的完全不一樣，結(jié)果我們還是看了我想看的那部電影！
LL: Hey, that's just being a good friend. I don't know if you should call me a pushover for that.
LH: (Laugh) 好啦！Larry, 我說你是pushover完全沒有惡意噢！Pushover是不是有負(fù)面的意思？
LL: Not necessarily. People are usually pushovers when they're with people whom they care about.
LH：沒錯(cuò)，讓步一般都是為自己喜歡的人讓步的。
今天李華學(xué)到兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)。第一個(gè)是tattletale, 就是喜歡告狀的人。另外一個(gè)常用語(yǔ)是pushover，意思是很輕信，或容易讓步的人。
