【103】The One With The Thumb

1. Phoebe: Um, not so good. He walked me to the subway and said 'We should do this again!'

Phoebe同一个男人出去约会回来告诉大家，那个男人怎么和她说的。“We should do this again”，表面上好像是以后我们还应该再继续约会，其实这是dating language，往往都是反着说的，近年来网路上有很多类似的帖子，大家可以找来看看，很搞笑的。Phoebe说完之后，大家都明白了，只有可爱的Rach傻乎乎的不明所以，还在那里夸好，于是大家只好半是卖弄半是教她的举了其他一些例子。比如“It's not you'”就是“It is you”，“You're such a nice guy”意思是 “I'm gonna be dating leather-wearing alcoholics and complaining about them to you”等等。恋爱中的人们想必能够理解这些吧，是不是经常听到女娃娃讲“I hate u”？

 

2．Joey: Yeah. Cushions the blow.

可怜的Rach问是不是只有她是颗嫩草，善解人意的Joey来了这么一句，意思是take it easy.想想看吧，cushion是垫子的意思，用垫子承接打击，当然是放轻松点的意思咯。这可以作为固定用法记下来。

 

3．Monica: I mean, why should I let them meet him? I mean, I bring a guy home, and within five minutes they're all over him. I mean, they're like- coyotes, picking off the weak members of the herd.Paula: Listen. As someone who's seen more than her fair share of bad beef, I'll tell you: that is not such a terrible thing. I mean, they're your friends, they're just looking out after you.

Coyote是一种产于北美大草原的小狼，可以和hyena一起记忆。Pick off the weak members of the herd,摘取、挑选弱处下手的意思。在Paula的回答中，她先摆了一下自己的老资格“As someone who’s seen more than her fair share of bad beef”（意即作为一个见了过多臭牛排的厨师来说，别忘了，她和Monica都是厨师这重身份，这里她用bad beef比喻那些不怎么样的男人），然后告诫Monica这没什么大不了的，不是什么糟糕的事情，毕竟他们是你的朋友，在你身后帮你留神着呢。

 

4．Paula: Well, you do realise the odds of that happening are a little slimmer if they never get to meet the guy..odds这里的意思是可能的机会、几率，相当于Chance。记住一个词组odds and ends，是零碎的东西的意思，经常能看到报纸或者杂志用这个词组作为一个栏目名称。整句话翻译过来就是：如果他们永远不能见到那个家伙，你会发现（他们完全接受他的）机会几乎没有。Slim的变形slimmer这里表示非常渺茫的意思。

 

5．Monica: (to Alan) Thanks. I'll call you tomorrow. (Alan exits, to all) Okay. Okay, let's let the Alan-bashing begin. Who's gonna take the first shot, hmm? 这段话很多人讨论过，主要集中在Alan-bashing上，其实之前Monica已经是下了很大的决心要带Alan同大家见面，心里已经做好了被挖苦的准备了（之前的wine guy,还有那个说话漏风的家伙等等一定让她被讽刺的很不爽），不过这次大家总算给足了面子，包括为了抽烟而宁愿在走廊淋的浑身湿透的Chandler（dripping wet）,Monica一定觉得怪怪的，所以才会等Alan一走就面向大家：好了，现在开始Alan的批判会吧！（Alan-bashing是个有趣的组合，我们也可以用的，比如看到Antique欺负谁了，也可以来个antique-bashing嘛。“take the first shot”也值得记下，各种场合都可以用，“谁先来？”，呵呵，Antique的笔记那么臭，开批判会啦，who’s gonna take the first shot?

 

6. Ross: ...So I think Alan will become the yardstick against which all future boyfriends will be measured. “yardstick” 本身是一种丈量工具，即 “码尺、准绳”，其引申之意也就是 “衡量…的标准或尺度”,后面跟介词of或against, 比如：Is diploma the only yardstick of knowledge? Ross等几个拼命吹嘘Alan，也不知道是真的喜欢还是投Monica所好，总之Monica乐坏了。

 

7. Chandler: So I have a flaw! Big deal! Like Joey's constant knuckle-cracking isn't annoying? And Ross, with his over-pronouncing every single word? And Monica, with that snort when she laughs? I mean, what the hell is that thing? ...I accept all those flaws, why can't you accept me for this? Flaw这里是fault、drawback或shortcoming的意思，吹牛的时候你可以说Antique is so perfect,he has no flaw….，big deal单独用在某句话中多半表示反语或者反问，用的更常见的是no big deal.意思是没什么大不了的。想想真替chandler鸣冤，中国还有很多男人不抽烟被斥为没有男人味道呢，呵呵，果然他心里不平衡了，开始数落起其它几个老友的flaw来比如Joey没事就喜欢把指关节摁得直响(knuckle-cracking)、 Ross说起话来每个字的发音都那么铿锵有力(with his over-pronouncing every single word)、Monica笑起来会打隔(with that snort when she laughs),呵呵，这招就叫围魏救赵。果然在他的挑拨离间计下，其他几个马上degenerate into bickering,陷入了一场口水战中去了。

 

8. Monica: Can you believe it? ...Y'know what? I just don't feel the thing. I mean, they feel the thing, I don't feel the thing. Paula: Honey.. you should always feel the thing. Listen, if that's how you feel about the guy, Monica, dump him! 这里一共出现了四个“feel the thing”，第一个和第三个指的是男女之间那种来电的感觉，第二个是好感的意思，第四个则意味深长，同sex有关，看看Paula诡异的表情就知道这里指的是男人那话儿，ft,西方人那套真看不惯。

 

9.Chandler: Hey, y'know, I have had it with you guys and your cancer and your emphysema and your heart disease. The bottom line is, smoking is cool, and you know it. “I have had it”是个常用句式，意思是我已经受够了。这里Chandler丝毫不为Ross和Joey苦口婆心的劝说所动，仍在那里继续逍遥似神仙，哪管什么cancer、emphysema（肺气肿）、heart disease。Bottom line是底线的意思，如果某人惹恼了你，你可以来一句，you have reach my bottom line.

 

10. Alan: Yeah, I'm sorry too. But, I gotta tell you, I am a little relieved.

Monica满以为Alan会为他们的分手而非常伤心失望，没想到Alan居然说他觉得relieved（放了心、缓了口气），原来Alan内心早觉得那五个损友太缠人了，想象他一个人在球场上狂奔的样子，也真有点同情他。呵呵，追女娃娃真不容易啊，过了女娃娃这关，肯定还有父母那关，就算过了父母那关，居然还有朋友们的那一关，呜呼……负重前行吧。