brush off 不理; 默视

A: Have you talked to Mr. Lambert about Ian's obscene speech towards you?

A: 你跟 Lambert 先生提过 Ian 对你讲的猥亵的话吗?

B: Yes, but he brushed it off as if it were not a big deal to him.

B: 有! 但他轻轻带过(不理), 好象他觉得那并没有什么!

"brush away(aside)" 也是「不理」的意思。如"He brushed aside our objection."(他无视我们的反对)。




boss around 颐指气使

A: Oh! No. I've got assigned to work with Marvin for our group project.

A: 噢! 不! 我被分配跟 Marvin 一起做团体作业。

B: Ooh! I heard that he love to boss people around.

B: 唉呀! 我听说他很爱指使人的。

"boss around" 和 "push around" 都是「指使人」的意思。说一个人爱命令人也可以说"He is very bossy."。




Oh, boy! 乖乖! 唉呀! 真是!

A: Guess what? We first got a flat tire, and now my cell phone is dead.

A: 你猜怎么了? 首先我门的车爆胎了, 现在我的行动电话又没电了。

B: Oh, boy!

B: 唉!

"flat tire" 是「爆胎」的意思」。

"Oh, boy!"是美国人用的一种感叹表示词句。不必问他们为什么不说 "Oh, girl" 还是别的, 因为他们也不知道。




bound to 必定

A: Dan forgot his map?

A: Dan 忘了带地图了吗?

B: Yep! And he's bound to lose his way.

B: 是的! 他铁定要迷路了。

"bound to" 是必定的意思。 「你死定了!」就可以说 "You're bound to die."。




Got you! (骗、吓...)到你了吧!

A: My sister just now called and said she's moving in with us.

A: 我姐姐刚刚打电话来, 说她要搬进来跟我们一块儿住。

B: What?

B: 什么!

A: Got you!

A: 上当了吧!

"Get you" 是「(骗、吓、捉弄...)到你了吧!」的意思。




no-brainer 不必花脑筋的事物

A: How do you use this program? It looks quite complicated.

A: 你怎么样用这个软件呢? 看起来蛮复杂的。

B: No. Looks can be deceiving. This thing is actually a no-brainer. Let me show you.

B: 不会! 外表有时是会骗人的。这个东西其实很容易(不必花脑筋的)。我玩给你看!

"Looks can be deceiving." 是「外表有时是会骗人的」的意思。也许你的竞争对方把自己抬高, 表现出很厉害的样子, 你的朋友就可以说"Looks can be deceiving. He may be just a paper tiger."来安慰你。




work one's butt off 很努力地(做一件事)

A: I can't believe all my work is gone just like this. I've worked my butt off on this all day.

A: 我不敢相信我的心血就这样丢掉了!我今天整天辛辛苦苦都在搞这个!

B: What happened? Computer crashed?

B: 怎么啦? 计算机当了吗?

发现美语里不少口语都跟"butt"(屁屁)有关, 像 "kick ass"、"kiss ass"(见本单元第一页)。 这里的"work one's butt off" 也是。还有一个"freeze one's butt off"(冷得把屁屁冻僵)也是喔!




push around 驱使(某人)

A. Gary, do you think you can rewrite this paper. I don't really like the topic.

A: Gary, 你想你是不是可以把这个报告重写一遍。我并不是很喜欢那个主题。

B: Hey, I'm only trying to help you out. You shouldn't be pushing me around like this.

B: 嘿! 我是在帮你忙耶! 你不应该这样指使我喔!