"布朗尼加分"口語課堂第2期:"腹痛"之謎

Hi, 我是Rose, 歡迎光臨“布朗尼加分”口語課堂。希望通過在這裏的積累，能夠給您未來的表現增加更多的“Brownie Points”印象分。今天開始，Rose 要和大家一起，先讀故事，再學習語。在開始學習之前，Rose 有一個小小的要求，遇到不是太熟悉的短語或習語請大家先不要着急去後面找解釋，而是通過上下文意思先自行判斷。這樣能夠幫助大家更紮實地記憶想要掌握的知識。好了，我們馬上開始今天的故事旅程。

One day, an old lady isn't feeling well. She goes to see the doctor in her small town. "What's the matter?"the doctor asks. "I have a stomachache. And I'm running a fever,"she tells him. The doctor takes an X-ray. He's shocked when he looks at it. There's a 12-inch piece of metal in her stomach. "That takes the cake!" he thinks. "No wonder she has a stomachache!" The old lady then remembers an operation she has 25 years ago. Apparently, the surgeon made a big mistake and left a medical instrument inside her. "We need to get rid of it," says the doctor. "You need an operation." The old lady has cold feet and wants to put it off. But her doctor wants her to have the operation right away. Now the medical instrument is gone and the old lady is recovering.

1. That takes the cake! 在這個故事當中意思相當於“That's really strange, that's the worst!”簡直太奇怪了！糟糕透了！something takes the cake意思就是something is the most extreme, 也就是“最……”的一個表達法。
比如這個例子：I've known some jerks but you take the cake. 我認識的蠢人是不少，但你絕對是其中翹楚。

2. 再來看No wonder的用法。No wonder意思是“It's not surprising!”漢語翻譯爲“難怪……”
No wonder people say computers are taking over the world. 難怪有人說計算機正漸漸接管世界。
No wonder the firm makes a loss; the office is terribly overstaffed. 難怪公司虧損，辦公室嚴重超編。

3. have cold feet 表達的是“be afraid to do something” 害怕做某件事的意思。有的時候也翻譯爲“臨陣退縮”。
來看例句：A: What's wrong? Would you like to tell me?
B: Just got cold feet about meeting myself face to face. 原來問題是“不敢面對自己。”

今天我們的故事就講到這裏。嘗試使用一下已經瞭解的習慣表達法。 Practice makes perfect. 我們下期“布朗尼加分”口語課堂見。