Monday, August 30, 2010

My Brain Is Fried!

今天才第一天开学,有个学生已经跟我说: "Can you please not make us work?  My brain is already fried."  What?!  唉 ...

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Did they have tails?


昨天学校开教职工大会,他们表扬了劳苦功高的辅导员们-"The counselors have worked their tails off and had 2400 students registered in the past 2 weeks."  哈哈哈,Didn't know they had tails!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Play it by ear


最近要还几本书给朋友,顺便约他吃个中饭,email 回来说不知有没有空,因为 "It's going to be a wild week." 建议 "Can you come by around lunch time and can we play it by ear?"
每次听到 play it by ear, 总是有点纳闷,又一直没去查看来源,你知道为什么说 play it by ear 吗?

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Force of Habit

今天见到我十几年前的学生Danny,讲到他妹妹去印度玩时,生病住院了,原因是吃了没煮开的自来水泡的cereal。事先大家没有提醒她吗?有!她忘了。Danny 说是 "Force of habit."
说到习惯成自然,这次暑假回国,每次听到有人打喷嚏,我都说 "Bless you!" 结果总听不到对方回一句 "Thank you!"  哈!这个假洋鬼子在嚷什么?
又讲到自来水,一起带队回国的老外老师问了我好几次 "Do you think it's safe to rinse your mouth with tap water?" hmn, 要不要吓唬她一下? ....  :)

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Bitch

今天到学校去准备开学,听到同事跟她的好朋友说:“Tell me why you have been such a bitch all day today." Ha ... 我笑道: "I've been trying to find a good Chinese translation for ‘bitch’."
几天前在网上看了Julie & Julia,觉得其中bitch的中文翻译得不大好,你说bitch中文是什么?

Monday, August 23, 2010

Tiger's Kids

Tiger Woods 和他太太正式宣布离婚了,他们发表的声明中有这句话:"While we are no longer married, we are the parents of two wonderful children and their happiness has been, and will always be, of paramount importance to both of us." 真希望他们能把子女的幸福和利益放在首位,我看到不少离异的父母就做不到,伤害了孩子。

Sunday, August 22, 2010

The Big One

我们住南加的人常问:"When is the big one going to hit?"
昨天报上有新的研究报道,San Andreas 地震带这个巨人 "is ready to tremble".  最新的研究结果发现过去600年来每几十年,顶多100年就得震一次,上次大震距今已150年,所以看来要备震了。想想得再搞清楚煤气的总开关在哪儿,家里该存些饮用水和罐头,还有我们这些在家喜欢赤脚的,在床头放双硬底鞋也重要。希望不要在孩子们上学时震吧!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Chick Flicks

今天很开心,学了一个新词:chick flick.  讲到电影,我不喜欢恐怖片、打斗片、战争片和胡闹片,就爱看 chick flicks - 女性喜欢看的文艺片。也搞不清楚老美为什么叫女生 chick, 我们中国人女同胞特别觉得讨厌吧?! 鸡 ... 唉

大家怎么不来留言啊?只要在Google开个户口就行了,不一定要有gmail的。我在这唱独台戏多没意思。

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Awesome!

美军终于从伊拉克撤军了,被问及感觉如何时,一位军官说 “It's going to be awesome!" 真替他们和他们的家人高兴。喜欢awesome这个字,响亮、有力!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

ID

那天银行打电话来,说我先前丢进筒里的存款没法进账,我得进去一趟,他说:"We need to ID you."  ID 做动词,好用!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

101 不是台北的高楼

人们有时会用 "... (名词)+ 101" 这个词组,比如:You need to take "dating 101".  That's something you should have learned in "home improvement 101".   101 是指什么?

Monday, August 16, 2010

Size Him Up




最近正在看一本回忆录,男主角是电视台的节目主持人,他以前每到一个新的电视台上班,people always sized him up,因为他长得帅,大家都以为他没有本事,靠长相吃饭。Size someone up 是什么意思?

Friday, August 13, 2010

High Note 是高调吗?

今天的新闻说GM的总裁Edward Whitacre Jr. 宣布将于月底离职,本来已经退休的Whitacre去年进入面临破产的GM,一年间令其转亏为盈,他说现在是时候离开了,因为 “it was my public duty to restore this company to greatness and I didn't want to stay a day beyond that." 报上用的句子是 “Whitacre will be leaving on a high note." High note 这里是指 “高调” 吗?“leave/exit on a high note" 是什么意思? to leave/exit on a high note 就是功成身退,high note 在这里指事业的高峰。

Woo 也是个动词

这里有不少姓 Woo 的人,十几年前竞选洛杉矶市长失败的华裔叫 Michael Woo.  今天报上看到的Woo 是动词 -News Corp. tries to woo young readers.  News Group plans digital newspaper.  Woo 看起来、听起来都很生动,该怎么译呢?

Thursday, August 12, 2010

慢走- Don't go yet?

在一家火锅热店,学生们看了这个牌子,都不解地问我 "Why goodbye, then don't go yet?  What do they mean?"  你说慢走该怎么译?

Check this out!

在吉林夏令营时,有机会到广场学秧歌舞,一开始是当地“舞林”高手以庞大阵容出场,热闹得很,同行的带队老师Jeanette情不自禁地连声道:"Check this out!  Check this out!"  Check this out 该怎么译?

How far will a hundred yuan go?是什么意思?

最近带学生回国参加夏令营,有学生问导游:“How far will a hundred yuan go?” 你说他的问题是什么意思?