VOA流行美語 Unit 142: gooey/retro

Larry和李華正走在公園里，兩人準備穿過公園到地鐵站去。今天李華會學到兩個常用語：gooey和retro.

LL: Oh no! I just stepped in something gooey! Gross!

LH: 怎么啦！Larry！你踩到什么啦？gooey是什么？該不是鳥糞吧？

LL: Something that is gooey is sticky and wet like glue or chewing gum. As a matter of fact, I think that the gooey thing I stepped in is actually chewing gum.

LH: 呃，你踩到口香糖啦！口香糖又濕又黏的，真是夠惡心的！原來gooey就是指這種東西。我最討厭那些人把吃過的口香糖隨便吐在地上。真沒有公德。

LL: I hate it, too, especially because gooey things like chewing gum are really hard to clean up. Now, I'm going to have to walk around with a gooey pink spot on the bottom of my shoe.

LH: 就是啊。這些黏呼呼的口香糖一旦沾上了，是很難洗掉的。也許你可以等到晚上口香糖干掉后，可能會比較容易從鞋底掰下來。

LL: That's a good idea. I'll try and peel it off later tonight.

LH: Laryy, 你就別再發火了。想一想，口香糖沾上鞋底，總比沾上頭發要好一些吧？

LL: I can imagine. Has that ever happened to you?

LH: 嗯，是有那么一次。我還在念小學的時候，班上的一個男孩把一瓶膠水倒在我頭上，黏呼呼的膠水把我頭發全沾上了。我媽媽花了好幾個小時才把我的頭發洗干凈呢！

LL: That's awful! You must have been so upset!

LH: 就是啊！我哭了好久。第二天我也拿了一大罐黏稠的水彩倒在那個男孩的衣服上作為報復。誰要他先倒膠水在我頭發上！

LL: That's terrible, Li Hua!

LH: 我也知道這樣做是不對的。可是你知道嗎？那個男孩再也沒敢欺負我了！

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LH: Larry, 我喜歡你這雙新鞋。真好看！

LL: Thanks! I bought them to replace the shoes that were all gooey from the gum I stepped in. I liked these because they are kind of retro.

LH: Retro? 那是什么意思啊？

LL: Retro means similar to something from the past. These shoes are retro because they look like the shoes people used to wear in the 1950s.

LH: 噢，retro是指那些與過去流行的東西很類似，那不就是“仿古”的意思嗎？我也注意到，一些仿古的衣服或飾品通常都有特殊的風格。

LL: Yeah, some people even go to special stores to buy actual vintage clothes that are twenty or thirty years old.

LH: 哇！到特殊的商店去買二，三十年前的衣服啊！我雖然喜歡仿古風味的衣服，可是我還真不明白為什么有人會花錢買一件20年前的舊衣服。

LL: I don't understand it, either. I prefer to buy a new shirt that looks old-fashioned instead of one that actually is old.

LH: 當然了！我也寧可買式樣是仿古的新衣服。我才不要花大錢去買那些古董衣服呢。

LL: Some car manufacturers are making retro cars now, too. Chrysler makes a couple of cars that look like cars from the 1940s.

LH: 對，我也見過克萊斯勒出的那種汽車。式樣象四十年代的車。真的很酷！

LL: Yeah, I like them too, but in this case, I actually prefer real vintage cars. A retro new car just isn't the same as a real classic car.

LH: 你寧可買幾十年前的老車呀？式樣仿古的新車跟老車有什么不一樣哪？是結構，還是材料不一樣？

LL: It's hard to explain, but sometimes nothing compares to the real thing.

LH：衣服嘛要買老款式的新衣服。汽車嘛要買真正的老車。Larry，你真怪！

今天李華學到兩個常用語。第一個是gooey，是形容那種濕乎乎，又很黏的東西。另一個常用語是retro，就是仿古，或復古的意思。