VOA流行美语 Unit 348:感到后悔&灵活性,回旋余地
日期:2012-03-07 11:01

(单词翻译:单击)

李华和Larry一起到饭馆吃饭。店里人多,他们只好排队等位。今天我们要学两个常用语:to kick oneselfwiggle room

LH: Larry, 真希望这家饭馆能快点上菜,我快饿晕了!

L: Yeah, I'm pretty hungry too, and smelling all the delicious food here is only making it worse.

LH: 咱们待会儿也别看菜单了,就跟服务员说,什么菜能上得最快,我们就点什么。

L: Well, I guess we could do that ... but if the food is really bad, you're going to be kicking yourself later.

LH: 你说我要kick myself? 踢我自己?别开玩笑了,我连抬腿的劲儿都没有了,怎么还能踢自己。

L: Actually, if you really regret something stupid that you did earlier, you can say that you are kicking yourself.

LH: 哦,原来to kick oneself不是自己踢自己,而是为自己做的蠢事感到后悔。你是说,要是我不看菜单瞎点,八成得后悔。

L: Right! Here is another example. I spent $1,000 on a new computer, but I was kicking myself a week later when it went on sale for half the price.

LH: 那可不,刚买台电脑,没几天就降价50%,这能不让人后悔么?早知道就多等几天,可以省好多钱呢。好了,咱们还是赶快决定吃什么吧,辣鸡翅怎么样?

L: I really love spicy food, but it always makes my stomach hurt. If I eat it, I know I'm going to be kicking myself later.

LH: 那油炸奶酪?

L: Yeah, those are really tasty too, but they're so fattening! I know I'm going to be kicking myself at the gym tomorrow.

LH: Larry, 你怎么这么多事!这家饭馆挺贵的,应该不会难吃。

L: Yeah, I'm going to be kicking myself if we spend a lot of money on dinner but the food isn't very good.

LH: 可是Larry,我真的饿死了。那张桌子空出来了,我们可以进去了!

L: Great! Let's go and sit down.

******

LH: 啊,真是酒足饭饱,我吃得太多了,撑死了。咱们干点什么消化消消食儿吧。

L: Hmm ... do you want to go see a movie? I think that the new Tom Cruise action movie starts playing at 9 PM.

LH: 好啊,可是现在已经八点一刻了,咱们赶得及么?

L: Well, the theater is only 15 minutes away, so we have some wiggle room.

LH: Wiggle room? 那什么意思?

L: When you say that you have some wiggle room, that means that you have some flexibility, or room to spare.

LH: 噢,wiggle room就是回旋余地。你是说电影院离得不远,我们还有一些时间,应该可以赶上九点钟的电影。

L: Right! Here is another example. My apartment lease ends next week, but I have some wiggle room because my landlord said I could stay an extra month if I need to.

LH: 我明白了。房东允许你再多住一个月,所以你就不必赶紧搬家,还有时间可以慢慢找房子。 对了,我听说Tom Cruise的这部新片里有好多电脑特技。

L: Yeah, I read that the movie cost more than the movie studio thought it would. By the end, there was no wiggle room in the budget.

LH: 啊?拍这个电影花钱太多,最后预算一分不剩都花啦?那这电影一定好看!不过说实话,我还是想看爱情片,我们下周去好不好。

L: Well ... I probably can ... but I will have to check my schedule.

LH: 你怎么这么麻烦,到底去不去?

L: Well, I just want to keep a little wiggle room in case an even better action movie comes out next week!

LH: 哼,你干什么都不把话说死,总要留点余地。随便,你不陪我就自己去。好啦,咱们走吧,你说给多少小费啊?15%还是20%?

L: You know, there is some wiggle room. Anything between 15 percent and 20 percent will be fine.

LH: 好吧。对了,你想不想去隔壁的甜品店吃点冰激凌?

L: Even though we have some extra time, we probably shouldn't take the risk. We're going to be kicking ourselves if eating ice cream makes us late to the movie.

LH: 我肯定不后悔,冰淇淋比电影诱人多了。走,陪我去吃!

今天李华学了两个常用语。一个是to kick oneself, 表示感到后悔。另一个是wiggle room, 意思是灵活性,回旋余地

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重点单词
  • checkn. 检查,支票,账单,制止,阻止物,检验标准,方格图案
  • flexibilityn. 灵活性,柔韧性,适应性
  • budgetn. 预算 vt. 编预算,为 ... 做预算 vi.
  • tastyadj. 好吃的
  • minutesn. 会议记录,(复数)分钟
  • spareadj. 多余的,闲置的,备用的,简陋的 v. 抽出,饶