纽约英语口语网新版
流行美语
第 98 课:what's her face ; thingamajig

Li Hua正在往图书馆走,突然,Larry把她叫住了。 Li Hua在今天的谈话中会学到两个常用语:what's her face和thingamajig。

LL: Hey, Li Hua. One of your classmates asked me to give you this envelope.

LH: 我的同学要你给我这个信封?哪个同学呀?

LL: Oh, it was... what's-her-face, you know, the tall girl with red hair.

LH: 高个子、红头发的女孩儿?你还说什么- What's her face? 哎,Face不是“脸”吗?

LL: I said what's-her-face instead of her name because I couldn't remember her name. I guess it means I can remember her face, but not her name.

LH: 噢,你不记得她的名字,但是你记得她的脸长的是什么样子,所以你说what's her face, 也就相当于what's her name 。Hm,Larry, 你这么说是不是不太礼貌呢?

LL: Well, it's not really rude, but it's very informal. You shouldn't call someone what's-her-face if she is nearby... in that case, you should just ask her what her name is.

LH: 哎哟,幸亏你告诉我, 尽管what's-her-face是很随便的说法,但是也不应该当着那个人的面这么说。要是这个人就在你身边,那么我就应该直接问她叫什么名字。哎,对了,Larry, 刚才你是说what's her face, 要是男孩子的话,那应该怎么说呢?

LL: You would say what's-his-face.

LH: 噢,要是男生,但是又记不起他的名字,那也可以说what's his face。我想起来了,那个高个红头发的女孩是Julia。我和Jenny向她借了上星期四的笔记,因为那天我俩没去上课。这个信封里肯定是她的笔记。

LL: That's right - You missed a class last Thursday. Hey wait, if you needed notes, why didn't you just ask me?

LH: 但是我们觉得 - what's-her-face... um, Julia... 她肯定比你记得好。

LL: Well, come to think of it - If I were what's-her-face, er... I mean Jenny, I wouldn't want my notes either.

LH: 哎,Larry, 你手里拿的是什么东西呀?

LL: This thing in my hand? Oh, it's the thingamajig I use to measure the air pressure in my car's tires.

LH: 什么?Thin-ga-ma-jig - 这名字听起来很好玩儿。

LL: No no, that's not the real name of this thing. We use thingamajig, to replace the name of an object when we don't know or can't remember its real name.

LH: 噢,Thingamajig不是这个东西的名字。那要是不知道,或是忘了一样东西的名称,我们就可以用这个thingamajig来代替。哎,那不就是像我们中文里说的“那玩意儿”吗?是不是?

LL: That's right. Actually, I think the thing in my hand is called a tire pressure gauge. Tom asked me to help him check the air pressure of his car's tires.

LH: 原来你手里拿的这个thingamajig是用来测量汽车轮胎压力的。你要帮Tom来测测他的车子轮胎啊 ?哎哟,Larry, 看来你对车子还挺懂的嘛!

LL: Hey, I never said I'm good with cars. To me, everything under the hood of my car is just a bunch of thingamajigs.

LH: 汽车引擎盖下面的东西你是一窍不通啊?我才不信。噢,说到修车,我这辆自行车的手闸最近不太灵,你帮我看看好不好?

LL: Let me see. I think you just need to oil these thingamajigs on your handlebars here.

LH: 自行车把手上的这些零件该上油啊?你肯定吗?

LL: Well, if you don't believe me, you can ask what's-his-face, Jenny's boyfriend, the tall Indian guy - He can fix bikes.

LH: 那个高个子的印度人,Jenny的男朋友?你是说Rick吧!他会修自行车?那我可要去问问Jenny了!

今天李华从Larry那儿学到两个常用语。一个是what's her face, 也可以说what's his face。意思是“那个叫什么什么的人”。李华学到的另一个常用语是thingamajig, 就相当于中文里所说的“那个玩意儿”。