VOA流行美語 Unit 130: tattletale / pushover

VOA流行美語 Unit 130: tattletale / pushover

Larry和李華今天在公園玩飛盤時看到一個人隨地丟垃圾。今天李華會學到兩個常用語：tattletale和pushover.

LH: Larry, 你看，那個人隨地丟垃圾。我們是不是該去告訴站在那邊的警察？

LL: I don't know, Li Hua. I don't really like to be a tattletale. Maybe we should just go and pick up the garbage ourselves.

LH: 我們爲什麼要幫他撿他的垃圾？他應該知道這樣是很沒有公德心的。你說你不想當個tattletale。那是什麼意思？是不是說我們向警察報告是不對的？

LL: A tattletale is someone who runs to tell the person in charge whenever someone else does something wrong. Usually, children call each other tattletales.

LH: 噢，tattletale原來就是愛告狀的人。要是一個小孩說粗話，他姐姐聽到了就跑去告訴媽媽。這個小姐姐就算是tattletale嘍？

LL: Exactly. In general, no one likes a tattletale because it seems as though that person is just trying to get attention.

LH: 對，沒有人喜歡愛告狀的人。他們就是想顯得自己比別人好而已。舉個例子來說，如果我考試做弊，你去告訴教授。這樣你就是個tattletale，對嗎？

LL: Right. You certainly wouldn't be right for cheating on the test, but I wouldn't be a very good friend, either.

LH: 我當然不會在考試的時候做弊。嗨，那個扔垃圾的傢伙已經走了。

LL: Yeah, let's go and put the garbage in the trashcan. It's not right to leave that on the ground.

LH: 對，把垃圾扔在地上實在不好。我們去把垃圾揀起來扔在垃圾桶裏吧。Larry，你真是個有公德心的人。不過，我很好奇，你小時候有沒有告過誰的狀呀？

LL: No, but my little sister was an awful tattletale. Every time I did anything she didn't like, she would run and tell our mother.

LH：真有意思，你的小妹妹老愛到你媽那兒去告你的狀。你肯定很頑皮。

LL：Not really. She's just a tattletale.

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LH: 嘿, Larry, 我倒想聽聽，你妹妹經常到你媽媽那裏告你的狀，你都怎麼反應啊？

LL: I would act really sorry and my mom would forgive me immediately. My mom is a pushover, so she rarely punished me.

LH: 你好耍賴噢！故意裝出很抱歉的樣子，讓你媽媽很快原諒你。哎，對了，什麼是pushover?

LL: A pushover is someone who is easy to convince. It also refers to someone who gives in easily.

LH: 噢，知道了，pushover就是指很容易相信別人，經常讓步的人。就像你，假裝認錯，你媽就不會處罰你，事情就過去了。對不對？

LL: Right. Some people are pushovers because they are really nice and just want to make everyone happy.

LH: 對，這種人，pushovers，一般心地善良，總想讓大家都高興。我看的出來你就是這種人。

LL: Me? A pushover? You've got to be kidding!

LH: 我纔不是開玩笑呢！我記得有一次，我們一起去看電影，你想看的電影和我想看的完全不一樣，結果我們還是看了我想看的那部電影！

LL: Hey, that's just being a good friend. I don't know if you should call me a pushover for that.

LH: (Laugh) 好啦！Larry, 我說你是pushover完全沒有惡意噢！Pushover是不是有負面的意思？

LL: Not necessarily. People are usually pushovers when they're with people whom they care about.

LH：沒錯，讓步一般都是爲自己喜歡的人讓步的。

今天李華學到兩個常用語。第一個是tattletale, 就是喜歡告狀的人。另外一個常用語是pushover，意思是很輕信，或容易讓步的人。