Kelly: Hey, Jim. Listen to this: I called Billy's home……
Jim: And?
Kelly: His number is no longer in service. Then I called his company……
Jim: What did they say?
Kelly: They said they gave him the boot months ago.
Jim: Holy smokes! What's he doing, then? I hope he's OK.
Kelly: You know his girlfriend…… try giving her a call.
(A day later.)
Jim: Guess what, Kelly? Linda and Billy broke up.
Kelly: Does she know where he is?
Jim: It sounds like she never wants to hear his name again, that wench!
Kelly: I thought they were in love.
Jim: I think she loved his promises of the easy life. Maybe Billy's too ashamed now to contact us.
Kelly: Let's keep trying his other friends to try to track him down.
Notes:
1. 对话中Kelly 和Jim在四处打探Billy的下落,Kelly给Billy家打电话,但是他家的电话已经停机了。Be in service 表示“可供使用的”,那么be out of service的意思就是“无法使用的”。
2. 然后Kelly又给Jim的公司打了电话,但是他们说几个月前Billy就被解雇了。Give someone the boot这个短语就表示“请某人走路,解雇某人”。一般来说,表示“解雇”这个意义的正式说法是“I was laid off.”
3. 如果要口语化一点,就是“I was fired.” 或者“I was canned.” 对话中的give someone the boot也可以表示“解雇”这个意义,我们一个对话来做例子,比如说:——Have you heard of it? Tom's given the boot! 你听说了吗?汤姆被解雇了。——Wow! It's unbelievable! 哇!真叫人无法想信!
4. 除了“解雇”这个意思之外,give someone the boot也可以表示“和某人断绝关系”,不过这里的关系通常是指男女关系。比如说:——Hey, Julie. Where's Peter? I thought he was coming. 嘿,Julie,Peter呢?我以为他也会来呢。——No, I gave him the boot. He was too possessive.没有,我把他甩了。他的占有欲太强了。
5. Jim对这个消息感到很吃惊,他说“Holy smokes!”,在口语中表示“天哪!”,跟“Oh, God!”差不多。Kelly让Jim打电话给Billy的女朋友,问问她知不知道Billy的下落。但是Jim带回来的消息却是,Billy和女朋友Linda已经分手了。她根本不知道Billy在哪,而且再也不想听到这个倒霉的人的名字了。Jim很气愤,说Linda是wench,wench在口语中表示“可恶的女人”,就跟bitch差不多。
6. Kelly还以为他们两个人是相爱的,没想到却大难临头各自飞,因为Linda看重的只是Billy承诺的轻松优越的生活。爱情事业都不得意,也许现在Billy没有脸跟朋友们联系了。Too ashamed to do something 表示“感到很羞愧而不能做某事”,比如说:He felt too ashamed to ask for help. 他不好意思请求帮助。
7. be ashamed of someone / something / oneself,表示“为某人/某事/为自己感到惭愧,感到羞耻”,比如说:You should be ashamed of yourself for telling such lies. 你应该为自己说谎而感到羞耻。He felt ashamed of having done so little work. 他因为只做了这么一点工作而感到惭愧。
8. Kelly还是不放弃希望,要继续打探Billy的消息。Track something /someone down,表示“经追踪或搜索而发现某人或某物”,比如说:I finally tracked down the reference in a dictionary of quotations.
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