Have you had supper?
By Lily Wen
Picture by Zhu Lijun

国人崇尚"民以食为天", 日常见面都不忘关心对方的温饱问题. 初学中文的老外必学的第一堂课就是千万别把"你吃了吗? "这句最普通的问候语看成邀请哦, 否则会闹出很多笑话的.

Mark, a young man from UK, has been in China for a week. He came to study Chinese at a university in a beautiful coastal city. He has come to love the Chinese culture and is quickly adapting himself to it.

One day, he was wandering on campus after an early supper when he came across Xiao Li, a local student he had met just a few days earlier. Delighted to meet his new acquaintance, he stepped up and greeted him, "Ni Hao!" Li grinned and responded, "Ni Hao! Ni chi fan le ma?" At the question, Mark said to himself, "How friendly the Chinese are! We've just met once and he is already asking me to dinner. It would be rather impolite to turn down his kind offer." So he answered, "No, not yet. Thank you for your kind invitation. I'd like to taste your famous local cuisine." Though Li didn't expect this, he treated Mark to a nice dinner.

After the meal, Mark continued his campus walk. Although his stomach was over-stuffed, he felt good in that he did not turn his Chinese friend down. A few minutes later, he encountered Miss Zhang, with whom he had had a pleasant talk at last night's English corner. She smiled and said, "What a coincidence! I did not expect to meet you again so soon. Have you had supper?" "Oh, no. I cannot eat any more!" Mark thought. "But I hear that Chinese girls are shy, so it must be very courageous for her to invite me." He then told Miss Zhang that he was happy enough to accept her hospitality. You can imagine how full he was when they finished the meal.

Back in his dormitory, Mark told his flat-mate John what had happened. John had been in China for nearly one year and he was greatly amused. "They weren't asking you out. That's just a typical Chinese way to say hello." "Oh, really?" Mark felt surprised but relieved-that would be the last time he had to honour, in succession, three dinner invitations which he could not very well decline.

 

 

Crossword Puzzle
本栏目内容由 www.1cm.com.cn 提供



Across
4. A state in America.
6. A building where you can see plays.
9. A developed talent or ability.

Down
1. A small hospital.
2. Flaw, drawbacks.
3. Hollywood.
5. A European city.
7. A place to stay when traveling.
8. Not strong.

The following people have won free movie tickets: 吴闽,卢兆锋,傅嘉,曾铭德,林颖,刘玉蓉,阮亚玲,陈忠永, 林晓吉, 潘毅斌. Please go to the Jinying Cinema (世贸金鹰影院) within two weeks. 欲知上期答案, 请登录www.common-talk.com.

 

 

鸡同鸭讲
By Happy Hong

七十年代末学英语不像今天各种设备齐全. 当时有些同学对音标很头疼, 干脆用闽南语或图形来标注英语发音.
有一天, 老师上课时点名某位仁兄将26个字母从头到尾读一遍. 这位老兄就两眼紧盯自己的笔记本, 一字一顿, 有模有样地照顺序念着, 当念到"Q"时, 他竟然念成"tuā". 老师吃惊不小, 立刻问道:"什么? "这位老兄便加大音量重复一遍. 老师走近他身边想弄个明白, 这位老兄就指着他的"土音标"向老师辩解道:"这图上画着两个人, 后面一人抓住前面那人的衣角, 这个动作不是‘tuā'(‘拖'的闽南语发音)吗? "老师险些当场晕倒, 但还是顺着这位老兄的思路回敬他一句:"既然是你自己发明的音标, 怎么也得念成‘kiù'(‘揪'的闽南语发音)呀!"全班笑得东倒西歪.
又有一天, 还是这位老兄, 当堂将"party"念成"dìng dáng". 老师一把夺过其笔记, 指着上面的图问全班:"你们说说看, 图上画的这个人是在打铁还是钉铜? "全班又一次哄堂大笑. 原来, 闽南语中"打铁"的发音酷似英语的"party". 这位仁兄只是误将自己画的铁匠打铁动作解读为铜匠的动作, 又引来笑声一片.

 

 

Hot Word
Collected by Jianjiang

●blog
Hoping to keep more Internet users in its branded universe, Microsoft Corp. has become the latest company to offer blogging to the masses.
为了拥有更多的网络用户, 软件巨头微软也开始进军博客服务领域, 推出MSN Spaces.
blog,网络日志. 许多国人了解blog还是从木子美开始. 一个blog通常由简短且经常更新的帖子构成. 写blog这个动作就叫blogging.

●outnumber
The number of mobile phone subscribers in China reached a record 320 million. China's mobile phone users outnumbered fixed-line phone subscribers in October 2003.
目前我国手机用户已经达到3.2亿人次. 而在去年10月, 我国的手机用户数量就超过了固定电话用户.
outnumber, 数量上超过. 1987年中国才引进第一部移动电话通信设备, 转眼间, 手机用户已经超过固定电话用户了.

●step down
McDonald's Corp. said President and Chief Executive Charlie Bell had stepped down to focus on his cancer treatment and that Vice Chairman Jim Skinner would replace him.
麦当劳首席执行长查利·贝尔曾带领麦当劳亚洲及欧洲业务实现扭亏为盈. 如今立下赫赫战功的他因受直肠癌影响正式卸任.
step down, 辞职. 最近布什内阁变动频繁, 我们可以说Many high rank officials of Bush administrations had stepped down.

●doomsday
The weather predictions for Asia in 2050 read like a script from a doomsday movie. Asia faces living nightmare from climate change.
你是否也觉得今年的冬天不太冷呢? 气候变迁难以预料, 对2050年亚洲气候的预测就像一部关于世界末日的电影剧本.
doomsday, 世界末日. 有首宣传环保的歌就叫《世界末日》, 保护环境还是从自己做起吧.

●jetlag
"I've heard from some of the guys that they are struggling with jetlag, but I've slept really well since arriving." Dredge said. "I played quite nicely on the back nine."
高尔夫欧洲和亚洲巡回赛首站的Volvo中国公开赛上, 威尔士的德雷奇丝毫没有受时差困扰, 在比赛中暂时领先.
jetlag, 时差. 上海真是顶级赛事连连, 高尔夫, F1, 网球...还都挺贵族化呢.

●confine
It's a girl, and a boy for Julia Roberts, who was confined to bed last month and gave birth to twins on Sunday morning.
37岁的朱莉娅·罗伯茨上个月起就躺在床上等着当妈妈, 终于顺利产下一对龙凤胎, "大嘴美女"真是笑开了怀.
confine, 躺在床上准备分娩.

 

 

Cartoon English
By Bo & Bob

 

 

Daily English
Collected by the Chef

衣食住行, 学英语要从身边的小事开始. 本栏目将带给您最实用的日常口语. 同时也非常欢迎读者来信来电"点题", 我们将尽力满足大家的要求. (联系电话:5581650;电邮地址:common-talk@fj172.com)

Agree in English 同意

●You got a point there. 你说得有理.
●Absolutely! 肯定是!
●You can say that again. 你可以再说一遍. (你说得很正确. )
●Well. I'll buy that. 我相信 ( 同意 ) 你说的话.
●Affirmative! 正确 ! ( 比较正式 )
●I totally agree. 我完全同意.

 

 

Tongue Twister
Collected by Candice

She sells seashells by the seashore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I'm sure she sells seashore shells.

大意:她在海边卖海贝. 她卖的贝壳都是真正的海贝. 所以如果她在海边卖贝壳, 我就肯定她卖的是海贝.

 

 

年轻人的口语
Collected by Suky

每个年龄阶层都有自己特定的语言, 有时候老爸老妈总会听不懂小孩的话, 只能大摇其头说:generation gap(代沟啊~)!

1.It's cool!
cool是teenagers(青少年)的常用语. That's a cool T－shirt(好看的运动衫).
She looks as cool as a cucumber.又是恭维语, 是说她很 calm and charming not emotional. 但为何用cucumber (黄瓜) 代表, 则不得而知.

2.Are you trippin'?
trippin' 这个字, 是由动词 trip(tripping) 演变而来, 指行为异乎寻常, 也许受到吸毒或喝酒的影响, 而显得神魂颠倒, 奇形怪状. 也就是说Are you under any influence of drug or alcohol? Why are you so crazy and bizarre? (要不是受到药, 酒的影响, 你为什么显得这样古怪呢? ) 所以可以说:Mr. A must be trippin'.通常只用在年轻人身上, 而且不是恭维语.

3. He is a nerd.
nerd 就是指那些有IQ没EQ(Emotion Quality情商)的生活大白痴.
He used to be a nerd in high school(他在高中时是书呆子).
还有一个词geek, 虽然与 nerd 相似, 年轻人也常用, 但geek是指在某一方面有很高的 IQ. 我们可以说:He is a computer geek(他电脑很棒).

4. Yo baby!
Yo baby是许多年轻的黑人男子对女子的招呼语, 也有人用"Yo baby, yo baby yo"来引出话题.
He thinks she is pretty and attractive, so he wants to speak to her.(女子很漂亮, 很吸引人, 他想与她交谈. ), 也就是找话题, 想要"打开话匣".
"Yo baby" 后面可跟任何可以"打开话匣"的句子. 诸如:I think I have met you somewhere before. (好老套的搭讪方法哦!)

5. Catch you later!
这是年轻人说再会的口语. 意思是I don't have time to talk with you now, but we can talk later (现在没时间与你交谈, 以后再谈吧!). 因此, catch就是 talk或contact的意思.
有时年轻小伙子也用:I am off. 意思就是:I am leaving now, I'll talk to you again. (我要走了, 再谈吧!)

 

 

Guessing Game
Collected by Shen Yang

习惯了中文的脑筋急转弯游戏, 不妨玩玩英语的, 感觉又会如何呢? 答案及分析请关注下期报纸. 参与者将有机会获得联合国儿童基金会精美明信片一张.

1.What goes around the world and stays in a corner?
2.The more there is the less you see. What is it?
3.There is an ancient invention still used in some parts of the world today that allows people to see through walls. What is it?
4.What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a bed but never sleeps?

上期答案:
1 How do we know the ocean is friendly?
It waves. (起波浪, 招手致意)
2 Which can move faster, heat or cold?
Heat, because you can catch cold. (catch cold短语表示感冒)
3 Why is the library the highest building?
It has the most stories. (story一语双关, 故事或楼层)
4 Why is an empty purse always the same?
There is no change in it. (零钱, 变化)