Hello，大家好。我是ROSE。很高兴又和您相约“布朗尼加分”口语课堂。今天我们要将的是一个关于死而复生的故事。是不是真的有能起死回生的神力呢？您听过便知。

One day the police see a body on a beach in Egypt. The man is dead as a doornail. The ID cards in the man's wallet identify him as Tony Brown, age 30.

A short time later, Tony's friends and relatives are sitting in a funeral tent. They feel blue and they're crying over him. All of a sudden, the "dead" man walks into the tent, looking like a million dollars. His friends and family are dumbfounded. When they realize it's really Tony, they go crazy. They laugh, they cry, and they kiss him. Tony explains, 'A thief ripped me off and took my ID cards. So when the police found the dead man, they thought he was me!" When Tony's friends and family get over their shock, the funeral turns into a party. They're on top of the world! Police are still trying to identify the dead man.

埃及的一处海滩警察发现了一具dead as a doornail的尸体。Nail, 钉子，doornail, 门钉。意思就是“死僵了，肯定死掉了”。 再比如“ It lie there with its eyes closed , dead as a doornail.” 它躺在那里眼睛闭著, 确实死了。 每个词在不同的语境里可能会有不同的意思，需要我们根据上下文，斟酌出最合适的对应翻译。比如在下面这个例子里 as dead as a doornail翻译成什么更确切呢？
After my long illness, any hopes I might have had of going to college next year were as dead as a doornail. 由于长期生病，我明年上大学的一切希望都落空了。

家人认为从此失去了Tony,因而feel blue。通过语境也可以判断blue在这里等同于sad,表示“悲伤”。我们熟悉的蓝调音乐(Blue) 也以描写忧郁情绪为主。就在大家为Tony举行葬礼的时候，Tony却回来了，而且looking like a million dollars。这一用法我们在前面已经介绍过，表示healthy and happy. 但是亲戚朋友却 dumbfounded了。Dumbfounded, 意思相当于shocked, 震惊的。惊呆了。比如这个例子：We were completely dumbfounded by her rudeness. 她粗鲁无礼，把我们吓呆了。

rip off 意思相当于steal或rob…of,表示“偷窃”。再来看一个例子：She ripped off a leather jacket while ostensibly /os’tensibly/ trying on clothes. 她装模作样试穿衣服时偷了一件皮夹克。 下面这个例子中rip off还有“欺骗，剥削”的意思。That hotel rips off the tourists. 那家旅馆敲观光客的竹杠。

on top of the world. 也就是“幸福之至”的意思。Almost everyone can identify when they're on top of the world, enjoying the benefits of high self-esteem. 几乎每个人都能发现什么时候自己处于最快乐中，并享受着高度自尊的好处。

恩，虽然痛苦了一阵子，但如果能因此能更加珍惜亲人朋友，这场虚惊还是值得的。最后让我们在一首老歌top of the world中，和您说再见。