The english we speak(BBC教學)第324期:Brass neck 厚顏無恥
If you have a neck made of brass how does it make you behave? Feifei discovers an expression about being confident that shouldn't be taken literally!
如果你的脖子是用黃銅做的，那你要怎麼行動？菲菲發現了一個與自信有關的表達方式，這個表達可不能從字面上理解！Feifei: Hello I'm Feifei and this is The English We Speak.
菲菲：大家好，歡迎收聽地道英語節目。Rob: Yes, it is. And hello I'm Rob.
羅布：歡迎收聽節目。大家好，我是羅布。
Feifei: I don't know about you Rob, but I seem to have so much work to do at the moment.
菲菲：羅布，我不知道你什麼情況，可是我現在好像有很多工作要做。Rob: Yeah, me too. We've got to meet that deadline by Friday.
羅布：我也是。週五就是最後截止期限了。Feifei: I guess we've all got lots to do — and that's why I was surprised that Phyllis has asked to take three days off work this week.
菲菲：我想我們都有很多事要做，所以我在聽說菲利斯這周要請三天假時感到非常驚訝。Rob: Three days? Are you sure? Maybe she's unwell?
羅布：請三天假？你確定嗎？她是不是身體不舒服？Feifei: No, she's fine — I heard her say to the boss in a very loud voice 'I've got a great deal on a flight to Italy so I need to take the rest of the week off.'
菲菲：不是，她很好，我聽到她很大聲地跟老闆說，“我訂了飛往意大利的航班，所以這周剩下的日子我要休假。”Rob: What cheek — she's got a brass neck.
羅布：真是厚臉皮，她真是厚顏無恥。Feifei: A brass neck? Phyllis has a brass neck! Really — when did she get that — maybe she needs a holiday to recover from the operation?
菲菲：黃銅脖子？菲利斯有個黃銅脖子！真的嗎？她是什麼時候有的黃銅脖子？也許她需要假期是因爲她需要從手術中恢復過來？Rob: No no no Feifei. Her neck isn't actually made of brass — I just mean she is confident but also a bit rude — she can do or say things that most of us would be too embarrassed to do or say.
羅布：不是，不是這樣的，菲菲。她的脖子不是黃銅做的，我的意思是她很自信，但是有點兒無禮，她能做或是說一些我們因爲尷尬而不會去做或者說的事情。Feifei: Yes, she just doesn't care what she says does she? So if someone is described as having a brass neck, it means they are confident and say or do what they want but doesn't understand their behaviour might be unacceptable to others.
菲菲：對，她不在乎她說了什麼，對吧？如果我們說有人有“黃銅脖子”，其實是說他們很自信，他們會說他們想說的話，做他們想做的事，但是並不知道他們的行爲對於其他人來說可能無法接受。Rob: Yes, she certainly doesn't worry about what other people think of her. A bit like people in these examples...
羅布：對，她當然不在乎其他人怎麼看她。有點像這些例子裏的人……Examples
例句My ex-boyfriend's got a brass neck, coming round and asking me to do his washing!
我前男友真是厚臉皮，他過來讓我幫他洗衣服！The customer has a brass neck asking for a refund when it was obvious he had already worn the shoes.
這個顧客真是厚臉皮，他顯然已經穿過這雙鞋了，卻還來要求退款。She's got a brass neck telling the boss that he wasn't very good at his job — I would never say that!
她太厚臉皮了，她跟老闆說他不太擅長自己的工作，我可永遠不會那麼說！Feifei: So having a brass neck means you are extremely confident about your own actions but you don't understand that your behaviour might be unacceptable to others. So it's not like us Rob?
菲菲：這個短語的意思是說你對自己的行爲極其自信，但你並不知道自己的行爲對別人來說可能無法接受。這可不是我們的作風，對吧羅布？Rob: Absolutely not. Although, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind writing the notes for the presentation we're doing? I've got to meet someone for lunch.
羅布：當然不是了。不過我想知道你是不是不介意爲我們正在做的展示會做筆記？我約了人吃午飯。Feifei: Ermm...
菲菲：額……Rob: Come on Feifei, you love writing presentations... Oh why are you looking so brassed off?
羅布：來吧菲菲，你很喜歡寫演示文稿的……哦，爲什麼你看上去那麼憤怒呢？Feifei: Brassed off — you mean I'm looking annoyed and disappointed — maybe I'm looking brassed off because of your brass neck.
菲菲：憤怒，你是說我看上去惱怒又沮喪，也許我之所以看上去很憤怒是因爲你太厚顏無恥了。Rob: I'll take that as 'no' then. Oh well, at least you understand this English expression now!
羅布：我就當你這是回答“不行”了。好吧，至少現在你理解這個英語表達的意思了！Both: Bye!
二人一起：再見！
譯文屬僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載
重點講解：
1. recover from 恢復健康；復原；
例句：It took a long time for him to recover from a bad cold.
他患重感冒，很長時間才康復。
2. be made of （由…）構成的；（由…）製成的；
例句：The lavatory windows are made of translucent glass.
廁所窗戶是用半透明玻璃做的。
3. come around 拜訪；探訪；
例句：Mary comes around to see her parents once or twice a week.
瑪麗每星期來看她的父母親一兩次。
4. be good at 擅長的；精通的；能幹的；
例句：The boy is good at doing a sum in his head.
這男孩善於心算。
