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All the cool cats speak jive 帥哥酷妹說俚語
Monday, Jan 08, 2007,Page 14
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Singapore librarians set up signs to encourage Singaporians to use Standard English and not local slang.
新加坡圖書館員架起標語，鼓勵新加坡人使用標準英語，而非地方俚語。 (照片：美聯社)
PHOTO: AP
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Everywhere you go, people speak a little differently — even when they speak English.
Americans, British and Australians use different pronunciation. People from these English-speaking countries occasionally don't understand each other.
But the biggest barrier to communication can be slang.
In Australia, before going to the beach, you could tell your friend: take your togs, your esky and a dog's eye for a snack.
This means, "take your swimsuit, your cooler and a meat pie to eat."
"Dog's eye" is slang for meat pie because they rhyme. Similarly, in England, "dog and bone" can mean telephone.
People of different ages also use different slang. In America, if older people want you to keep a secret, they say, "Keep this on the QT" (QT means quiet). Young people could say, "Keep this on the DL" (DL means down low).
Differences like this make English look hard, but don't be discouraged — slang is an exception, not the rule.
(Jason Cox, Staff Writer with agencies)
不論你走到何處，當地人所說的語言都不盡相同，儘管他們都說英文。
美國、英國和澳洲使用不同發音，有時這些來自英語系國家的人也不太懂彼此在說什麼。
但比較難溝通的應該是俚語。
在澳洲，去海灘前，你可能會跟朋友說︰戴著「tog」和你的「esky」，並且拿「dog's eye」當點心。
這表示，「戴著你的泳衣和保冰箱，拿肉派來吃」。
「Dog's eye」是肉派（meat pie）的俚語，因為兩者字尾押韻，同樣的，在英語中「dog and bone」可指電話。
不同年齡層的人也會使用不同的俚語。在美國，老一輩的人要你保密，他們會說「 Keep this on the QT」（QT 表示安靜），年輕人可能會說「Keep this on the DL」（DL表示低聲）。
這些差異會讓英語看似困難，但是別灰心，俚語只是例外，不是法則。
（翻譯︰鄭湘儀）
| Today's Words 今天單字 |
1. barrier n.
障礙 (zhang4 ai4)
例: The police put up barriers to hold back the crowd.
(警力架起障礙物以阻擋人潮。)
2. slang n.
俚語 (li2 yu3)
例: One slang word for dollars is clams.
(錢有個俚語說法叫做「貝」。)
3. discouraged adj.
沮喪 (ju3 sang4)
例: I am a bit discouraged by my bad grade on the test. I really did study!
(測驗成績不佳讓我有點沮喪，我真的有唸書！) |
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