VOA流行美語 Unit 34: NERD / CHEESY

Michael和李華白天上了好幾門課，晚飯后又做功課。李華決定到Michael 的住處去休息一下，看一會電視。今天Michael 會教李華兩個常用語：nerd 和cheesy。

M: Are you okay, Li Hua? What's wrong? Why are you crying?

L: 我沒事。這個電視劇讓人挺傷心的。我一看這種電視劇就會哭，真是 沒辦法。

M: You are such a nerd.

L: 你叫我什么？A nerd? 我知道那不是什么好話，可是nerd到底是什 么意思呢？

M: If you call someone a nerd, it means you think he is weird and not cool. It can be used in many different situations.

L: 噢，nerd是指那種跟一般人不一樣，有點怪的人。Nerd可以用在 許多不同場合。那象你今天穿了這套衣服，怪怪的，我就可以 說：You're a nerd。 對不對？

M: Me? A nerd? Well, yes, you could call me a nerd.

L: 我肯定好多人都叫你a nerd。

M: As a matter of fact, when I was growing up, a lot of kids called me a nerd because I didn't fit in.

L: 你小的時候不合群，所以許多人都叫你nerd。我看你現在很合 群嘛。看不出你小時候是個nerd。你到底是怎么個不合群呢？

M: Well, as you know I was never very good at sports, and I never knew how to fit in with the cool kids.

L: 對，你好象告訴過我你從小就不太喜歡體育，跟那些很受歡迎的 同學也合不到一起。所以，你就成了一個nerd。

M: A typical nerd is someone who wears glasses and carries a lot of books.

L: 噢，那就是書呆子的形象，戴著眼鏡，拿著許多書。

M: That's right. If someone is always studying, or seems to know the answers to everything, you can call him a nerd.

L: 老念書，什么都知道的人，那不就是書呆子嗎？Michael，我看你 有的時候穿衣服有點怪，也許人家會叫你nerd，可是你絕對不會 成為書呆子。

M: I guess so! Li Hua, That TV show is so cheesy. I don't know why it's so popular.

L: 這個電視劇好多人都喜歡，包括我在內 。可你又在說什么批評的 話， 我不知道cheesy是什么意思，但是我知道你在說它不好。

M: Cheesy means tacky or dumb. It's usually used to describe a TV show, movie, or something someone says.

L: 噢，cheesy就是很俗氣，質量很次，很愚蠢。人們經常用cheesy 這個詞來形容電視節目，電影或者某個人說的話。

M: I think the new TV soap opera on Channel 6 is so cheesy. It is fake and the things they say on the shows are so weird. I don't know why these shows are so popular.

L: 對，我也看了六頻道那個新的電視連續劇。情節是很虛假，對話 也很怪。可是你想知道為什么那么多人喜歡看嗎？我來告訴你。看這 種電視劇總想知道結局嘛。我有的時候還會流淚的呢。

M: How can those cheesy TV shows make you cry? You're such a nerd.

L: 什么？ 你說我是個nerd?

M: Don't be mad, Li Hua. But you are a nerd. No one cries while watching these cheesy TV shows！

L: 我才不信呢。你們這些不流眼淚的人缺乏感情，你們才是nerd。 我不 跟你說了，我要回去了。

M: No, no, Li Hua. Wait, at least you have to finish watching this cheesy TV show so that you know who's going to marry whom.

L: 對了，不看完這個電視劇，不知道結局，我也睡不著。那就看 吧！

看來今天李華真是生氣了，因為Michael說她是個nerd, 也就是說她這個人有點怪。后來她同意繼續在Michael 家看完那個很cheesy的電視節目。Cheesy 就是很俗氣， 沒有水平的意思。這次[流行美語]就學習到這里。我們下次再見。