Rough Spots

朋友总结他的婚姻时说 “We had a few rough spots." 我们经历过一些低谷／难关。
Rough spot: 难关，低谷，磕磕碰碰。

Crunch Time

上周受邀去朋友的儿子上学的私校，参加家长早餐会，校方的负责人说:"For seniors, it's crunch time now."
crunch time: a critical moment, 关键时候。
现在是报考大学的关键时候，十二年级的学生特别紧张。

Deep Pockets

Home and Garden Show 上有个真人秀的节目叫 House Hunters，客人想在一个好区买房子，地产经纪说：“You need deep pockets to live in this area."  你有钱才住得起这个区。
To have deep pockets = to have a lot of money. 有深口袋，能装很多钱，就是富有。
The lawyers went after him because he has deep pockets.  律师告他，因为他有钱。

More Bang for Your Buck

在网上看顾客对某产品的评价，标题是: More Bang for Your Buck。
You get more bang for your buck: you get more value for your money by buying this product than from buying any other。
也就是说花同样的钱，买该产品更划算,  成本低,  收益大。

Wiggle Room

学校马上要开学了，几个辅导员好不容易把近三千个学生每人的课程排出来了，他们请老师们不要轻易答应学生给他们换课或换老师，因为真的没有什么改动的空间了。There is very little wiggle room.
wiggle: to move up and down or from side to side with small rapid movements. 上下或左右扭摆。常听人说“wiggle your toes”动动你的脚趾。

Eat Someone's Lunch

最近看了一篇有趣的文章，讲的是美国高等院校彼此较量，使出各种招数，吸引家庭富裕而且成绩优秀的学生入读，达到名(prestige)利(revenue)双收的目的。
如果你有本事抢到竞争对手也最想要的学生，或在U.S. News 上的排名超过了对方，你就把他们的午餐抢过来吃了。

If you've snatched up another school's top prospects or leapfrogged it in the U.S. News rankings, you've eaten its lunch.

近年，除了私校，越来越多的公校也雇用专人设法出招，通过如何分配资助 “financial-aid leveraging” 来吸引学生，这些人的衔头是enrollment manager。当然，像哈佛这种顶尖学校, 有钱、申请者又多，他们不需要在这方面费什么劲，不过特别想要的学生，他们还是会给较多钱的。

Go out on a Limb

我听人说过几次 "I am going out on a limb."  请 Cathy 解释这个用法 ，她特意编了以下一个很形象的故事：

A boy and girl were walking hand-in-hand. They saw an apple tree. The girl wanted an apple, so the boy climbed the tree, being careful to step on the thick branches (or “limbs”) nearest to the trunk. He picked an apple for the girl and threw it down to her.

“No,” she said. “I want that apple, there!” And she pointed to an apple way out at the end of a branch.

She was a mischievous girl and wanted to see how much the boy liked her.

The boy liked the girl very much. So he pulled himself out along the branch, out to where the branch was very thin. “See?” he said. “I’m ‘going out on a limb’ for you.”

He reached for the apple that the girl had pointed to. Crack! The branch broke and the boy tumbled to the ground.

“What a dope you are!” laughed the girl.

“To go out on a limb” means to put yourself in a difficult situation (physical, financial, or in regards to one’s reputation), usually for another person or a cause.  等于 “To risk life and limb”，冒失去生命和手脚的危险。意指为别人或某个事业，用自己的人身或名誉，或在经济上冒险。

这里还有个例句：

“Thank you for lending me this money. I realize you are really going out on a limb for me.”

 “Don’t worry. Just try to pay me back before my mortgage payment is due next month!”

"下乡知青" 英文怎么译？

中国文革时的“下乡知青”，英文怎么说呢? 讲到习近平的背景时, 报上这样说:
Xi went to work in the poor northwest Chinese countryside as a "sent-down youth" during the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.

下乡知青 - sent-down youth. 真简单!

Kick Butt 是 “踢屁股” 吗？

女儿考AP 生物前，她老师的电邮鼓励大家说: "Kick butt on the test!"
女儿说 "Kick butt on the test!" = "Do a good job on the test!" （把试考好！） 但我觉得不够传神。
kick butt 怎么译呢？ 网上找到的是  "踢屁股"，哈哈哈！ 我想可以译成 "打个漂亮仗！" 你说呢？

Bag Lady

最近有条新闻说，调查显示美国將近一半的妇女担心沦落为流浪街头者，这些人有过半是单身或离婚者，不过已婚者也占43％。有此隐忧的女士居然有27％的年收入超过20万。According to a new survey, almost half of U. S. women fear becoming bag ladies.
bag lady:  a homeless woman who wanders the streets lugging her meager belongings in a shopping bag.  无家可归、流浪街头的妇女。

Cellphone Cramming

今天报上说现在cellphone cramming 令消费者受害的现象很普遍。很多商家发短信到你的手机，你一不小心点击打开看了，他们就自动当你同意用他们的服务，你的手机公司马上为他们向你收费。有时候，你根本不知道为什么你的账单上出现莫名其妙的收费，原来有欺诈商家在向你收钱呢。你的手机公司是这些骗子的帮凶，因为他们从中有利可图。

cellphone cramming: the practice of placing unauthorized, misleading or deceptive charges on your cellphone bill.  商家未经同意或以骗人的手段在你的手机户口收取费用。

cramming 这里相当于scamming。

Swag

第85届奥斯卡金像奖尘埃落定，当晚入围者和颁奖人都获一个嘉宾赠礼包，价值4万五千美元，里面除了旅游、美容减肥服务，还有针灸和按摩，以及中国的琉璃酒器等好东西。这个赠包叫"swag bag", 大概等于我们平时说的 goodie bag。 swag 在这指免费的赠品。

另外，早两年，孩子们很喜欢用 swag 这个词来形容某某同学穿着时髦，很酷，有自信。 他们就问过我中文怎么说  "He has swag."  最近，突然发现用这个形容词会给人笑话了，原因是滥用了，显得幼稚。他们说现在高中以下的小孩子才讲“swag”.

Fresh Eyes

那天开会，有同事建议让新的人去别的学校观摩 "This time, we should send people who have not been there before.  We need fresh eyes to see what they are doing that is working."
A fresh pair of eyes:  another pair of eyes，直译 “一双新眼睛”，意指再找一个新人来看，通常会有不同的发现或好建议。
有些提供校对或编辑服务的网站就取名于"Free Eyes", 很贴切。

crack

现在的中学生升学的压力不小，承受不了，就会失控崩溃，昨天听人说 “ I know a student who cracked.  She had to withdraw from school to take a break." 
crack: have a breakdown, 失控，精神崩溃。

bittersweet

有个同事最近转到别的学区工作，临别前给大家的电邮说离职的决定"was not an easy one and is very bittersweet."  bittersweet 的感觉是既难过又高兴。

”闪婚“ 英文怎么说？

在网上看到"闪婚"这个词以后，一直想英文会怎么说呢。网上几个地方把它译成"flash marriage"，觉得太不像英文了，问了Cathy，她也说不行。看来只能以动词来译 － to get married hastily, to get married on the spur of the moment.  说起来比较长，也不如中文生动，但意思在，老外也看得懂。
找到一个跟"闪"比较接近的字 "whirlwind"， 但一般跟"romance" 或 "courtship" 连用，whirlwind romance 就是闪电式恋爱。

Niceties是什么意思？

最近看到一篇有趣的报道，讲的是专业大提琴演奏家们目前的困扰，经常需要飞到各地表演的提琴手们为了避免贵重的乐器托运时受损，往往得买一张机票给宝贝琴坐在自己的旁边。有些航空公司跟这些乘客说不能以乐器的名义累计里程积分，也不能用自己的积分为乐器购买机票。看来虽然这些大提琴可以价值过百万以 上，但是还是低人一等啊。现在经济不景气，航空公司能省就省，不再给乘客提供好处 － Airlines now cut corners and withhold niceties.

niceties - accuracy and precision; fine or subtle details; elegant, delicate, or civilized features.  在这可译成"人们喜欢的好处"。

 

作为例子，Cathy 还用 niceties 写了以下的句子:

 

"The restaurant provides all the niceties that their well-to-do customers expect: valet parking, champagne on ice, classical music playing in the background."

 

"Her fiance provides her with all the niceties of romance: flowers, candy, love letters.... We'll see how he behaves once they're married!"

Tongue-in-Cheek 是什么？

好几次听到 "tongue-in-cheek" 这个说法，不太明白，请 Cathy写了这个贴。

Wife: “Do these pants make me look fat?”
Husband:  “Not at all!  In fact, they take about 20 – no, I'd say 30 pounds off you. In fact, they make you look like you need to eat more pizza and ice cream. ”
Wife: “Please – no more tongue-in-cheek humor.  Just tell me the truth. ”

When a person is being “tongue-in-cheek,” he is lying in a joking way.  He pretends to be serious but keeps saying things that are more and more difficult to believe. Meanwhile, he pretends to be very serious. He is really laughing at you, and it's hard for him not to smile, so he grimaces, bites his lip, or sticks his tongue in his cheek in order to stop himself from smiling.

Usually, tongue-in-cheek humor is gentle. The person who is tongue-in-cheek does not want to hurt your feelings or offend you.

当一个人开玩笑时，他装着一本正经的样子，越说越让听者难以置信，他本人好不容易忍住不笑，把舌头都顶到脸颊了，所以说 "tongue-in-cheek"。

Tongue-in-cheek 幽默一般不苛刻, 讲 tongue-in-cheek 的话的人不会伤害你的感情，也不会得罪你。

普洱茶农改种咖啡豆

新闻说国内普洱茶农改种咖啡豆，因为种咖啡的利润可能比种茶高，中国种植的约6万吨咖啡几乎都来自云南。咖啡的需求日增，主要是越来越多的年轻人喜欢喝，喝星巴克咖啡是城里人身份的象征。Demand grows as Starbucks signifies status for urban elite.
 urban elite - 城市精英。