流行美語第116課
流行美語第116課
Larry和李華兩人正在做菜，準備一會兒帶到朋友家參加party。今天李華會學到兩個常用語：to blow it和to wing it.
(Cooking sounds)
LH: Larry, 那是什麼味道？(sniffing) .........哎呀，糟了！是豬排烤焦了啦！
LL: What? Oh no! I ruined them. They're stuck to the bottom of the pot. I blew it!
LH: 你在說什麼啊！你是把豬排烤焦了，又沒有吹壞什麼東西！你怎麼說blow it呢?
LL: When I said "I blew it", I meant that I ruined the whole dish. To "blow it" means to make a mistake that leads to total failure, or ruins a good opportunity.
LH: 噢，原來blow it是指犯了錯，把事情搞砸了，或者錯過了一個大好機會。你啊！還真是把這道豬排給搞砸了。這樣吧！給你個將功補過的機會，再給我舉個blow it的例子吧！
LL: Well, the other day I was playing pool with Jack. I was just two shots away from winning, but then I blew it: I sunk the eight ball and lost.
LH: 哈哈！ 你玩檯球輸給Jack ! 八成是你太有自信，所以才會在最後關頭輸掉。
LL: And last week, I finally got a date with that girl from my international relations class, but I blew it. I took a nap, overslept, and showed up at her place an hour and a half late.
LH: 哎, Larry, 你幾星期來一直要約那個女孩出去玩。終於約到了，怎麼會睡過頭，還遲到一個半小時的呢！我看你啊！你真是砸了這個好機會。
LL: Yeah, well, it wasn't as bad as when you had that job opportunity last week and blew it!
LH: 喲，你說到我頭上來啦！我沒有拿到那分工作又不是我的錯！我怎麼知道他們在我的電話裏留了言。
LL: That's because you forgot to check it. That was a really good job, too, and you blew it!
LH: 我沒有聽電話留言。就算是我blew it。
******
LH: 哎，Larry, 現在可怎麼辦？我們一個小時後就得到Jane的家裏，可是我們一道菜也沒做好！
LL: Well, we'll just have to wing it.
LH: Wings? 你是說雞翅膀？可是我們已經沒有時間到店裏去買了啊!
LL: No, no, Li Hua, I said we have to wing it. That means, we'll have to do the best we can with limited time and resources
LH: 噢，原來to wing it是說在有限的時間和條件下儘量拼湊。好吧！那你有什麼好辦法？
LL: Let me see, what do you have in the fridge? (sound of fridge opening) Hmm, there's some tofu in here, and some green onions. And there's all these jars of weird Chinese sauces. Maybe we can wing it by making some kind of tofu dish.
LH: 嗯，讓我看看.......！對了！這兒有豆腐，有蔥，還有...讓我看這瓶子裏是什麼...噢，四川辣醬！ 得了，我們可以做麻辣豆腐，這道菜又快又容易，只要把豆腐切塊，再切些青蔥，半個小時就可以完工咯！
LL: O.K., let's get to work. (sound of sink/cooking sounds). This is a great idea. People will love it, and no one will even notice that we're winging it.
LH: 沒人會看出我們是臨時湊出這道菜的。所以Larry, to wing it是不是只能用在臨時把東西放在一塊兒，就像做菜？
LL: Not always. For instance, when I covered for Jack and taught his history 101 students last week, I didn't have time to prepare for the class, so I just winged it.
LH: 你替Jack上課，可是事前沒有時間備課。咦？那你是怎麼臨時備好課的呢？
LL: I read the reading assignment just an hour before class began. The students knew I was winging it, but they were very understanding.
LH: 上課前一小時看看指定閱讀些什麼材料你就去上課啦！那學生當然知道你是在湊合咯！
LL：Li Hua, pay attention to your cooking, don't blow it this time!
LH: 你放心，你沒看見我老守在爐子邊嗎！ 我絕不會blow it ！
今天李華學到的兩個常用語，一個是to blow it，意思是把事情搞砸了，或者是錯過一個大好機會。另一個常用語是to wing it，是指在有限的時間和條件下，臨時拼湊完成一件工作。