We'll trash you later

破产姐妹S01E06:你会说“垃圾话”吗?

本集剧情:Caroline邀请Johnny帮自己安装折叠床,Max却认为她应该“自己动手,丰衣足食”。而Max和暖昧男Johnny之间的“化学反应”进一步升级。Caroline则试图争取第一单纸杯蛋糕的大生意。

We'll trash you later

Max和Caroline又起口角。此次Max罕见地让了步,因为她要忙着收抬房子,来迎接暖昧对象Johnny的突然来访。她说:“You're right. We'll trash you later.(算你赢,待会再来损你好了。)”

这里动词“损”用了“trash”,意为“to criticize sth/sb very strong”,即“猛烈抨击,强烈谴责”。

我补充一个片语:trash talk,通常表示“说别人的坏话”。例如每个公司都会有一小搓(一大群?)员工爱在背后嚼舌根、讲老板的坏话,There are some staff in every company that like to trash talk their boss.

Trash talk的另一层含义是 “垃圾话”,篮球粉丝应该对它不陌生。谷哥告诉我们:“Trash-talk is a form of insult commonly heard in sports events. It is often used to intimidate the opposition”,原来它是一种损人的方式,通常用在运动场上,功力是扰乱敌方军心。

Trash talk既非脏话,亦非废话,甚至可以很有文采,如利用双关语来绕晕对手、打击其信心。其效果如同踩到了癞蛤蟆,不咬人,但能恶心到你。

NBA赛场上,trash talk大行其道。飞人乔丹就是此中高手。他曾在比赛时向对手挑衅:“I'll give you a jump shot, right here. Go ahead, take it. You don't want it?!(我就让你跳投,就在这儿,你跳啊,投啊,怎么,又不要了?!)”对手果然失败。甚至连温文尔雅、含蓄低调的姚明先生,也曾在NBA赛场上说过trash talk哦!

(本文由沪江网校【看美剧学口语】班WENDY老师独家提供,未经许可不得转载。)

Wake-up call

Wake-up call

这天Caroline遭受重大委屈。她起早贪黑地在小餐馆忙里忙外服务客人,一个铁公鸡男子才甩给她一块四毛七美元的小费。她悲叹:“That $1.47 tip was a wake-up call reminding me that life will always undervalue you if you let it.(那一块四毛七宛如警世钟,点醒我,如果听之任之,人生就总会低估你的价值。)”

在宾馆住宿,或许你会预定一个“叫醒服务”,即宾馆方面根据指令,打电话或敲门叫客人起床,防止其呼呼大睡错过重要事情,这种服务就称为wake up call service。

Wake up call可引申为“一记警钟”,句型有something is a wake up call for somebody,表示某件事让某人惊觉了、敲警钟了。

有人觉得踏进了大学校门就彻底解放了,成天吃喝玩乐,终于沦为学渣级人物,在期终考试中华丽丽地挂了九门课。大彻大悟后决定重新做人,于是说:“The final exam is a wake-up call for me. I should keep on studying hard, or I might be kicked out of school.”

Churn out

Churn out

Caroline决定给未来的蛋糕小店取名为“Max's Homemade Cupcakes(Max自制纸杯蛋糕)”,Max却觉得此名字太山寨,她说:“Like we are churning out cupcakes.”

或许限于字数,字幕君没有完全把churn out的意思译出。它指“produce sth quickly and in large amounts”,即“大量生产,尤指粗制滥造地大量炮制”。

譬如有的网络写手作品产量惊人(一年出N本)、质量雷人(情节狗血,逻辑混乱),The amateur writer has been churning out online novels at the rate of 10, 000 words per day.(这个业余写手一直以一天1万字的速度粗制滥造网络小说。)其实此等情况只能称为“码字”,而非“文学创作”。

国外有很多不入流的大学,它们大量炮制假文凭,目标群体瞄准中国留学生,某打工皇帝就因此事而被拉下马。Many diploma mills churn out so-called certificates and cash in on Chinese students.(许多野鸡大学大量制造所谓的文凭,利用中国留学生来敛财。)唉,谁让大家过分迷信洋文凭呢!

Shove them down people's throats

Shove them down people's throats

Max虽然伶牙俐齿、雄辩滔滔,却貌似不是一块做销售的料。例如她本能地反感“late-night infomercial”,即“深夜电视推销节目”,比如侯总“八心八箭”的破盘价钻石广告。Max认为这种节目是在“shove them down people's throats”。

Shove意为“猛推”,shove sth down one's throat是一则片语。试想一下“将某物猛推进某人喉咙”的情景吧。其引申义就是“拼命向某人灌输,强迫某人接受”。变体有ram sth down one's throat或者force sth down one's throat,意思均差不多。

如果你要拒绝三天两头来“拜访”你的卖保险的人,就可以说:I don't want any more insurance, and I don't want anyone to shove any insurance down my throat.(我不要保险,不要来死命推销逼我买下。)

索尼公司的北美总裁Tretton就比较得体,他在一次发布会上曾说:“Never try to shove something down a consumer's throat that they don't have an appetite for. (永远不要试图向顾客拼命推销,如果他们对产品没胃口的话。)”

因为这年头,硬推销都弱爆了,绵里藏针的软文、植入式广告等才是王道嘛!

music career derailed

music career derailed

小餐馆里的收帐员Earl大叔曾是个重口味的文艺青年,在Caroline的口中,his music career derailed due to a heroin addiction(他曾因沉迷毒品葬送了自己的音乐事业)。

Rail表示铁轨,derail指火车脱轨、出轨道。如Two high-speed trains collided and derailed each other.(两辆高速列车冲撞并导致互相脱轨。)

Derail可引申作“延缓耽误……的成功/发展机会”解。如韩国花美男明星最怕服兵役,因为一进军营就是两年,就相当于演艺事业上的两年空白期。在新人辈出的娱乐圈,长江后浪推前浪,前浪死在沙滩上。对他们而言:Joining the army means their career will derail for two years and possibly forever。

片中另有addiction一词,意为“上瘾、沉溺”,如heroin addiction 海洛因成瘾、cocaine addiction 可卡因成瘾。Be addicted to sth指“对……上瘾、入迷”,例如The little boy is addicted to computer games.(这个小男孩对电脑游戏着了迷。)

Hammer out

Hammer out

前文提到churn out指“粗制滥造地大量生产”,此处hammer out则恰好相反,表示“反复讨论得出一致意见、充分研讨出决定”,最终成果是精心琢磨、再三推敲而来。

例如,你和你的team mates为了出炉一个方案,披星戴月、饭都吃不下、天天开会研究,在出产了 “终极稿”、“绝对最后一稿”、“再毙就吐血而亡稿”后,终于获得一致通过,那就是My team finally hammered out a scheme after some sleepless nights and repeated modifications.

Hammer out也常用于报刊语言中,如“A summit in Copenhagen at the end of the year is supposed to hammer out a post-Kyoto agreement to cut greenhouse gases.(年底在哥本哈根举行的峰会就是要讨论签订一个“后京都议定书协定”,来减少温室气体的排放)。”

(本文由沪江网校【看美剧学口语】班WENDY老师独家提供,未经许可不得转载。)