时间:2019-02-03 作者:英语课 分类:美国习惯用语


英语课

  今天的两个习惯用语都来自华盛顿的一份报纸上的同一篇文章,谈论的是2000年夏天民主党以及共和党各自召开的全国代表大会。这种大会的目的是为同年十一月份的大选确定本党总统侯选人的提名。

我们要学的第一个习惯用语是: suck up。 Suck这个词原来的意思是吸收,但是动词短语suck up却有另外的意思。我们听个例子,想一想suck up表示什么样的行为。

例句-1:Mary sucks up to her boss by telling him often how much she admires his talents and how lucky she is working for him.

这句话的意思是: Mary真是马屁精,她常常对上级说自己如何佩服他的才干,还说自己在他手下工作有多幸运。

习惯用语suck up也常用来描述政治活动。例如刚才说到的报导两党的全国代表大会的文章提到在会场内外各有千秋,场内是群情激昂,团结一致的誓师大会,而场外却在举行多彩多姿的款待嘉宾的活动,专门为了取悦那些巨额捐款人。我们听听文章怎么报导这种向赞助人献殷勤的活动。

例句-2:The two parties will suck up to their big contributors with special affairs outside of official convention 1 meetings. Delegates 2 and guests who have already made large contributions will be invited to golf tournaments, lunch with famous sports heroes and dinner with movie stars at a Hollywood studio.

他说:两党将通过会场外的特殊活动使劲巴结讨好他们的巨额捐款人,与会代表和嘉宾都将被请去看高尔夫球比赛,和运动名将共进午餐,还要在好莱坞电影制片厂跟电影明星一起共享晚宴。

这里的suck up是巴结讨好的意思。

******

不用说,这些动用了运动名将和电影明星的特殊活动都得花费大笔大笔的资金。这一来侯选人岂不更缺钱了吗? 那么经办这些劳民伤财的活动有什么意义呢? 其实很简单,他们的目光还是集中在那些大款的腰包上。

虽然这些大款已经慷慨解囊支持了他们的竞选,但是他们还想争取大款更多的捐款,于是就使出这种种软功促使大款不得不掏钱。这就产生了今天要学的第二个习惯用语: shake down。 Shake down原本有勒索钱财的意思,但是刚才说过政党是使用讨好大款的软功来换取他们的钱财的,所以shake down这个习惯用语也有把人奉承得团团转,使他不得不掏腰包的意思。 Shake down可以联想到中文里的摇钱树,一摇晃钱就往下掉。

好,我们来听一位竞选经费募款人在简要汇报他的工作计划,注意他话里用到的习惯用语shake down。

例句-3:We'll have a lunch with the candidate 3 for supporters who have given at least $5,000 so far, and shake them down for a check of $2,500 right on the spot. Most of them will do it too. Because we have one advantage: we already know that they support our party and that they have money.

他说:我们和侯选人将跟迄今为止已捐款五千美元或以上的赞助人共进午餐,并且就在午餐会当场施展招数敲他们一笔,让他们再各自拿出两千五百美元的支票来。他们多半会这样做。因为我们的有利因素是既知道他们支持我们的党,又知道他们手头有钱。

这段话里的shake them down意思是“敲他们一笔。” 现在我们再回到华盛顿邮报那篇说全党代表大会的文章上来,里面有一句话把今天学到的两个习惯用语都用上了:

例句-4:This summer's political conventions 4 will be a super bowl of sucking up and shaking down.

这句话里的super bowl原来是指美国一年一度最盛大的运动项目: 全国美式足球联合会锦标赛,这里用来比喻全党代表大会全力以赴,向赞助人大献殷勤,努力争取他们捐款的激烈场面。



n.惯例,习俗,常规,会议,大会
  • How many delegates have checked in at the convention?大会已有多少代表报到?
  • He sets at naught every convention of society.他轻视所有的社会习俗。
代表,代表团成员( delegate的名词复数 )
  • The conference was attended by delegates from 56 countries. 此次会议有来自56个国家的代表出席。
  • Delegates expressed strong opposition to the plans. 代表强烈反对这些计划。
n.候选人;候补者;投考者,申请求职者
  • Voters like a candidate who has the common touch. 投票者喜欢那些平易近人的候选人。
  • The local newspapers dressed up the candidate as a boxer.当地报纸把那个候选人描绘成一个拳击手。
(某一职业、政党等的人士召开的)大会( convention的名词复数 ); 协议; 习俗; (美国)全国代表大会
  • They broke away from conventions. 他们打破了常规。
  • They disregard social conventions without being conscious that they are doing anything extraordinary. 他们不顾社会习俗,并未意识到自己在做些与众不同的事。
学英语单词
4-Nonylphenol
A fool's bolt is soon shot .
a. palatina ascendens
abstract nouns
afraidness
allele-shift
anthracene oil
assesses
asset-income ratio
bakoye (bakoy)
bildt
Canar
canthaxanthins
Central European
Cheyne Stokes breathing
CMR (common mode rejection ratio)
co-heartedness
collateral energy
commutating watthour meter
complex cone
cooperation in production
counter-balanced lift truck
creep component
Cuscuta
denazified
dining-room attendants
discrete exponential family
do up brown
drupiferous
earth shine
electricity and gas supply - isic
embedded resistor
equimorphism
Esch's medium
Euptela
expansion-valve
eyeballs-to-eyeballs
foamed impregenation
freehandle
fried eggs with shrimps
fuse cut-outs
genus guloes
glucosidases
Grace Patricia Kelly
graded-density skin
Guarantee Unit Under TIR
half intensity width
hammer riveting machine
Han Kook
hydrogen transportase
hyperemia of bulbar conjunctiva
Ikla
in chains
inverse Raman effect
isogenomatic
Larina
licence-fee
lindera thomsonii allen
litterless
lock seaming
lot goods
low boiler pressure trip
Lutjanus blackfordi
Macht's tests
material mark
mayor and council system
mesocoria
Methyl-3-phenylcoumarin
military dances
nascent aluminium
national public telecomputing network
network id
olive infused oil
Omega segment synchronization
one pair brush multiphase series motor
paraphytoseius chihpenensis
passage of current
peri-naphthindene
phonon emission
phosphate capacity
pleurites
psychobiological entity
quasi-free ion
replenishment developer
Saidian
semi-Whitneyite
singphos
Sippy powder No. 1
smiley face
space plant
spates
spherical harmonic
Squibb, Edward Robinson
throttle valve topside
tower footing resistance
trajo
upper bell
victualing
wffs
workin'
younger hand