VOA流行美語 Unit 254:eat my dust和sore loser

Larry和李華在紐約參加長跑比賽。李華今天要學兩個常用語，eat my dust和sore loser.

LL: It's a good thing you've been training for this race, Li Hua. But you are still going to eat my dust.

LH: Eat your dust? Yuck. 吃你的土？這是什麼意思啊！

LL: When someone says 'eat my dust," they are saying to their competitors in a race situation that they are confident they are going to win the race, leaving everyone else far behind.

LH: 贏比賽跟讓別人吃土又有什麼關係呢？

LL: Well, when you run, you kick up dust from the road. So, if I run very fast and you are behind me, you'll be getting my dust in your face - and eating my dust.

LH: 噢，我明白了，跑在前面的人掀起的塵土，會落在後面人的臉上，原來是從這兒來的。不過，Larry, 我爲今天的比賽已經訓練兩個多月了，也許你會eat my dust呢！

LL: But I've been running for years, and I've been in many races. And most of the time, the other runners end up eating my dust.

LH: 那也許你能象環法自行車大賽七連冠阿姆斯特朗一樣，讓其他人都ate his dust.

LL: Now that I think about it, Li Hua, I prefer to think of myself as the cheetah of the running world. As the fastest animal on land, all the other animals eat the cheetah's dust.

LH: 你還真自信！大話說出來，可千萬別落在別人後面噢。

LL: Actually, Li Hua. I am just joking. I'm not really the cheetah of the running world. There are so many runners in this race, I am pretty sure I will be eating someone else's dust.

LH: 輸贏並不重要，重在參與嘛！

LL: You are right, Li Hua. And since this is a race for charity, it doesn't matter if you eat my dust - or I eat yours. In the end, everybody wins.

LH: 對呀，比賽收益全都要用來幫助無家可歸的人。Okay, Larry. 準備好，你要eat my dust了！

******

LL: Whew! That was a great race. Even though I didn't place, I'm pretty happy about my overall time. I'm just disappointed by the guy who placed second - what a sore loser!

LH: Hmmm...得第二名的那個人好像特別不高興，又跺腳，又揮拳頭，嘴裏還罵罵咧咧的。你說，這就叫sore loser嗎？

LL: Yes, He clenched his fists and stomped around, saying things that weren't very nice. That is a sore loser!

LH: 在中文裏，我們說這種人輸不起。

LL: But I don't know why he was being such a sore loser, to place second out of the hundreds of people participating in the race should be something to celebrate.

LH: 就是啊。我要是得了第二名，一定樂死了。這種輸不起的人，讓所有人都覺得掃興。

LL: It's true. Do you remember when you were a kid, Li Hua - and you were playing a game? If one of the kids started acting like a sore loser, the game wasn't so fun anymore.

LH: 我當然記得。小孩子都不願意輸。我有個外甥，一輸就哭鼻子。

LL: Yeah, but most people grow up and become adults - and grow out of being sore losers.

LH: 但是有的人就是長不大，我就見過很多sore loser.

LL: That is true. I'm trying really hard not to be a sore loser myself.

LH: 你怎麼會是sore loser呢？

LL: Well, I am kind of embarrassed that you beat me in the race, Li Hua. Especially since I told you that you were going to eat my dust. But I am not going to be a sore loser - I'm proud of you and how well you did in the race.

LH: 噢，原來是因爲這個。謝謝你，Larry, 我確實花了很多時間爲這次比賽做準備。

LL: Say, maybe we should celebrate the outcome by racing over to the ice cream store for an ice cream cone!

LH: 好啊！但是你肯定會eat my dust, 你知道我一見冰激凌就沒命了。

今天李華學到了兩個常用語。一個是eat my dust, 是輸給我的意思。另一個是sore loser, 是指輸不起的人。