作者：李景莉

55. to cry in one's beer

有不少美國人經常到酒吧間去,一邊喝酒,一邊聊天。還有的人在心情不好的時候喜歡到酒吧間去喝酒解悶。 to cry in one's beer的意思是"坐在酒吧間里對著啤酒哭,自己可憐自己"。下面的例子是一個人在勸他的朋友:

Come on, Joe! Instead of sitting around in a bar all day crying in your beer about not having any money, why not get off your bottom and go out and look for a job? 行了,喬!與其整天坐在酒吧間里,為了沒有錢而自己可憐自己,為什么不振作起來到外面去找個工作呢?

看來自我可憐的人是沒有人同情的。下面這個例子是一個學生在發表他對同房間一個學生的看法:

I'm tired of hearing my roommate crying in his beer about how hard it is to get good grades. If he'd stay home and study instead of going out every night, I'm sure he'd do a lot better in his classes. 我那同宿舍的同學老是自我憐憫,說要得到好分數是多么地難。我聽得都煩死了。要是他每天晚上呆在家里念書,而不是老出去玩,我肯定他的成績會好得多。

56. cry baby

美國人把那種老是哭哭啼啼、抱怨日常生活中一些瑣事的人叫作"cry baby"。大家都知道cry的意思是"哭",baby就是"嬰兒"。cry baby就是指那些整天"哭哭啼啼、抱怨沒完的人"。 下面的例子又是一個人在勸他的朋友:

Come on, Jack, you're twenty years old-don't be such a cry baby about everything. We all have our problems, but you ought to do something about them instead of just complaining. 行啦,杰克,你已經二十歲了,別有一點兒事就哭。我們大家都會碰到一些問題的。但是,你得想辦法來解決問題,而不能老是抱怨。

許多人都怕去看牙醫。但是,美國牙醫一般都用麻藥。為了保護牙齒,醫生經常安排病人每年清洗牙齒兩次。下面是一個爸爸在說他的兒子:

Bill, don't be such a cry baby about going to the dentist: all he's going to do is clean your teeth. Look at your little sister-she's not making a fuss about it. 比爾,別為了去看牙就哭哭啼啼的。他只是替你洗洗牙而已。看看你的小妹妹,她就沒有這樣大驚小怪的。

57. all washed up

wash就是"洗",但是,all washed up的意思是"徹底完蛋",和干凈不干凈毫無關系。下面這位女士在和她妹妹說另一個她們都認識的朋友:

Did you hear that Gloria's marriage is all washed up? She packed up, took the kids and moved out. Now she's suing for divorce. 你聽說了沒有,格洛里亞的婚姻是徹底完蛋了。她收拾起自己的東西,帶著孩子搬出去了。現在,她向法院提出要離婚呢!

下面這個例子是關于一個染上惡習、到最后破壞自己生活的人:

That man over there used to be one of the best baseball players. But then he started drinking, turned into an alcoholic, and just two years later he was all washed up. 那邊那個人以前是最好的棒球運動員之一。但是,后來他開始喝酒,逐漸酗酒成習。這樣,只過了兩年,他的棒球生涯也就完蛋了。