VOA流行美語 Unit 196:Kiss something goodbye和Lose one's&

Larry和李華剛剛考試完畢。李華告訴Larry，她考得很不好。今天李華會學到兩個常用語：Kiss something goodbye和Lose one's cool。

LH: Larry! 今天的考試真難，我連三分之一都沒做完。

LL: What? That's not good. I guess you have to kiss your “A” in that class goodbye.

LH: 你在瞎說八道什麼呀？ 我現在很不高興，還要和誰親嘴？

LL: No, no, Li Hua, that's not what I said! I said “You have to kiss your ‘A’ goodbye". Kiss something goodbye indicates one accepts he or she won't or can't have something.

LH: 噢，我明白了，kiss something goodbye在這裏不是指和誰接吻告別，而是指一個人知道不會得到他要得東西了。你是說，我這門課考試沒考好，所以就得不到A了。

LL: That's right! Li Hua, did you ever have to kiss something goodbye before?

LH: 我有沒有遇到過這種情況呀？我想想...對了。 上次我把手套忘在出租車裏了。所以，這手套就再也沒有了。I have to kiss my gloves goodbye! 這意思對不對？

LL: That's right. But when your bike was stolen last week, I bet you thought you would have to kiss that goodbye.

LH: 沒錯，我真以爲那自行車被偷了，從此就沒了。沒想到警察幫我把它找了回來， 我就不必跟自行車“kiss goodbye”。

LL: And when you left China, you had to kiss your mother's good Chinese cooking goodbye.

LH: 是啊，很久都沒有吃到我媽媽燒的菜了，有的時候真想家。Larry，我畢業以後可能會離開紐約到一個小城市去工作，那我就吃不到紐約許多不同的風味小吃了。

LL: I'm staying here in New York. So if that's your plan, you'll also have to kiss interesting conversations with me goodbye.

LH: 是呀，我要是真的離開紐約， 我就不能跟你經常聊天了。不過，我們可以打電話啊。

LL: That's right. Well, anyway, it's too bad about that test. I guess you will have to kiss your “A” goodbye.

LH: Kiss my“A” goodbye，我可真不甘心。我得找教授談一談。

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LH: 這就是教授的辦公室。

LL: Sure is. OK, Li Hua, when you go into the professor's office to talk about that test, Remember, don't lose your cool!

LH: Don't lose your cool! 這是什麼意思？難道我會丟失什麼嗎？

LL: I said “don't lose your cool”. Don't lose your cool means stay calm, don't get angry.

LH: 噢，don't lose your cool是要我冷靜， 不要生氣發火。 Larry， 前天我們開車明明沒有超速，可是警察攔住我們， 我當時差一點要發火，可是沒有"lost my cool"?

LL: No, you didn't lose your cool, you were calm. One time I lost my cool with a bus driver because he didn't stop the bus at my stop.

LH：你跟司機發脾氣， 當然不會有好結果。

LL: Yep. I had to wait for the next stop and walk back. If I hadn't lost my cool and had nicely asked him to stop, I wouldn't have had to walk so far.

LH: 你看，和司機法脾氣沒好處。你得等下一站才能下車，再往回走。看來你要冷靜地和他商量，keep your cool，他沒準就停下來了。

LL: That's true. I heard more people lose their cool in the evening than in the morning, when they are fresh.

LH: 那是可以想象的。人工作了一天累了就容易發火。早上人很清醒，情緒就比較平靜。好了， 閒話少說，我得進去找教授了。

LL: Remember, when you go in there you don't want to lose your cool, or you can say, you want to KEEP YOUR COOL. Lose your cool and keep your cool are opposites.

LH: 知道了，lose your cool就是失去冷靜；keep your cool就是保持冷靜。總之，遇事一定要冷靜就是了。

LL: That's for sure. I'll wait out here. See you in a few minutes.

今天李華學到了兩個常用語。一個是kiss something goodbye, 意思是失去、損失。李華學到的另一個常用語是lose one's cool意思是變得不冷靜， 或是說keep one's cool這是保持冷靜的意思。