流行美语 第4课:broke; lame Michael和李华这两个大学生今天在 纽约的百老汇逛马路。那里戏院很多。李华看到一个 剧院在演歌 舞剧[音乐之声],于是她苦苦哀求Michael陪她去看。Michael 在学中 文。他喜欢李华跟他讲中文,可以让他练习听力。他在今天的对话 里会用到"broke"和“lame"这两个词。
L: Michael,你看,这个剧院在演[音乐之声]!我一直想看这个歌舞剧。
M: I know, it's a popular show.
L: 谁都喜欢[音乐之声]。Michael,今天晚上我们没有功课,我们去看,好吗?
M: Sorry, Li Hua, I'm broke. Maybe another time.
L: Broke? 你受伤啦?
M: No, no, no! I did not break anything. Here broke means to have no money.
L: 噢,你没有摔断骨头,把我吓一跳。Broke在这里的意思是没有 钱。上回我妈妈出了车祸,花了好多钱修车,她就没钱了。 这也可以说 ...
M: Yes, your mom was broke!
L: 我哥哥付了学费,还买了好多书,他现在也是没钱了。
M: Your brother is now broke! I know your sister spent all her money to buy a computer, so she is now broke too.
L: 你怎么知道我姐姐买了一台电脑,把所有的钱都花完了?
M: You told me yourself, you just forgot!
L: 我告诉过你?我真是忘了。可是我不信你没有钱,你不是刚开始 给一个公司打工,前几天还发了工资吗?
M: Ok, ok, I'm not broke. We can go see the show.
L: 我知道你有钱!太好了,太好了,谢谢你Michael。
L: 这两个座位还挺好的。
M: Yea, pretty good. Li Hua, do you know why I didn't want to come to the show? Because I think musicals are lame.
L: Lame? Lame 是什么意思呀?
M: When you say something is lame you mean that it is silly or it is uninteresting.
L: 噢,说什么东西 lame 就是说没有意思,无聊。还有什么事情你 觉得是无聊的?
M: Saturday morning classes are lame!
L: 你是说星期六早上上课是个馊主意?
M: Yes, having class on a weekend is lame because it's a silly idea.
L: 对,我也同意,周末上课太没劲了!谁出的这个主意,是够傻的。
对了,Michael, 上回你交不出家庭作业也找了个很牵强的借口, 你当时是怎么对教授说的?
M: I told our professor that my dog ate my homework. Yes, I agree, that was a lame excuse.
L: 对了,你对教授说你的狗把你的家庭作业给吃了。谁都不会相信 你这种话。那你刚才不想来看歌舞剧,借口说没钱,那也是 lame excuse?
M: Yes, it was an inadequate excuse because I do have money.
L: 我知道你有钱,只是为了不想看歌舞剧而找个借口才说没钱的。
M: You can also say...
L: 行了,行了,我懂了。别说话了,演出开始了。
M: Ok, but don't give me any lame excuses next time I want to do something!
L: 下回不管你要干什么,我绝对不会用这种牵强的借口。
M: Seriously, after buying these tickets I really am broke!
L: 买了这两张票,你真的没钱啦? 得, 下回我请客。
Michael 和李华在今天的对话里用了broke这个词, broke在这里的意 思是没有钱了。他们还用了一个词:lame, 意思是无聊,没有 意思,或者是不合适的。