Michael是紐約大學的美國學生,他同時也在一家建筑公司實習。他的中國同學李華今天要去他的公司看他。Michael聽得懂中文,但是說還有點困難。Michael和李華在今天的對話里會用兩個常用語,一個是:big gun; 另一個是to quarterback。Michael現(xiàn)在在辦公室門口和李華打招呼。
M: Hey, Li Hua, Come on in. How're you doing?
L: 我挺好。你怎么樣?對了,你下午想干什么?
M: Ah, I've got a meeting with the big guns this afternoon. They want to talk to me about continuing to work here after graduation.
L: 我聽懂了你后面的一句話,他們要跟你談關(guān)于畢業(yè)后回來工作的 事。那真是太好了??墒?,你剛才說今天下午要跟誰開會?
M: Yea, I 'm meeting with my bosses. Sometimes we call them the big guns of the office.
L: 噢,你要跟你的幾個老板開會。你們把老板叫做the big guns!
M: It's an expression that can be used to describe powerful people.
L: 噢, 那是指權(quán)力很大的人, 也就是大人物。那么,總統(tǒng)的顧問能 稱為big guns嗎?
M: Yes, a president's advisors are big guns. But it can also be used in sports. In soccer the stars of a team are the big guns.
L: Big guns 還能用在體育方面。
M: OK, let me show you around the rest if the office.
L: 你要帶我去看看這公司的大樓,那太好了。Let's go!
M: This is the conference room. We had a meeting here yesterday on our plan for a new building. The project leader quarterbacked the meeting.
L: 等等,你說這是會議室,你們昨天在這里開了一個會, 討論蓋 一 棟新樓的計劃??墒牵氵€說那項目主任是踢美式足球的,是quarterback,四分衛(wèi),對不對?
M: No, no, no! Quarterback here is a verb, meaning to lead. The word quarterback is borrowed from American football, where the quarterback leads the team.
L: 噢,quarterback 在這里是動詞,意思是領(lǐng)導(dǎo)。你說這里的 quarterback 是從美式足球里借來用的,因為quarterback在球隊里是主力。你剛才是怎么說的?
M: The project leader quarterbacked the meeting.
L: 現(xiàn)在我聽清楚了,你剛才說的是:項目領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人主持會議。
那么,to quarterback 還能用在別處嗎?
M: To quarterback is business slang. If someone is responsible for a group working on a new project that individual is quarterbacking the team.
L: 知道了,to quarterback 是用在商業(yè)方面的。要是某人負責一個新項目,這個人就是在領(lǐng)導(dǎo)這個項目的小組。要是某人在一個法律事務(wù)所主持會議,那該怎么說呢?
M: Someone quarterbacked the meeting at the law firm.
L: 你們公司的一位重要領(lǐng)導(dǎo)主持會議,討論公司的收入報告,這又 該怎么說?
M: The company's big gun quarterbacked the meeting about their revenue report. Hey, I need to get back to work. I'll call you later.
L: 好吧,那就再見吧!希望你將來成為a big gun.
M: Oh, yea, I'm sure soon I'll be quarterbacking every meeting and every project.
L: 你真的當真吶! 還想主持所有會議,總管所有項目。得啦,再 見吧!
Michael 和李華在對話中用了兩個常用語, 一個是:the big guns, 意思是大人物,對決策有重大影響的人;另一個是:to quarterback,意思是主持會議,或總管項目。這次[流行美語]就播講到這里。下次節(jié)目再見。