喜欢标新立异的年轻人总是喜欢自创一套语言,以便让自己的谈吐比年长的一辈更特别一些。有时候就连爸爸妈妈都不知道自己的孩子到底在说些什么。让我们看看看着电视和听着流行音乐长大的美国青少年都喜欢说些什么词。
1 dis
Dis其实是disrespect这个词的简略形式,意思是不尊重,不重视。
这个词起先用在rap music绕舌音乐中。演唱的人以快速强烈的节奏说唱词。近年来青少年中风行绕舌音乐,于是他们就在日常交谈中借用了dis这个词。
例如:I was supposed to meet these guys in front of MacDonald's at noon, but nobody showed up. What happened I don't know but maybe they dissed me by going someplace else without telling me.
我和这些人约定中午在麦当劳快餐店门前碰头,但是他们连影儿都不见。我不清楚他们究竟是怎么回事。他们可能根本没把我放在眼里,所以去了别的地方都没跟我说一声。
2 props
Dis的反义词。Props 意思是尊重,它是proper respect 的简略形式。青少年常用props 这个词来恭维某人或者某人的作为,要注意的是刚才学的dis通常当动词,而props却是名词。
例如:I really have to give you a lot of props. No one could have done a better job with this assignment. Our professor has to be more than impressed. You'll get an A for sure I think.
我可真佩服你。这个作业谁也不可能比你做得更出色了。我们那位教授一定大为赞赏。我肯定你将得到A。
句中的give you a lot of props 意思是非常佩服你。
又如:I sure want to give you props for speaking up at the meeting. A lot of people felt the same way, but were too scared to say anything. You were the only one brave enough to speak you mind.
我可真敬佩你在会上大胆执言。好多人虽然有同感却吓得不敢开口。只有你勇敢地把心里话说出来。
句中的give you props意思是敬佩你,说话的人对他朋友的仗义执言表示敬佩。
3 sweet
这个词对大家说来并不陌生,很多人知道它的意思是“甜的”,它是sour酸,或者bitter苦的反义词。Sweet通常用来描述可口或者给人好感的事物。
我们来看看一个小伙子在描述电视转播的篮球赛时怎么应用sweet 这个词:
That game was terrific! I love watching Chicago and New York play against one another because they play so hard. For the final play, the crowd went crazy because the last shot was so sweet.
这场球赛精彩极了。芝加哥队和纽约队打球都非常卖力,所以我特别爱看他们的比赛。最后一场使观众都兴奋得发狂;最后一球投得棒极了。
这里的sweet用来描绘轰动全场的最后一次投篮,这里的sweet和味道无关,它的意思是棒极了、精彩极了。
Sweet也可以用来赞叹其它特别棒的事情。
例如:We got a good spot near the front and had the sweetest view of the fireworks. We were able to see all the different shapes, sizes and colors. It was fantastic, just fantastic!
我们在靠近前面的地方找到了看焰火的最佳位置。在那儿我们能把各种不同形状大小的五彩缤纷的焰火都看得一清二楚。
句中的sweetest用来描绘看焰火的好位置。它的意思就是“最好的。”
4 lame
我们大都知道lame表示“跛腿的”,当然lame用在俚语里就不是这个意思了,它的意思跟sweet正好相反,表示“糟糕的,差劲的”。
例如:That joke Karen told me was so lame. I couldn't believe it. She tried to be funny, but the punch line didn't make anybody laugh. I think her sense of humor is really weird.
Karen讲给我听的那个笑话真糟糕,简直令人难以置信。她拼命想把它说得有意思,但是她那句逗笑的话却一点儿没引人发笑。我觉得她的幽默感有问题。