VOA流行美語 Unit 43: RULE / TO BLOW MONEY...

今天是周末，Michael和李華去打臺球。李華一邊玩一邊還學了兩個年輕人常用的詞：to rule和to blow money on something.

L: 哎呀，我不想玩了。我老是輸給你，這樣玩還有什么意思啊。

M: Hey! You don't need to get angry just because I rule at the pool table!

L: 啊？你在臺球桌上做了什么？你是不是耍了什么花招，怕我生氣啊？

M: Absolutely not! I said that I rule the pool table. That means that I am the best at playing pool. I can defeat anyone. Rule, R-U-L-E.

L: 噢，我明白了， rule在這里指的是你玩臺球玩得最棒，可以打敗任何人。對不對，Michael？

M: That's right! I am king of the pool table! I rule!

L: 嘿，你不要那么得意好不好。你忘了那天打乒乓球，你連連敗在我的手下。你呀，對乒乓球這種體育運動簡直是一竅不通。

M: Sport? Ping-pong is not a sport! It's a game! You might rule at that little game. But I rule at pool, a man's game!

L: 你在瞎說什么啊。我不跟你爭了。你還是多給我解釋解釋 rule 這個詞吧。

M: Well, I can say "I rule the pool table"; that means that I dominate the game. Or I can say "I rule at" doing something. In either case it means the same thing: I am the best!

L: 好了，好了，就算你是最棒的吧。那 rule 還有什么別的用法呢？

M: Sometimes we just say something or someone rules without adding any other words. For instance, I can say "Chinese food rules!", that means I think it is great.

L: 噢，那如果我說：Michael Jordan rules!，就表示我認為他是最棒的籃球運動員，對不對？

M: That's right. When we say a person rules, that means we think they are the best, or at least that they are impressive.

L: 哎，Michael，你看那邊有個人老往我們這邊看，沒準他是想和你比賽，怎么樣，敢不敢跟他比？

M: Whatever, I rule the pool table, no matter who I play against!

L: Michael，你打得怎么樣，輸了還是贏了？

M: Not so well. Say, Li Hua, can I borrow five dollars? I just blew my money on playing pool with them, and I need to put gas in the car so we can get home.

L: 你說你的錢怎么了？哎呀，你是不是在賭博啊？

M: No, I said I blew my money on pool. That means I spent all of my money very quickly. Blew, B-L-E-W. It's the past tense for blow.

L: 噢，"blow money on something"就是為了做某件事很快把口袋里 的錢花光了。

M: That's right. Like when we were at the mall the other day, and you blew a whole week's pay on shoes.

L: 我是花了一星期的工資買鞋，可你不覺得我買的鞋價廉物美，所以不能說我浪費啊。

M: Well, I guess sometimes it's ok to blow one's money on something useful.

L: 就是嘛。哎，我倒是想起了一個你亂花錢的例子，記不記得你大學一年級的時候到賭城拉斯維加斯，blew all of your money on black jack。

M: Ha ha ha....what a wonderful memory. but, I'll never blow all of my money like that again. I am older and wiser now.

L: 得了吧，你年齡的確是越來越大，可腦筋并沒有越來越聰明。要不然你今天怎么會玩臺球把錢都花光呢？

M: Those guys are good. They play quickly, and they both beat me several times. Also, we agreed that the loser had to pay for the pool table. So of course I blew all of my money very quickly.

今天Michael可是夠倒霉的，輸了球，還花光了錢；不過李華倒是收獲不小，她今天學到兩個很有用的詞，一個是：to rule，是很棒的意思，另一個是：to blow one's money on something，意思是把錢都浪費在了某樣東西上。