VOA流行美語 Unit 60: TO CRACK SB.UP / WANNABE

今天Michael和李華在談論著名演員阿諾·施瓦辛格在加州當選州長的新聞。在談話中李華會學到兩個常用語： to crack somebody up和wannabe。

(sound of TV news in the background)

L: Michael, 你干嗎這么關心加州的州長選舉啊？你又沒去過加州！

M: (chuckles) I know, it's just the idea that Arnold Schwarzenegger is the new governor of California cracks me up! It's so funny!

L: 你說阿諾選上加州州長讓你什么啦？cracks-me-up？

M: I said, "Cracks me up!" That means it makes me laugh. In fact, the whole California election cracks me up. It's all so ridiculous!

L: 噢，我知道了，如果說什么事情cracks you up, 那就是說這件事讓你覺得好笑。哎，可是，為什么加州選舉會讓你覺得好笑啊？

M: Hehehe. For some reason, whenever I see Arnold giving a speech on TV, I just crack up.

L: 你說，你只要在電視上看到阿諾講話就覺得好笑，為什么呢？我覺得他比其他政客還好一些哎！

M: He is not the same! He has a funny accent, and whenever I see him, I don't see Arnold, I see his characters from Terminator and Conan the Barbarian. (laughs at length) It just cracks me up!

L: 啊，你一看見阿諾，就會想起他在電影里扮演的角色啊，難怪你覺得他的樣子好笑。可是你嘲笑他說話有口音，這不太好吧！

M: Oh who cares? Everyone laughs at Arnold's accent: (speaks in Arnie voice) "I just want to say to Governor Gray Davis, Hasta la vista, baby! You won't be baaack!"

L: (laughs) 行了行了，Michael! (in English) You are cracking me up. (Chinese) 你啊，聽起來一點也不象阿諾！

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L: 你知道吧，Michael, 阿諾啊，他不僅僅是演員，他在經商方面也很有經驗，而且看起來滿有政治天才的，說不定他會是個很好的州長啊！

M: What? Are you crazy? Arnold is barely even an actor. And he doesn't have any experience as a politician! He's a wannabe!

L: 你說他是什么？A wannabe? Michael, 你不喜歡他可以，可是不應該這樣罵他吧？

M: I didn't call Arnold a rude name! I said that he's a wannabe politician. I meant he isn't a real politician, he just wants to be a real politician!

L: 噢，我懂了。Wannabe，它的意思就是，"想成為某個人或者是某種人"。 所以，你說阿諾是個wannabe politician，就表示呢，他希望成為政治家，可是啊，他不是真正的政治家。那，wannabe這個詞還有其它的意思嗎？

M: A "wannabe" is often someone who wants people to think they are a certain kind of person, even though they aren't the real thing.

L: 噢，A wannabe還可以說，是要別人認為他是某種類型的人，雖然他們并不是那種人。

M: Can you give me an example of a "wannabe," Li Hua?

L: 嗯，讓我想一想... 對了，很多中國學生都覺得我們系里的Anderson教授，他呀，是個wannabe中國專家。只去過中國幾次，漢語啊說得亂七八糟，可是他總是做出很懂中國的樣子。

M: Yeah, he is a wannabe.

L: 哎，Michael, 你呀，要是不好好練習中文的話，有一天，你也會成為一個wannabe中國專家！

Michael和李華今天在談論著名演員阿諾·施瓦辛格在加州當選州長的新聞。在他們的談話中，李華學到了兩個很有用的說法：to crack somebody up是"讓人發笑"的意思，wannabe指"希望成為某種人的人"。