中國人在美國：口語表達也要入鄉(xiāng)隨俗（03）

11. A peeking Tom

When small children peek through fences or into windows，they are probably just being curious。When a grown man does the same thing，it is often because he has other motives-and they aren't always innocent or respectable ones。A man snooping like that is a a peeking Tom，"The neighbors have called the police，They are certain there is a peeking Tom in the neighbourhood tonight。

Peek是窺視地意思，一個小男孩從圍墻或窗戶外偷看別人，可能是由于出于好奇心的驅(qū)使。但是當(dāng)一個大男人做出同樣的舉動時，他就可能有猥褻的念頭。我們稱這樣的人叫”Peeking Tom“。”鄰居們都打電話報警，說今天晚上有個偷窺狂在附近出沒!

peek / pi:k; pik/ v [I, Ipr] ~ (at sth) look quickly and often secretively (at sth) 匆匆地(常為秘密地)看(某物); 偷看; 窺視: * No peeking! 禁止窺視! * peek over the fence 向籬笆那邊瞥一眼 * peek at sb's diary 偷看某人的日記.

12. A WINDFALL

Many words in English began as idioms.

A windfall is one of them.

It once referred to fruit that had been blown to the frond by the wind, but has now come to mean sudden good luck--Particularly in receiving money unexpectedly.

eg: "Felix won some money in the lottery and got a welcome windfall."

(那這個也算吧?)

13. John

John在美國算是大眾化的名字，除了我們實驗室又一個John外，每次上德文課，當(dāng)老師叫一聲John來回答問題時候，此時教室里又好幾聲回應(yīng)。

一天，我有事情找隔壁實驗室的Albert，找了半天，也不見他的蹤影。正好看到Chuck在聚精會神的做試驗。我問他有沒有看到Albert, Chuck忙的頭也不抬用手往外一指說：“Check the john。”我想他八成太忙沒有聽清楚，就在重復(fù)了一遍，并且強調(diào)我要找的是Albert，不是John。

Chuck抬頭錯愕的看了我一眼，干脆停下了手里的實驗，說：“Follow me。”我們兩個走到實驗室外，chuck指著不遠處的廁所說：“Albert is in the john。”

這是，Albert正好從廁所出來，一時間我和Chuck不禁相視大笑，我也知道了，John除了用作人名之外，竟然還是廁所的代號!

14.吹horn

大衛(wèi)和我是搭檔，同一室工作，他頗得公司賞識。

一天，經(jīng)理叫我請大衛(wèi)去辦公室走一趟。不料大衛(wèi)頭也不抬就答道：“I don't blow my horn。”

辦公室那里有horn(號角，喇叭)呢?我只好將原話象經(jīng)理復(fù)述。不料他說：“Then you blow for him。”當(dāng)我發(fā)呆不語時候，他解釋說：總公司派人來了解大衛(wèi)，想表彰他。

我明白了，就一五一十地介紹了大衛(wèi)，給他吹了一次“horn”。

15.Egghead...

星期天，我們到朋友Helen家看錄像帶。她的弟弟正在電腦旁打報告，抬頭向我們打了一聲招呼后，完全不受干擾的又繼續(xù)埋頭工作。

Helen說：“我們看我們的電影，不必管他，he is such an egghead!”“雞蛋臉?不會吧!我覺得他應(yīng)該算是方面大耳的國字臉呀!“我如此的回答。

看我一本正經(jīng)的模樣，大家都笑了起來。原來，Egghead是指那些有呆氣的讀書人或者愛講道理的知識分子，和什么臉形，面相都無關(guān)系!

egghead n (infml derog 口, 貶) very intellectual person 很有學(xué)問的人:

* The eggheads at the university know nothing about business. 大學(xué)的飽學(xué)之士對做生意一竅不通.