2010年11月3日 星期三

112 (A) spruce up (B) facile

Ross

spruce up 打扮
He spruced himself up for the interview.
他打扮了一下去參加面試。
They were all spruced up for the party.
他們都打扮得漂漂亮亮的去參加聚會。

facile 平易的/熟悉or俐落的

This novel has a pretty facile style that is easy for kids to read.

這本小說文體平易,很容易讓小朋友閱讀

The participants of this workshop should be facile with basic windows interface.

參加這個研習會的人必需熟悉基本視窗的操作介面

Ben
spruce up 打扮
Julie spruced herself up before she went.
Julie出門前打扮了一下。
The city is sprucing up its museums and galleries.
這座城市正在美化自己的博物館和美術館。

facile 平易的/熟悉or俐落的
Florida Gators scored a facile victory over Alabama Big Al.
Florida Gators輕而易舉地贏了Alabama Big Al。
Heidi
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Kate
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2010年11月1日 星期一

111 (A) all i's dotted and all t's crossed (B) vent one's spleen on someone

Ross
all i's dotted and all t's crossed 形容做事非常細心or 計劃完善
Don't worry about the plan. I have made sure that all i's dotted and all t's crossed.
別擔心這個計劃,我己經確認萬事OK了

vent one's spleen on sb. 朝某人發脾氣
I have to vent my spleen on someone.
我非得找個人出出氣
Ben
all i's dotted and all t's crossed / dot all the i's and cross all the t's形容做事非常細心or 計劃完善
Joanna is very careful and thoroughly. She dots all the i's and crosses all the t's with the plan.
Joanna是非常小心仔細的。她計畫地相當完善。

vent one's spleen on sb. 朝某人發脾氣
Obviously you're annoyed, but that doesn't give you the right to vent your spleen on me.
顯然地你生氣,但那不代表你有權利對我發脾氣。
Heidi
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Kate
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2010年10月29日 星期五

110 (A) on the wagon (B) the night is still young

Ross
on the (water) wagon 戒酒
He decided to go on the wagon last month, but he was off the wagon last week.
他上個月決定要戒酒了,不過上個星期他就破戒了

the night's still young. 時間還早 or「華燈初上」
The night is still young, let's go for another drink.
時間還早,我們再去喝一杯
通常在勸人長夜漫漫別急著回家的時候
Ben
be/go on the wagon 戒酒
Ken decided to go on the wagon, but after one month he fell off the wagon.
Ken決定去戒酒,但是一個月後他就破戒了。
"on the wagon" means to be sober. If you fall off the wagon you have begun drinking again/relapsed.

Suggestion:
I decided to go on a strict diet when I reached the 300 pound mark, but after a month I fell off the wagon.

the night's still young. 時間還早 or「華燈初上」
The night is still young. Let's go out for pleasure.
時間還早,我們出去狂歡一下。
通常在勸人長夜漫漫別急著回家的時候
Heidi
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Kate
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2010年10月27日 星期三

109 (A) out of the picture (B) in the picture

Ross
out of the picture 狀況外
I don't want to talk to him anymore. He is always out of the picture.
我不想再跟他說話了,他總是搞不清楚狀況 

in the picture 了解狀況
Are you sure that you're in the picture?
你確定你清楚狀況?

picture在這是指「狀況、情況」的口語說法
Ben
out of the picture 狀況外
in the picture 了解狀況
Are you sure that you're in the picture? I guess you are out of the picture.
你確定你清楚狀況嗎?我猜你是在狀況外。

Just to put you in the picture. There have been a number of changes here recently.
只是讓你了解狀況。最近這裡出現了許多變化。
Heidi
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Kate
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2010年10月26日 星期二

108 (A) for good or evil (B) gear up

Ross

for good or evil 不論無何
For good or evil, he is your son. You can
not get rid of him.
不管怎樣,他是你的孩子,你不能不管他

gear up 加油

Gear up, man. There are some other things waiting for you.

老兄,別垂頭喪氣的,還有許多事情等著你呢

Ben
for good or evil 不論無何
gear up 加油
Gear up, man, for good or evil, we have done our best for sure.
老兄,加油,不論如何,我們都已盡力了。
Heidi
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Kate
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2010年10月25日 星期一

107 (A) alive and kicking (B) go from bad to worse

Ross

alive and kicking 生龍活虎

He will be 82 at the end of this year and is still alive and kicking.

他年底就滿82歲但還是像一尾活龍一樣

go from bad to worse 況愈下
Things went from bad to worse: she lost her job and then became ill.
情形愈來愈糟:她才丟了工作,接著又病了。

Ben
alive and kicking 生龍活虎
Despite being married for 30 years, their relationship is still alive and kicking.
儘管結婚30年了,他們感情一樣地好。

go from bad to worse 每況愈下
Things are going from bad to worse. Her father just passed away and she is suffering from a rare disease of the brain now.
情形愈來愈糟: 她爸爸才剛去世,她現又正遭逢罕見腦部疾病的折磨。
Suggestion 1:
In the second sentence you might want to move "now" directly after "and." This ephasizes the prgression from "bad" to "worse."

"Her father just passed away and now she is suffering from a rare disease of the brain."

Suggestion 2:
I suggest using “… a rare brain disease…” instead of “..a rare disease of the brain”.
Heidi
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Kate
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2010年10月24日 星期日

106 (A) talk the pants off of a policeman (B) take the bitter with the sweet

Ross

talk the pants off of a policeman. 舌燦蓮花

Andy is a really persuasive guy. He could talk the pants off of a policeman.

Andy是個很有說服力且辯才無礙的人

這句也可改成 You could talk a dog out of a meat truck. 境界更高了:)

take the bitter with the sweet 苦盡甘來

He finally took the bitter with the sweet after 3 months' effort.

經過三個月的努力,他終於苦盡甘來

Ben
talk the pants off of a policeman. 舌燦蓮花
You could talk the pants off of a policeman. (You could talk a dog out of a meat truck.)
David can be very persuasive and talk the pants off of a policeman.
David如燦蓮花。

Suggestions:

The pants off of a policeman phrase seems a little odd. Your sentence needs a comparison or to be in the subjunctive mode, otherwise David can actually talk the pants off of a policeman. "Could" is a good word for this sentence.

"David can be very pursuasive; he could talk the pants right off of a policeman."

take the bitter with the sweet 苦盡甘來
He finally took the bitter with the sweet and won the championship after 1 year's effort.
經過1年的努力,他終於苦盡甘來贏得冠軍。

Suggestions:

"Taking the bitter with the sweet" means accomplishing a task the produces both. In your example, winning the championship does not produce bitterness. The year's effort may have, but then the bitter and the sweet are accomplished by two different tasks (effort and winning).

Using the same example, you could delay both the bitter and the sweet until the competitor reflects on the past year:

"Finally, he took the bitter with the sweet and accepted his new situation; he was happy he had won the championship, sad it had cost him a year of his life."
Heidi
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Kate
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