VOA流行美語 Unit 41: PSYCHO / LAID BACK

今天李華和Michael一起吃午飯的時候，聊起了李華的室友小陳。Michael在談話中教給李華兩個年輕人常用的詞：psycho和laid back。

M: Hey Li Hua. You look a little upset about something. What's up?

L: 哎，還不是我的室友，她今天又找我的麻煩，說是以后再也不讓我做中國菜，因為她受不了廚房里的油煙味。

M: She said what? Your roommate is a psycho! She's crazy!

L: 你剛才說她是什么？

M: I called her a psycho. P-S-Y-C-H-O.

L: 我猜想，a psycho 就是中文里常說的"神經病"，對吧？

M: That' right. Also, psycho was the name of a famous movie about a crazy person who killed people in a hotel.

L: 嗯，我聽說過[驚魂記]這部電影。不過，你說我室友是個 psycho，你不是真的以為她發(fā)瘋了吧？

M: Well, I guess she isn't crazy. Usually we just call someone with strange behavior, and a bad unpredictable temper, a psycho.

L: Bad, unpredictable temper，無緣無故亂發(fā)脾氣，哎呀，這簡直說的就是我室友嘛。Michael，再給我舉幾個psycho的例子好嗎？

M: Well, my last boss was a real psycho. One time, I came to work one minute late, and he yelled at me in front of everyone.

L: 真的？他當著很多人的面罵你啊。這種人真是有毛病。哎，你可不可以想想看，還有什么psycho的例子呢？

M: Well, ask any American, and they'll probably tell you about some famous serial killer, they are psychos.

L: 噢，psycho也可以真的指一個心理變態(tài)的殺人狂。

M: That's right. We might call someone who kills people for no reason a psycho.

L: 這么說，我那個室友倒是沒那么嚴重了，可我總得想辦法和她好好相處，你說對不對， Michael？

M: Well, when is your apartment lease going to expire? You can always ditch your psycho roommate and find a new one.

L: 好主意，我們公寓的租約還有兩個月就到期了。到時候我就可以搬出去了。

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M: Well, let's look at the roommate wanted ads in the paper.

L: 你說我們來看看"尋找室友"的廣告啊。讓我來看看，這條廣告說Wanted: friendly, laid back female roommate to share a two bedroom apartment。Michael，這個"laid back"是什么意思啊？

M: Laid back, laid, L-A-I-D; back, B-A-C-K. Describes someone who does not get angry or excited easily. This person doesn't want a psycho roommate.

L: 噢，laid back 是形容一個人個性比較隨和，不會輕易發(fā)脾氣。 Michael，你覺不覺得我脾氣很好，很容易相處??？

M: Well, I guess so. Usually you are laid back. But, not always...

L: 你這是什么意思，干嗎吞吞吐吐的，有話直說嘛。

M: Well, remember when you got angry at your roommate for breaking your bicycle and then blaming you?

L: 我承認那次我很生氣，但那是因為我的室友先對我無理取鬧啊。

M: And you certainly weren't very laid back when she tricked you on April Fool's day.

L: 就是嘛，那次也是因為她在愚人節(jié)捉弄我才惹我發(fā)脾氣的。

M: Well and then your roommate.......

L: 夠了，夠了，別再提我的室友了，我每次生氣都是被她害的。

M: You're right, Li Hua. She's the problem, not you. You'd better find a new, laid back roommate.

L: 對，我們趕快看廣告吧。 你看這個廣告說：Asian girl, seeks female roommate for two bedroom apartment. Call Xiaoli Chen. 我的天哪，這是我室友嘛。她居然在瞞著我登廣告。真把我氣死了。

今天李華學會兩個新詞，一個是psycho，指的是一個人行為反常，愛發(fā)脾氣；另一個是laid back，就是個性比較隨和的意思。