流行美语教程 Lesson 7: choke; money

Xbfeng

Michael和李华今天去看篮球比赛。球赛是在纽约大型室内体育馆[麦迪逊广场花园]举行，这场比赛是华盛顿的球队对纽约的球队。 Michael到中国去学过中文，他让李华跟他讲中文，以便练习听力。现在他们俩正在排队进入体育馆。今天他们在对话中会用choke和 money这两个词。

L: 嗨，Michael，谢谢你买到这么好的票！我真高兴能到[麦迪逊广场]来看球。这可是有名的体育馆哟！

5 H* }& c6 F1 S! I) O' i% TM： No problem! I am really happy you could come. Yeah, I love coming to the Garden to watch basketball games.

+ G3 K* C0 L4 O# M, N4 {L: 你也喜欢来这里看篮球比赛啊，那太好了。今天是纽约队比华盛顿队，你看结局会怎样？
$ Z7 X5 g7 T7 G: n. q0 }% B
M：Well, Li Hua, I think New York is going to lose. Knowing them, their going to choke.

L: 你说纽约队会输？你还说什么 choke? 你是说他们吃饭时会噎着啦？这跟输球有什么关系，我不懂。
, w) @# K1 w; b  U1 N
' x8 T2 D4 D9 T! e1 n" CM：No, no, no! They're not going to choke on their food! It's the same word with the same spelling, but it has a different meaning. Here, choke means to fail under pressure.

7 W1 I" R, _7 V. tL：噢，我懂了。 你说的choke 是指纽约队会抵挡不住华盛顿球队的压力而输掉，对吗？
( U; r5 q5 n" X  e
M: Yes! And choke has many uses. How else do you think it can be used?
) n: i4 R5 a6 V% Y+ K
$ A- o) {& }3 k6 f* Z0 s) Q* |7 _L: Choke 可以用在很多地方。考试考糟了，可以用choke 这个字吧？
# s; V4 u% ?% F* V
: ~4 k$ D, O0 NM: Yes! In fact, I choked on a test last week.

L：你上星期考试考糊了？嘿，Michael，我还知道怎么用choke这个字。你不是老想请那个姑娘出去玩吗？你请她，她连电话都不回，这可真让你choked了，对不对？
% Y3 r0 s! [9 @6 D6 u# f9 A' F
% D) C/ R5 o$ z, d5 c( r  W) pM：It seems like you really understand this word! Yeah, but it doesn't matter with that girl because I don't like her anyway.

+ F* J* P+ w- N; W& L% @3 ]7 ML: 噢，你说得可真轻松，没关系，因为你不喜欢她。好，那你告诉我你喜欢哪个女孩呐？
' X% W' {$ l8 t5 M7 x5 K0 k
! v4 L1 p' J/ M+ I5 @0 tM：Oh, that doesn't matter. Let's go to our seats！

L: 好，好， 去找位置吧！

  C6 x) L7 p9 v% _0 c(Michael和李华找到了自己的座位)
8 u4 }3 w7 H2 F7 O" I, }1 e
L: Michael，你看，纽约队看来不会输，他们赢了两个球，现在还剩十秒了。只要纽约队不失去球，他们就不会输。

M：I think that New York is going to win. Maybe they won't choke after all.
2 Q8 H' O* Y! r  u/ E
L：你也认为纽约队可能不会输？等等，你看，纽约队丢了球！这下他们完了！华盛顿队要求暂停，他们还有赢的机会。
( \7 }, T* c% j* J% V( ^1 }6 i
& m9 m/ ?2 c( U% A! b: y/ Q7 EM：Washington is going to win. Michael Jordan will make the last shot. He is money.
% i9 _3 K9 `+ K7 L) b9 @
L: 你认为华盛顿球队会赢，Michael Jordan 会投进最后一个球。你说 "He is money "是说他会赚钱吗？
" Y  C1 W( P4 T7 X
M：No, by money, here I mean that he performs consistently at a high level.
- k& m8 L% g6 [  w( v3 z& v
" B2 W: A0 D/ w4 d5 t# ~% sL: 噢，这儿的money不是指钱，是指他打球一直保持在高水平上，一直打得很棒。

( ]0 k4 D) T# CM：Yes, you could say Yao Ming is money too.
* ]0 a/ V% u) d6 e
L: 姚明当然很棒，所以也可以说：Yao Ming is money。那我们班的 Steven，他考试总是考得很好，也能说，He is money?
  T/ C* u! J) A) y+ r2 E% v
& F5 P! h9 b9 ^( IM：Yup. He's money. You can also call things money. For example, this pizza we are eating is money.
3 Z3 S, k6 r8 T
+ X/ i( |: Q. f6 nL: 原来凡是好的东西都可以说是money。我们正在吃的比萨饼是很好吃，所以也可以说是money.

8 M; q5 `% q- F. i0 k0 u, H# iM：Do you think the coffee shop we like to go to is money?
- O, H0 u, t5 Z- N
L: 我们常去的咖啡馆当然非常好，我一有空就想去。
* a1 j! c0 a5 ^' }
M: Michael Jordan won the game! I told you he is money!

$ ^+ j* Y  P% F/ W- FL: Michael Jordan赢得了比赛，他就是棒。
0 b  Q% {1 q% u) P/ }  J0 [
# M7 v) e& z: E5 G4 {4 M) V# B, fM：Let's get going, though. I have to study for a test. I don't want to choke on the test again.

# m1 W) {, B+ F  I. ^( b5 S$ |/ uL: 好吧，你快回去准备考试吧，我知道你要再考糊，就麻烦了。

Michael和李华今天在对话里用的两个词意思是相对的。 To choke是糟糕，失败的意思；而money是保持高水平，非常棒的意思。最好大家都不要choke，都成为money，那就太棒了。
# p1 h" Q! g6 c/ T0 U( c; \以下为音频：