你知道“体力劳动”这个词用英语怎么说吗?可不要说成“body work”。来看看《文森特·梵高:画语人生》中是怎么说的吧。

对话原文

 

At the same time,

与此同时, 

I'm working on those peasants around a dish of potatoes again.

我又开始画那副农民围坐在一盘土豆旁的画了。 

I hope that the painting of those potato eaters will progress a bit.

我希望这幅吃土豆的人的画会有所进步。 

You see, I really wanted to make it so that

我非常想画出那种感觉 

people get the idea that these folk,

让人们能看出这些人, 

eating their potatoes by the light of their little lamp on the table,

他们就着桌上黄昏的灯光吃着他们的土豆, 

They've... they have tilled the earth themselves.

他们...他们亲自在田间耕作, 

with these hands they are putting in the dish,

用的正是这双吃土豆的手, 

so the whole thing speaks of manual labour,

所以这些土豆代表了他们的体力劳动, 

and thus they have honestly earned their food.

因此这些食物是他们老老实实挣来的。 

I wanted to give the idea of

我想表现出 

a way of life wholly different from ours.

一种与我们完全不同的生活方式。 

I certainly don't just wnat everyone to admire it

我当然并非只想要每个人都欣赏它 

or approve of it without knowing why.

或者不明所以就去称赞它。

 

今日重点:

 

与此同时:at the same time

致力于:work on sth

人们:folk。复数形式可以是folk或folks(美语更常用)

灯:lamp。注意区分lamb,羔羊

耕作:till。除了常用的“直到”,还有耕作的意思

土地:earth除了指“地球”,也可表示“土壤”

体力劳动:manual labour。manual表示“体力的,手控的;使用手册”。手动挡:manual transmission。labour(或labor)表示“劳动”

完全地:wholly。形容词whole,完全的

 

想看完整视频,请关注【沪江英语】公众号