大家可能还记得Michael 这个美国学生以往几次考试都考糟了,这一次情况可大不相同。今天他和他的中国同学李华约好了在图书馆见面。李华会学到两个常用语,一个是:to ace;另一个是:peanuts。; J! H# \! L) ^5 p
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L: 嗨, Michael,今天考得怎么样?$ T! g! N) S) C1 T. w; l. ^
' j5 m" |. t2 t7 W) m" iM: Not bad! I aced today's history test!0 X: [+ V8 P+ z
$ r4 k; ]' k5 `6 DL: 你历史测验又考糟啦?那你还那么高兴! 2 o) g; {/ q+ F: F2 @' ]0 z9 j) i4 c ^
M: No, Li Hua, I didn't bomb my test. I said "I aced the test". I did very well on it! r5 R: [; ~, ~5 }& Y8 g + h3 A/ j, t, P# k: DL: 你考得很好,那太好了,Michael!最近你每天都到图书馆来念书, 我知道你会考得比以前好的。你刚才用的是哪个字啊?2 V( p* d& L+ T1 g7 d7 N5 j; a9 p; n
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M: Ace. Here, ace is a verb, and you can add a "d" to make it past tense.5 ]7 z4 d _+ G
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L: 噢,在这里,ace是个动词,过去时就是在后面加一个字母 "d",变成 了aced。这个字是不是和扑克牌里的那张牌A,或者叫"尖子"的那 张牌一样的呢? $ F4 k! w8 ?9 |2 e' f$ `+ q : v9 ?/ m M# b; g% b- u/ V" v& pM: That's right. The "ace" card is usually the highest value in a card game. Therefore, "ace" means to do well. 9 m# w+ i# c' x0 {" p1 j ) O0 y% y& J0 [& t: YL: 对,在玩扑克的时候ace往往是价值最高的一张牌,所以ace就是 指某件事做的很好。那ace作为动词还能用在什么场合呢?( ^* c5 T# J) ]& y
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M: Usually we can use "ace" to describe how we did on a test, or on things similar to tests. For example, I can say I aced my last job interview. ' N4 K- ~' U, N$ d 6 q$ P! u& F1 f* V) |7 a. `L: 噢,一般都用在和测验考试之类的情况,你上次找工作去面谈谈 得很好也能用"ace" 这个词。再说一遍你刚才说的那句话,好 吗? 2 Z( b' O7 c8 b( _- \* K $ I" o, I+ n/ E) v; g" A4 [2 vM: I aced my last job interview. 8 f9 g( Y( q" Q) D( K/ O: w 8 o' z+ o2 w. f. d6 K- B& } y+ m1 oL: 你大概回答问题答得很好,所以老板就要你了。 - v- @5 p% M6 d9 _: l6 p7 Q% z& c' @; d8 I ^- U
M: That's right. Li Hua, if someone is very good at something, we can call him an "ace". I can say, for example, you are an ace at taking tests.2 s, R: X' o" @4 N1 Q# Z3 S
! i6 c- V3 i. \ V; z, YL: I'm an ace at taking tests, 你说我非常会考试!这也不见得,我考糊 的时候也有的。不过,比你少一点就是了。$ @0 ~; H7 S/ i/ V$ ~
) M3 w: B' g' i R5 gL: Michael, 借我$.75 买杯咖啡好吗?. n0 z) E' o+ R0 `. R2 i
2 r! V( u7 D% k9 q6 s: kM: Well, okay. Li Hua, how much money do you earn as a teaching assistant, if you don't mind my asking?4 X5 }% S v# p& S: ^
- G' U g( ]* E1 N0 DL: 你当然不在意你问我赚多少钱。 当助教的工资很低,才8美元一 小时。 6 O4 c: @( P h) T& z ]' t1 b# C( q! s( p
M: Eight dollars? That's peanuts! $ ^! G$ e# X( J0 E+ c 2 }8 q o6 D$ @/ {( P4 ~: D y0 \L: Peanuts? Peanuts不是花生吗?你是什么意思呀? 6 c4 c1 t. Q A; H& t, g6 \8 E3 b8 [
M: That's really not much! You only make eight dollars an hour? Your wages are very low, so I said that's "peanuts"! q- \: o3 V5 e