【句子】Honey, you know how slippery they are. 【Desperate Housewives S2E8】
【发音】/ˈhʌn.i/ /ju:/ /nəʊ/ /haʊ/ /ˈslɪp.ər.i/ /ðeɪ/ /ɑː(r)/
【发音技巧】暂无;
【翻译】亲爱的,你知道他们有多狡猾。
【适用场合】
今天节目中我们一起来看看slippery这个单词的用法。大家日常生活中可能会在一些提醒大家“小心地滑”的牌子上看到slippery这个词,因为它有形容词“光滑的;滑溜溜的;易滑落的”这样的词义;
比如说:
eg: a slippery sidewalk
一条打滑的人行道
而今天视频中,slippery的用法,明显是形容词性另外一个意思:“靠不住的;狡猾的;滑头的;”
这个词经常用来描述人,而且充满了贬义色彩。
someone who is slippery is clever but dishonest, so that you cannot trust them;
在口语中,当slippery当作这个意思理解,一般经常还会跟eel鳗鱼或者snake蛇这样的动物形象联系在一起,我们会说as slippery as an eel,或者as slippery as a snake字面意思是:“像一条鳗鱼一样狡猾”;“像一条蛇一样狡猾”;
在中文当中,我们通常会说“像狐狸一样狡猾”,这个时候就能体会出来中英文文化当中的表达差异了。
eg: He's as slippery as an eel—you can never get a straight answer out of him.
他啊,狡猾得跟狐狸一样,你从他嘴里套不出来一句直率的答案。
大家从这句话中就能看出来同样表达“狡猾的;滑头的;不可信赖的”这样的意思,但是中英文中选择的意象明显不同。
eg: Their embezzling CEO has been slippery as a snake, but we've finally got some hard evidence on him now.
他们那个挪用公款的首席执行官狡猾得很,但是我们终于拿到了一些他犯罪的铁证。
eg: Of course that guy took everyone's money and left town—he's as slippery as a snake.
当然,那家伙拿走了所有人的钱,离开了小镇。他特别狡猾。
eg: Don't sign a lease with that landlord. I think he's as slippery as an eel.
别跟那个房东签租约,他太狡猾了。
而当别人说slippery customer的时候,其实此时的customer也不一定就是“顾客”的意思;
slippery customer 就是指“一个狡猾、滑头的人或者事物、组织”;
eg: Don't believe what he says—he's a slippery customer.
别相信他说的话,他这个人啊,狡猾得很!
【尝试翻译以下句子,并留言在文章留言区】
Companies like this are slippery customers, coming up with all sorts of elaborate means of getting around regulations.