VOA流行美语 Unit 182:grease monkey和fender bender
日期:2008-09-07 13:28

(单词翻译:单击)

Larry的车子正在厂里修理。今天李华陪他去取车。李华会学到两个常用语:grease monkey和fender bender

LL: I hope my car is ready. The grease monkey said it would be fixed by 3:00 this afternoon.

LH: The grease monkey? Larry,你的车不是送到修车厂了吗?修车厂怎么会有猴子呢?

LL: (Laugh) No, there aren't any monkeys like the monkeys in the zoo. Grease monkey is a slang term for auto mechanic.

LH: 你们把汽车修理工叫grease monkey?真有意思。所以你是说,修车的工人告诉你,车子在3点以前会修好。

LL: Right, but I doubt it will be ready. Every time a grease monkey tells my car will be ready, he's wrong.

LH: 你不相信那修车的人?为什么每次他们说的时间都是错的?

LL: Well, last time I had my car fixed. The mechanic said it would be ready the next day. As it turned out, my car wasn't ready until three days later.

LH: 原来上回修车你就受骗过。说好第二天可以取车,结果拖了三天才修好。怪不得你不相信他们了。对了,Larry,我们可以当着修车工的面叫他们grease monkey吗?

LL: Some mechanics wouldn't care, but others might not like being called a grease monkey. If I mean it as a joke, it's okay; however, it can also be used negatively.

LH: 有些人不在乎,有的人会不高兴。这也是很自然的。要是叫他们grease monkey是开玩笑的话,我想应该不会有什么问题。

LL: Yeah, but it can be an insult.

LH: 那么到底怎么样才算是开玩笑呢?

LL: Well, my sister tried to fix her car and got covered in grease. After that, my father jokingly called her his little grease monkey.

LH: 哈哈,你妹妹自己想修车,结果搞的全身油污,你爸爸叫她my grease monkey。那你呢?你有没有自己修过车?

LL: No, I'm not very good at fixing cars. I would be a lousy grease monkey.

******

LH: Larry, 你还没告诉我,为什么你的车要送去修啊?

LL: I was in a little fender bender the other day and my tail light needed to be fixed.

LH: 你的车怎么啦? A fender bender? 那是什么东西啊?

LL: A fender bender is a minor car accident. Usually, no one is seriously hurt in a fender bender and the cars are not damaged too badly.

LH: A fender bender就是小事故。Larry你撞车啦,怎么都没有告诉我呢?

LL: It was just a fender bender, so I didn't think it was important enough to tell you about.

LH: 小事故也可能会受伤啊。你怎么样?你没什么事吧?

LL: I'm fine. I didn't even get a scratch.

LH: 你没事就好。对了,你怎么会和别的车擦撞呢?

LL: The girl in the car behind me was talking on her cell phone and she wasn't paying attention. She drove into the back of my car.

LH: 一面开车一面打手机真的很危险的。那个从后面撞上你的女孩,如果开车速度再快一些,你们都有可能受伤呢!

LL: Fortunately, she wasn't driving very fast, so it turned out to be just a minor fender bender.

今天李华学到两个常用语。一个是grease monkey, 是指修理汽车的工人。另一个常用语是fender bender, 这是指小车祸,通常没有人受伤的事故。

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重点单词
  • mechanicsn. 力学,机械学,(技术的,操作的)过程,手法
  • celln. 细胞,电池,小组,小房间,单人牢房,(蜂房的)巢室
  • insultvt. 侮辱,凌辱,辱骂 n. 侮辱,辱骂
  • greasen. 兽脂,油脂 vt. 用油脂涂,上油,促进
  • mechanicadj. 手工的 n. 技工,机修工
  • minoradj. 较小的,较少的,次要的 n. 未成年人,辅修科