流行美语教程 Lesson 7: choke; money

Xbfeng

Michael和李华今天去看篮球比赛。球赛是在纽约大型室内体育馆[麦迪逊广场花园]举行，这场比赛是华盛顿的球队对纽约的球队。 Michael到中国去学过中文，他让李华跟他讲中文，以便练习听力。现在他们俩正在排队进入体育馆。今天他们在对话中会用choke和 money这两个词。
1 y3 t$ M/ l/ \+ {
L: 嗨，Michael，谢谢你买到这么好的票！我真高兴能到[麦迪逊广场]来看球。这可是有名的体育馆哟！
7 v. V8 ?+ s7 D/ E
9 }5 S5 L; I9 X7 y4 a% u9 v0 k' TM： No problem! I am really happy you could come. Yeah, I love coming to the Garden to watch basketball games.

L: 你也喜欢来这里看篮球比赛啊，那太好了。今天是纽约队比华盛顿队，你看结局会怎样？
  M( w/ P' ^' z$ i% }
2 S; s. @2 j, w0 U: g; sM：Well, Li Hua, I think New York is going to lose. Knowing them, their going to choke.
0 k, o" L" M. o: g( d+ |
L: 你说纽约队会输？你还说什么 choke? 你是说他们吃饭时会噎着啦？这跟输球有什么关系，我不懂。
% K. V( Z; Z3 c6 Z. l/ L4 {. o  |9 t
3 D1 V9 K4 X; }: T& I. U4 KM：No, no, no! They're not going to choke on their food! It's the same word with the same spelling, but it has a different meaning. Here, choke means to fail under pressure.
" I7 B3 `7 `. r8 |1 O. B
" c' w8 j& e. E$ a  V5 m1 T+ a- BL：噢，我懂了。 你说的choke 是指纽约队会抵挡不住华盛顿球队的压力而输掉，对吗？

M: Yes! And choke has many uses. How else do you think it can be used?

7 v# l: O4 x( a# k! G( u3 Q; [L: Choke 可以用在很多地方。考试考糟了，可以用choke 这个字吧？
4 h5 ?8 I; c% Z- A
" `9 a* N7 ]' m$ N' CM: Yes! In fact, I choked on a test last week.
, h0 |9 i; N6 C" U0 d0 {
L：你上星期考试考糊了？嘿，Michael，我还知道怎么用choke这个字。你不是老想请那个姑娘出去玩吗？你请她，她连电话都不回，这可真让你choked了，对不对？
# t: M% d) N9 a3 B% H( J4 a
8 U' P0 F" R6 h9 a, S3 NM：It seems like you really understand this word! Yeah, but it doesn't matter with that girl because I don't like her anyway.
- A5 f% [; f9 D9 h" D
# R* D4 }3 m" ]3 x% wL: 噢，你说得可真轻松，没关系，因为你不喜欢她。好，那你告诉我你喜欢哪个女孩呐？
5 a' C6 X# x: F  ]
$ B6 @* N8 K: f! [M：Oh, that doesn't matter. Let's go to our seats！

/ _9 E2 ]# p: A7 @4 a% x  KL: 好，好， 去找位置吧！
( s1 L8 `4 Y2 i" I7 \  \5 u
/ t" P, M8 u5 t: @(Michael和李华找到了自己的座位)
" t( J! Y: |1 t) m4 j
6 I& ^7 N2 b: sL: Michael，你看，纽约队看来不会输，他们赢了两个球，现在还剩十秒了。只要纽约队不失去球，他们就不会输。

M：I think that New York is going to win. Maybe they won't choke after all.
9 G( w+ S# ]5 z7 Z* E
L：你也认为纽约队可能不会输？等等，你看，纽约队丢了球！这下他们完了！华盛顿队要求暂停，他们还有赢的机会。
) O2 h$ u/ d; C, v8 u) S% v
0 ~( }' c, h* _8 VM：Washington is going to win. Michael Jordan will make the last shot. He is money.
/ l1 s. w8 ]9 Y( z- h+ S
L: 你认为华盛顿球队会赢，Michael Jordan 会投进最后一个球。你说 "He is money "是说他会赚钱吗？
3 j6 l: `3 q& P. N
4 ^+ @5 l  n4 m0 L# oM：No, by money, here I mean that he performs consistently at a high level.

9 L2 V. i7 m  y+ X8 oL: 噢，这儿的money不是指钱，是指他打球一直保持在高水平上，一直打得很棒。
. M5 V( f& Q. o3 o
- I7 |  ~, b' ~- R0 _. tM：Yes, you could say Yao Ming is money too.

& C4 T+ u  S% Z) W% O2 i9 ^2 iL: 姚明当然很棒，所以也可以说：Yao Ming is money。那我们班的 Steven，他考试总是考得很好，也能说，He is money?

M：Yup. He's money. You can also call things money. For example, this pizza we are eating is money.

L: 原来凡是好的东西都可以说是money。我们正在吃的比萨饼是很好吃，所以也可以说是money.

M：Do you think the coffee shop we like to go to is money?

L: 我们常去的咖啡馆当然非常好，我一有空就想去。
7 d" p  ]5 g9 x! W# p
  T8 C& W9 `/ k% E# y+ t) O. ?) wM: Michael Jordan won the game! I told you he is money!

$ w$ S, P/ }- t1 t3 YL: Michael Jordan赢得了比赛，他就是棒。

& g2 R5 z( A/ T9 g) A! tM：Let's get going, though. I have to study for a test. I don't want to choke on the test again.
! z. j- ]: z% |0 o1 h1 A6 C
L: 好吧，你快回去准备考试吧，我知道你要再考糊，就麻烦了。

Michael和李华今天在对话里用的两个词意思是相对的。 To choke是糟糕，失败的意思；而money是保持高水平，非常棒的意思。最好大家都不要choke，都成为money，那就太棒了。
% S! E7 ~$ ^! D5 f0 n以下为音频：