美國之音之流行美語Whatchamacallit / mooch

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Popular American - #107

流行美語-第一百零七課

Whatchamacallit

mooch

今天Larry和李華在一家電腦商店買東西，李華會學到兩個常用語：whatchamacallit和mooch。

(Computer Store SFX)

LH:   Larry, 你想買什么呀？

LL:   I need to get one of those whatchamacallits that add memory.  The memory on my laptop computer is almost full.  What do you need to get?

LH:   我想買一些磁盤。Larry, 什么是whatchamacallit？這個詞聽起來好怪啊！它能幫你增加laptop的內存？那是電腦的部件嗎？

LL:  No, no, it's not a part of the computer.  Whatchamacallit actually, it is the combination of the words "what you might call it" joined together and said very fast.

LH:  噢，原來whatchamacallit是what-you-might-call-it這幾個詞合在一起的啊。那whatchamacallit這又是什么意思呢？

 LL：When you don't remember the real name of the thing you are talking about, you might say whatchamacallit. I forget what the thing I need is called, so I just call it a whatchamacallit.

LH:   Oh, 原來是你叫不出一樣東西的名字時候你就可以說它是whatchamacallit。哎，在這種情況下，不就像我們在中文里說的“那個叫什么來啦”？

LL:   Exactly.  But you cannot tell a shop clerk "I want to buy whatchamacallit".

LH:  那當然喲，要是你對店員說你想買那個叫什么來啦，他怎么知道你要什么呢？Hey, Larry, 你看這是什么？Look at this whatchamacallit! 

LL:  That's a zip drive.  You can use it to save things on disks.

LH:  噢，原來這就是我們平時常說的zip drive??！What about that whatchamacallit? 

LL:  That's a digital music player.  Li Hua, you can't just start calling everything a whatchamacallit!

LL:  怎么啦？我不知道這個東西叫digital music player，所以我就用你教我的這個詞whatchamacallit 。

LL:  I guess you're right, but don't use that as an excuse not to learn the real names of things. 

LH:  你放心，你沒看見嗎？我學了就用啊，每次都是你教什么我就用什么！

******

LH:  Larry, 我今天能不能借你的電腦用幾個小時？

LL:  Last week, you borrowed my CD player. Yesterday, you ate half of my pizza and, today, you want to borrow my computer.  You're becoming a mooch, Li Hua!

LH:  哎喲，借用一下你的CD player，吃一點兒你的pizza你都記這么清楚呀？你還說我變成什么啦？A mooch?

LL:  A mooch, that's someone who, instead of getting things for herself, borrows or takes things from others.  You always come to my apartment and get free food out of my refrigerator.  That makes you a mooch.

LH:  A mooch就是指那種喜歡借別人或者是拿別人東西的人。哎，Larry, 我有的時候是到你的冰箱里拿東西吃，可是我有時候不是也請你吃晚飯嗎？

LL:  Yeah well, the next time you come over, you should bring me a pizza.

LH:  沒問題，下次我給你帶個pizza不就行了嗎？可是Larry, 咱們得先說清楚，你以后再也不能叫我是 mooch, 我可不是那種喜歡白吃白喝、占人便宜的人呢。

LL:  Alright, alright.  Let's forget about us for a second.  Can you think of another person who is a mooch?

LH:  嗯， 讓我想想 - 哎，對了，我在學校食堂吃飯的時候，有個女生老是湊到我桌上來吃我的炸薯條。更氣人的是，她還以為我沒注意到呢！

LL:  Yes, that is a mooch.  You should slap her hand next time she does that.

LH: ?。∧阏f她下次再這么做就打她的手？哎喲，那也用不著吧？我啊！學會了mooch這個詞，下次就可以對她說 - Stop being a mooch！

今天李華從Larry那兒學到了兩個常用語。一個是whatchamacallit, 就相當于中文里所說的“那個叫什么來啦”。李華學到的另一個常用語是mooch, 意思是“喜歡白吃白拿的人！”