纽约英语口语网新版
美国习惯用语
Lesson 66 - BALONEY / KICKBACK

有些人很善于说谎,或者是在形容某些事物的时候夸大其词。下面我们给大家介绍一个美国人在这方面常用的俗语: baloney。人们用baloney这个字来形容某些人说的话一钱不值。比如说,有一个叫琼斯的人向老板提出要求加工资。老板说了些好听的话就把他打发走了。回到家里,当琼斯太太问起这件事时,琼斯说:

例句-1: Honey, the old man told me what a great job I'm doing and how I am so valuable to the company. But he said the company isn't making enough money right now to give anybody a raise, he thinks he may be able to do something about it a year from now. But I'm afraid all he gave me was a lot of baloney.

琼斯对他太太说:"亲爱的,那老头说我工作做得如何好,我对公司来说又是如何重要。但是,他说,当前公司没有足够的收入来给每个人加工资。他说明年他也许能想办法给我加工资。不过,他说的那些话恐怕多半都是空话。"

政客们在竞选的时候经常会遭到对方的攻击,他们也经常用baloney这个字来回击对方。例如,一个参加竞选的议员看到对方在电视和报纸上指责他和一些大企业的关系太密切。然后,他就在记者会上说:

例句-2: Baloney! That's all it is when my opponent keeps saying that my voting record always favors big business over the average citizen. Let me say it again: that's nothing but baloney!

这个议员说:"胡说!我的对立面说我在投票时老是从大企业的利益出发,而不考虑一般老百姓。让我再重复一遍:他们的这些话纯属一派胡言。"

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可是,在现实生活中我们也确实看到有的政客老是维护有钱人的利益,有的还甚至接受贿赂。美国人把那些政府官员接受的贿赂称为: kickback。政府官员接受贿赂是违反美国联邦、州和其它地方法律的,可能会受到严厉的惩罚。请听一位电台记者广播的一则新闻:

例句-3: John Doe, the former head of the City Public Works Department, went on trial today in the district court. He is charged with taking a 50,000-dollar kickback from the Blank Construction Company after giving them a 3 million dollars contract to repair the city streets.

这句话的意思是:"以前市政工程部的头头多伊约翰今天在地区法院受审。他的罪名是接受布兰克建筑公司给他的五万美元贿赂,以换取他给该公司一项价值三百万美元修理街道的合同。"

下面是一个选民在讲他们地区的一位议员:

例句-4: We thought our congressman was a sure bet to be re-elected. But he's in real trouble--his opponent charges him with getting kickbacks for voting a certain way and seems to have some evidence to prove it.

他说:"大家都以为我们的议员肯定会再次当选的,但是他现在可碰到麻烦事了,他的对手指责他在对某项提案进行投票方面接受贿赂,而且他们好像还有证据。"

今天我们讲了两个美国人常用的俗语,它们是:baloney和kickback。Baloney是指胡说八道,kickback是指官员接受贿赂。