流行美语 第116课 - blow it / wing it

Larry和李华两人正在做菜，准备一会儿带到朋友家参加party。今天李华会学到两个常用语：to blow it和to wing it.

(Cooking sounds)

LH: Larry, 那是什么味道？(sniffing) .........哎呀，糟了！是猪排烤焦了啦！

LL: What? Oh no! I ruined them. They're stuck to the bottom of the pot. I blew it!

LH: 你在说什么啊！你是把猪排烤焦了，又没有吹坏什么东西！你怎么说blow it呢?

LL: When I said "I blew it", I meant that I ruined the whole dish. To "blow it" means to make a mistake that leads to total failure, or ruins a good opportunity.

LH: 噢，原来blow it是指犯了错，把事情搞砸了，或者错过了一个大好机会。你啊！还真是把这道猪排给搞砸了。这样吧！给你个将功补过的机会，再给我举个blow it的例子吧！

LL: Well, the other day I was playing pool with Jack¹. I was just two shots away from winning, but then I blew it: I sunk the eight ball and lost.

LH: 哈哈！ 你玩台球输给Jack ! 八成是你太有自信，所以才会在最后关头输掉。

LL: And last week, I finally got a date with that girl from my international relations class, but I blew it. I took a nap², overslept, and showed up at her place an hour and a half late.

LH: 哎, Larry, 你几星期来一直要约那个女孩出去玩。终于约到了，怎么会睡过头，还迟到一个半小时的呢！我看你啊！你真是砸了这个好机会。

LL: Yeah, well, it wasn't as bad as when you had that job opportunity last week and blew it!

LH: 哟，你说到我头上来啦！我没有拿到那分工作又不是我的错！我怎么知道他们在我的电话里留了言。

LL: That's because you forgot to check it. That was a really good job, too, and you blew it!

LH: 我没有听电话留言。就算是我blew it。

******

LH: 哎，Larry, 现在可怎么办？我们一个小时后就得到Jane的家里，可是我们一道菜也没做好！

LL: Well, we'll just have to wing it.

LH: Wings? 你是说鸡翅膀？可是我们已经没有时间到店里去买了啊!

LL: No, no, Li Hua, I said we have to wing it. That means, we'll have to do the best we can with limited time and resources

LH: 噢，原来to wing it是说在有限的时间和条件下尽量拼凑。好吧！那你有什么好办法？

LL: Let me see, what do you have in the fridge? (sound of fridge opening) Hmm, there's some tofu in here, and some green onions. And there's all these jars of weird³ Chinese sauces. Maybe we can wing it by making some kind of tofu dish.

LH: 嗯，让我看看.......！对了！这儿有豆腐，有葱，还有...让我看这瓶子里是什么...噢，四川辣酱！ 得了，我们可以做麻辣豆腐，这道菜又快又容易，只要把豆腐切块，再切些青葱，半个小时就可以完工咯！

LL: O.K., let's get to work. (sound of sink/cooking sounds). This is a great idea. People will love it, and no one will even notice that we're winging it.

LH: 没人会看出我们是临时凑出这道菜的。所以Larry, to wing it是不是只能用在临时把东西放在一块儿，就像做菜？

LL: Not always. For instance⁴, when I covered for Jack and taught his history 101 students last week, I didn't have time to prepare for the class, so I just winged it.

LH: 你替Jack上课，可是事前没有时间备课。咦？那你是怎么临时备好课的呢？

LL: I read the reading assignment just an hour before class began. The students knew I was winging it, but they were very understanding.

LH: 上课前一小时看看指定阅读些什么材料你就去上课啦！那学生当然知道你是在凑合咯！

LL：Li Hua, pay attention to your cooking, don't blow it this time!

LH: 你放心，你没看见我老守在炉子边吗！ 我绝不会blow it ！

今天李华学到的两个常用语，一个是to blow it，意思是把事情搞砸了，或者是错过一个大好机会。另一个常用语是to wing it，是指在有限的时间和条件下，临时拼凑完成一件工作。

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 nap   

n.(白天)打瞌睡，打盹

参考例句：

• The nap of the coat has been worn off.外衣上的绒毛已经磨掉了。
• Don't bother me while I am taking my nap.我小睡的时候不要打扰我。

3 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

4 instance   

n.例，例证，实例

参考例句：

• Can you quote me a recent instance?你能给我举一个最近的例子吗？
• He's a greedy boy,yesterday,for instance,he ate all our biscuits!他是个贪吃的孩子――比如，他昨天把我们的饼干都吃了！