英语口语500句（7-3）

101. I have a fire in my belly to do something for this village. 我有一股强烈的愿望，能为这个村庄做点什么。特别注意，这个成语与“一肚子火”没有关系，是表示有一种正面的强烈愿望。

　　I love this desire which comes from a fire in my belly.

　　一首歌的歌词：Fire in my heart, fire in my belly too Got a heart and a mind and a fire inside And I’m crazy about you You, you on your high flying cloud You, you when you’re laughing out loud.

　　Have a yen for也是口语，同样表示“I have a desire for”： I have a yen for a thick juicy steak. He has a yen for this girl.

　　102．Digital cameras are cheap now, you can get one for peanuts. 最便宜的东西莫过于花生，用买花生的钱就能买的东西，那当然是很便宜了。以前美国南部产棉花，但棉花对土地有结板块的作用。后来农民发现棉花收割后种花生对土地有帮助，于是开始种花生。那时花生不过像杂草一样，农民任其烂在田里。直到发明了花生酱后，花生才渐渐地成为人们喜欢的食物。

　　103．Blow out 与 blow away

　　With this dress, you are going to blow away everybody at your party.

　　I am blown out to find out that she would not come.

　　104．You are so jumpy. 你真是有点神经质。一个人兴奋得乱蹦乱跳,所以显得有点神经质.

　　105．Are you getting the picture You are going to get the whole picture.

　　106．Tough, 这个词是口语中使用频率比较高的，a tough guy,

　　It is pretty tough to get a reservation. 这里的tough就是difficult得意思。You just have to tough it out.

　　107．Rough, 注意，rough与touch意思不同，容易混淆。

　　I have some rough patches with my wife. 我有好些地方得与老婆去磨合磨合了。

　　108．I am here now, I need to get in a swing of it. 我已经到了，该投入行动了。

　　109．More brawn than brain 四肢发达，头脑简单 Nowadays, pop-culture icons are more brawn than brain. 现在流行文化中的偶像都是些四肢发达，头脑简单的家伙。

　　110．Once you get to the meat of the subject, you will start to enjoy it. Meat肉，这里做“精髓”解。Nub也有这个意思：the nub of the story



作者：信天优　回复日期：2007-10-13　18:56:35　



111．Watch out for bait-and-switch tactics. 街头骗子常用的手法就是快速地掉包，先用一个诱饵，乘你不注意掉包。

　　112．Ball这个词人人都识，就是球的意思。但在口语里，还有三个其他的含义。The little girl had a ball at school today. 这个小女孩今天在学校参加了一个舞会。

　　另外on the ball 的含义是，有知识，有才华，懂行，办事利索。

　　He is a teacher who is really on the ball. 他是个了不起的老师。a manager who has a lot on the ball很懂行的经理; a student who has nothing on the ball 学得一塌糊涂的学生

　　另一个说法表示一个人“能干”，可以说hot-shot：The boss would like to hire a hot-shot employee 能干的职员 a hot-shot teacher, 能干的老师，

　　Ball的第三个用法是having sex：They met, they clicked, they are having a ball.

　　I am glad you have started the ball rolling. 很高兴你把这事推动起来了。补充：

　　The ball is in your court now.现在球已到你那边了。（意即得由你作次决定了，作出回应了）

　　Fireball：火球，例如像原子弹爆炸一般，引申为“成功、热情、精力旺盛”之意。I hope John will join us, he is a fireball.(or he is a ball of fire.)我希望约翰能加入我们，他是个热情旺盛的人。

　　113．Blur 模糊，Taiwan talk is just a blur. 台湾问题的讨论不过是在搅混水。The next hour is a blur to me.接下来的一个小时我就稀里糊涂了。

　　114．I have worked my butt out.我干活干得筋疲力尽了。中国人“我干这活都掉了两斤肉。”英语里是累得屁股都掉了。

　　115．Snake oil 江湖郎中开的药 a snake oil salesman, 一个骗子推销商，传销卖的东西基本上都是snake oil。中国的保健品基本上也都是snake oil，中国最有名的snake oil恐怕是脑白金了。

　　116．I saw several old geezers walking in the street. old geezer 老人，老头子（有幽默味道，并不含贬义），表示老头子还有另两种说法：old chap, old stick，这只能熟人之间用，

　　117． She is angry with me, but I stick to my guns.她对我很愤怒，但我决不让步。stick to one’s guns 表示坚持原则。坚守原则的另一说法是：You need to hold your ground even if some people oppose you. 就算有人攻击你，你也一定要坚守立场。

　　118．A night owl 熬夜的人 He is a night owl. 相当于He likes to burn night oil.

　　119．Mr. Li never throws anything away, he is a pack rat. 李先生从不扔掉任何东西,他简直是垃圾收藏家。

　　120． He has been my sidekick for several years.他是我多年的好友。Sidekick 可以是老朋友，也指在关系中处于小弟的位置：I have been his sidekick for many years, now it is time that I break into my own business. 我作他的跟班已经好些年了，现在我该自己创业了。

121. Close but no cigar. 差不多就答对了，但尚不能获奖。（大概是答对了就会奖励一支雪茄吧）同样的结构有Thanks but no thanks.如果你谢绝别人要给你提供的帮助或东西时，你可以这么说，“谢谢，但不需要。”

　　122. three strikes, you are out. 这是一句棒球语，但也开始用在日常生活中，往往意思为：“如果你犯三次，就把你开除。”好些年前，美国曾讨论一个叫“three strikes law”，又叫“habitual offender laws”，该法律主要是针对那些刑事犯罪惯犯，如果一连犯了三次重罪，刑期就得自动延长，甚至是终生监禁，有点中国“严-打”的味道，但也有人指出这法律不合宪法，因为宪法中规定，一罪不二罚。

　　123. The returns are good but the stakes are high. 回报诱人，但风险极高。

　　124. Every year, f

our hundred Americans die from heat stroke. Heat stroke就是中暑，今年中暑的人特别多。

　　125. I need some back-up from you. 我需要你的支持。Support是书面语，backup是口语。Police: I need backup, I need backup.请求支援，请求支援。Back off, 让开。

　　126. get out of here. 直接的意思是，滚到一边去吧。也可以意为：得了吧。如果你不同别人的话，也可这么说。

　　127. I am pulling an all-nighter. 熬夜

128. Let me get my head around this. 让我把这件事想清楚。

129. you need to get your head straight. 你得头脑清醒清醒。

130. the sticks，这里的sticks 是“树林，深林”的意思。He is a guy in the sticks, how could you expect him to know that? 他住深山老林，他怎么可能知道这事？stick-thin, 或者 as thin as a stick 骨瘦如柴 I remember her as a stick-thin teenager. 我的记忆里，她是个骨瘦如柴的青少年。比较：out of the woods脱离深林，意即“脱离危险”。

　131. Streamliner 高速列车，我国最近开通的D字头车就可称为streamliner，另一个词是子弹头车bullet train，赛车也可以说是streamlined cars；

　　132. I try to fix Michael up with my sister’s classmate Mary. 我想要撮合Michael与我妹妹的同学Mary成一对。

　　133. One for the books 值得记一笔的事件，难以置信的事件。

　　134. You should bypass the mind and go straight to the bloodstream of your listeners. 你不要跟听众讲大道理，而应该直接去打动他们的心。 Or say: go straight to their gut feeling

　　135. Many Chinese people like to play devil’s advocate in politics. 许多中国人最喜欢在讨论政治时唱反调。play devil’s advocate就是“抬杠”的意思。

　　136. I don’t like his devil-may-care attitude. 我不喜欢他那毫不在乎的态度

　　137. “恶搞”如何说？spoof, spoofing attack, “When a good product gets spoofed, that is too bad.”

　　138. "I wouldn’t vote for him for dogcatcher" or "He couldn’t run for dogcatcher in this country". Dogcatcher 捕狗员，如有流浪狗在街上，捕狗员的工作就是抓这些狗，这是最低贱的活了。“连捕狗员我都不会选他去当。”（实际意思是：他又如何可以竞选当县长？）

　　139. 出血大甩卖deep discount, blowout sale, 清仓大甩卖closing sale, clearance sale, 减价 on sale, slashed by half,

　　140. Turnoff, 本意是“关灯”，如果一个人一来就关灯，这个人就是“turnoff”（扫兴）: One of the girls’ biggest turn-offs is guys who are indecisive. 女孩最不喜欢的人就是那些老犹豫不决的男子。A woman who is agGREssive is a turnoff to men. 什么事都抢先争赢的女人不受男人的欢迎。Zhang Yimou’s movies are always turnoffs. 张艺谋的电影都叫人看不下去。

141. Gotcha. 是got you的口语形式，意思就是“明白”。

　　142. She can really turn a phrase. 她的语言文字能力极强。又可以说：a turn of phrase, She has a nice turn of phrase which should serve her well in journalism. 她善于文字表达，因此适合从事新闻业。又作“表达法”解释：Significant other’, meaning ’partner’, now that’s an interesting turn of phrase.

　　143. there is a lot of ground work to do. 还有好多预备工作要做。这大概是源于航空业，在飞机起飞前，要做很多的地面工作。

　　144. That is the real deal. 这才是真正的目的，真正的实惠所在。

　　145. I don’t mean to cry over your shoulder, but here is my reality, I have lots of bills to pay. 我并不是想赚取你的同情，但我的实际情况是，我真的有好多账单还没有付。

　　146. Net Gestapos track down and punish offenders for even some minor perceived rule-breaking offense. Track down 追踪， 哪怕是那些微不足道的犯规，网盖都会要穷追不舍把犯规者法办。

　　147. 他是代课老师。可以说a temporary teacher, 不过口语的说法是He is a fill-in teacher. Fill-in 临时替代。

　　148. He is quite spunky today. Spunky, 兴高采烈，情绪好。From the spunky look on his face you could tell he must have done well in the test. 从他有精神的表情上可以得出他一定考得不错。

　　149. They beat us fair and square. 我们输得心服口服。Everyone wants to get rich ovenight, they don’t care if they will earn something fair and square.

　　150. I want you to get your room in shipshape. 请把房间收拾好。Everything is shipshape.一切都好，一切准备就绪。Shipshape指的是军舰上一切都是有条不紊。