Lesson 10 - DRAINED / WIREDMichael和李华都在纽约上大学，最近他们结束了期中考试，今天准备坐火车去华盛顿参观访问。现在Michael正在火车站等李华。今天他们在谈话中会用到两个常用语：drained和wired.
L：嘿，Michael。这火车站好大，总算找到你了。
M：The train is just about to leave. Good thing you got here in time.
L：我当然会准时到，我什么时候迟到过？嗨，火车就要开啦？要多少时间才能到华盛顿呐？
M：Only about four hours. I'm probably going to sleep the entire way.
L：(train leaving station, announcer in background) 你想在火车上睡觉？不行，你睡觉我跟谁说话呐？
M：Li Hua, you are full of energy. But I'm drained, I'm going to sleep.
L：我是精力充沛。可你说你是什么？ Drained?
M：Yeah. Drained, it means exhausted.
L：Drained就是累的意思。那drained这个词还能用在其他什么场合呢？
M：The word can be used two ways. To be physically drained and emotionally drained. For example, if a couple fight all the time, they would be emotionally tired, which you can also call drained.
L：噢，drained可以指体力很累，也可以指一个人在情绪上压力很大。要是一对夫妇老是吵架，那肯定情绪很不好。你是这个意思吧？
M：Yeah, you understand. You don't even seem drained after the mid-terms.
L：考试倒没让我觉得累，可是，两天前我跟我哥哥为了他的女朋友吵了一架。他那女朋友很任性，还老想管别人，真讨厌。跟我哥哥吵完后，我真是感到很累。
M：Yeah, you were emotionally drained. Well, if you don't want me to sleep on the train, we'd better go get more coffee. Let's go to the Cafe Car.
L：那好呀，走，去食品车厢买咖啡！
M：This coffee is going to keep me awake the entire trip.
L：这杯咖啡就能让你一路上不困啦？我可不行，到华盛顿之前，我至少还要喝两杯。
M：Geez, Li Hua, I don't think I will be nearly as wired as you are.
L：Wired？我猜这是说我精力旺盛， 是不是？
M：You are right. This word has a couple of meanings. One means to be energetic and the other means to have nervous energy.
L：这么说，wired可以指对某件事很兴奋，也可以说对某件事感到紧张而努力去做。 要是我精力充沛，可以说：I am wired; 要是在大考前我感到很紧张而抓紧时间复习功课，也可以说：I'm wired。 是这个意思吗？
M：Yeah, that's right. But it has one other meaning as well. Wired means to be connected to something, such as being wired into the Internet, or being wired into a discussion.
L：噢，跟什么东西联系在一起也可以说是wired，例如和因特网连接。你最后说的 wired into a discussion 我不太懂，那是什么意思啊？
M：You have been participating in the meetings to make decisions about our college, right?
L：对啊！我是参加一些会议，讨论有关学校的某些决定。
M：Ok, your participation in the college's meetings and being involved in those decisions means you are wired into the discussion.
L：噢，我参加这些会议，参预决策的讨论，这就可以说：I'm wired into the discussion.
M：Yep. After all this coffee I have had, I don't feel so drained. In fact, after the next cup, I think I'm going to be pretty wired.
L：喝了咖啡你就不感到那么累了。再喝一杯，你就精神百倍了。那好，我再去给你买一杯， 要不要？
M：Thanks so much, Li Hua!
今天Michael和李华在谈话中用了两个意思相对的词，一个是drained，意思是非常累；另一个是wired，意思是精力充沛. 这次[流行美语]就到此结束，下次节目再见。
奖励50HY。不要灌水哦，罪过罪过···嘿嘿
作业1：
下面这二个短语是什么意思呢？
poker face
close to the vest
作业2：
下载发布的音频，耳朵反复倾听，舌头喋喋不休
Lesson 10 - POKER FACE / CLOSE TO YOUR VEST
扑克牌是美国人的一种传统性消遣。最普遍的一种扑克牌游戏就叫poker。中文里的「扑克牌」也许就是从poker这个游戏的名字得来的。玩poker这种游戏需要有技巧，还要碰运气，另外你还得有点冒险精神。由于poker在美国人当中十分普遍，因此有许多牌桌上的说法也就逐渐地成了人们日常的用语了。今天我们要介绍两个和poker这个游戏有关的词汇。第一个是poker face. Poker face的意思就是脸上毫无表情，不露声色。这对于玩牌的人来说是很重要的，因为每个人都想猜测谁手里的牌好，谁手里的牌次。可是，要是你摆出一付poker face的话，谁也猜不出究竟你手里的牌怎么样。
我们来举一个例子，看看poker face在日常生活中的用法。例如，你的同事对你说：
例句-1：I never know whether my boss likes my work or not -- he is a real poker face!
他说："我从来也不知道我的老板到底喜不喜欢我的工作。他脸上可真是一点表情都没有。"还有的人去看牙大夫的时候心里非常紧张，可是脸上却装得若无其事。
下面这个人说的也是同样的情况：
例句-2：I tried to keep a poker face even though I was scared to death when I went back to my doctor to hear the results of my lab tests. But I admit I gave him the biggest smile of my life when he told me the tests were negative and there was nothing wrong with me.
他说："当我去医生那里去看试验结果的时候，我害怕得要死。可是我尽量装得若无其事。不过，当大夫告诉我化验结果是阴性；我没有问题的时候，我对他笑了，我大概一辈子也没有笑得那么高兴的。"
******
玩牌的时候脸上不露表情的人往往都很谨慎，把牌放在靠胸口的地方，免得给别人偷看。这在英文里就是 close to the vest。Close to the vest用在一般情况下就是指一个人非常小心不让别人知道他在干什么。
我们先来听听一位记者的讲话：
例句-3：Two other governors have already announced that they will run for president in the next election but the governor of our state is still keeping his plans close to his vest -- nobody is sure what he will do.
这是说："另外又有两位州长宣布他们决定参加下一届的总统竞选。可是我们的州长还是对他的计划保密，谁也不知道他究竟参不参加。"
下面一个例子是一个大公司的总裁在告诉一位同事一个机密的消息，但是要他不要说出去：
例句-4：John, keep this close to your vest but I want to tell you our company is going to merge with a big New York corporation -- they'll announce it sometime next week.
他说："约翰，我要告诉你，我们的公司要和纽约的一家大公司合并了，他们下星期内就要宣布。不过你知道就行了，不要往外说。"
[此贴子已经被作者于2008-5-9 7:40:27编辑过]
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2008-5-9 7:40:00
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【流行美语教程】Lesson 10 - DRAINED / WIRED
