美国国家公共电台 NPR Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Part Zwei

Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Part Zwei

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Let's meet our next two contestants¹. Nick Pappas, you are a content manager for a comedy website.

NICK PAPPAS: That's right.

EISENBERG: Nice. What do you think we need to laugh more at? What do we need to make fun of more often?

PAPPAS: It's definitely a good year to laugh at the election.

EISENBERG: Yeah. But do we need to laugh more at the election or do we need to get more...

PAPPAS: I think it's the only way we're going to get through it.

EISENBERG: Yeah. Also we have Eleanor Wells. You work at a startup men's clothing subscription² company. That sounds like a dream job.

ELEANOR WELLS: It's really cool. I'm not going to lie.

EISENBERG: So that's like - my husband does this - where basically you send them a bunch of stuff, and they get to look through it and see what they like and then send back what they don't.

WELLS: Yeah.

EISENBERG: That's how they get their wardrobe, right?

WELLS: Yeah.

EISENBERG: What's your office like?

WELLS: It's really fun. Everyone's young, and there's lots of dogs all the time which is great.

EISENBERG: Really?

WELLS: Yeah.

EISENBERG: Lots of - I like that.

WELLS: (Laughter).

EISENBERG: You work at the company for the pets.

WELLS: You caught me.

EISENBERG: Nick, if you could learn any language in its entirety, like just instantly, what would you pick?

PAPPAS: I think I would choose Spanish. My wife's family speaks fluent Spanish.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

PAPPAS: And I'd like to know what they're saying about me.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Very good. Eleanor, how about you? If you could pick a language to just learn in a minute, what would you pick?

WELLS: I would choose Korean because my manager is Korean and the founders³ of my company are Korean. And I just want to freak them out.

(LAUGHTER)

WELLS: Just like come into work and just start.

EISENBERG: Yeah. All of a sudden they're like, wait a second, what have we been saying?

WELLS: (Laughter).

EISENBERG: You guys kind of have the same answer for different reasons. So as you may know, the German language has a lot of very crazy long specific words. Jonathan Coulton, why don't you give us an example?

JONATHAN COULTON: Sure. Kummerspeck - literally⁴ meaning grief bacon refers to the weight you gain from eating your feelings.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: It's a actual German word.

EISENBERG: I love it. So in this game, Jonathan and I will be attempting to pronounce German words. We will give you their definitions and all you have to figure out is whether it's a real word or one we made up for this game.

COULTON: And you should be very careful because if you buzz, and you guess wrong, your opponent will automatically score the point. Remember - you are guessing whether these German words are real or fake. Here we go.

EISENBERG: Torschlusspanik or the realization⁵ that as life goes on, the scope of one's life becomes smaller and smaller, and no one can never know which opportunities to seize before they are gone forever.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Nick.

PAPPAS: Real.

EISENBERG: Oh, yeah. That is real.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: There is nothing more German than that.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: That's embroidered⁶ on baby pillows.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Arbitekindofbelydegune (ph) or the process of redoing your mate's chores in secret, so that they won't be offended and stop doing the chores in the first place.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Nick.

PAPPAS: Fake.

COULTON: You're right. That is fake.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

COULTON: We made it up.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: No one does someone's chores in secret. Lebensabschnittspartner - a synonym⁷ for lover which translates more directly and perhaps cynically⁸ as the person I am with today.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Nick.

PAPPAS: That's real.

EISENBERG: That is real. Yes, you are correct.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: My current husband hates that word.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Your first husband.

EISENBERG: Yeah, my first one.

COULTON: Yeah. Felshtowshugester (ph) or the gesture one makes when only pretending to hold an elevator door open for someone else.

(LAUGHTER)

WELLS: That's true.

COULTON: No, it's fake.

WELLS: It's a real thing, but a fake word.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: It's totally a real thing.

COULTON: It's totally a real thing.

EISENBERG: In Germany, they just stare at you. There's no gesture.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Kevinismus - or the oft maligned⁹ phenomenon of German parents giving their kids American-sounding names such as Kevin.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Eleanor.

WELLS: True.

EISENBERG: That is true. Yes.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Kevin - is that an American-sounding name? Bobby I could see.

COULTON: To Germans it's a very American-sounding name.

EISENBERG: To Germans, right. Yeah, when - right, when it's like Axel (ph), Verner (ph), Helmut (ph).

COULTON: Yeah.

EISENBERG: Kevin.

COULTON: Kevin. Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Sticks out.

EISENBERG: All right. This is your last clue.

COULTON: Drachenfutter or dragon feet used to describe a gift brought to one's angry partner when coming home later than promised from the bar.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Nick.

PAPPAS: Fake.

COULTON: That is real.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: All right. Puzzle guru Art Chung, how did our contestants do in German?

ART CHUNG: It was a close game, but to Nick we say gut¹⁰ gemacht. We'll see you in our final round at the end of the show.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Coming up, Jonathan Coulton sings about characters who try to take over the world and strangely none of them are in "Game Of Thrones." Plus, what are you wearing while listening to our show - also a fur bikini with ski goggles¹¹? Interesting. We'll be talking love, style and life with fashion blogger Garance Dore, so stay tuned¹². I'm Ophira Eisenberg, and you're listening to ASK ME ANOTHER from NPR.

(APPLAUSE)

1 contestants   

n.竞争者，参赛者( contestant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency. 两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 subscription   

n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方）

参考例句：

• We paid a subscription of 5 pounds yearly.我们按年度缴纳5英镑的订阅费。
• Subscription selling bloomed splendidly.订阅销售量激增。

3 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

6 embroidered   

adj．绣花的

参考例句：

• She embroidered flowers on the cushion covers. 她在这些靠垫套上绣了花。
• She embroidered flowers on the front of the dress. 她在连衣裙的正面绣花。

7 synonym   

n.同义词，换喻词

参考例句：

• Zhuge Liang is a synonym for wisdom in folklore.诸葛亮在民间传说中成了智慧的代名词。
• The term 'industrial democracy' is often used as a synonym for worker participation. “工业民主”这个词常被用作“工人参与”的同义词。

8 cynically   

adv.爱嘲笑地，冷笑地

参考例句：

• "Holding down the receiver,'said Daisy cynically. “挂上话筒在讲。”黛西冷嘲热讽地说。 来自英汉文学 - 盖茨比
• The Democrats sensibly (if cynically) set about closing the God gap. 民主党在明智（有些讽刺）的减少宗教引起的问题。 来自互联网

9 maligned   

vt.污蔑，诽谤（malign的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• She feels she has been much maligned by the press. 她觉得她遭到了新闻界的恣意诽谤。
• We maligned him dreadfully when you come to think of it. 回头想想，我们狠狠地中伤了他。 来自辞典例句

10 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

11 goggles   

n.护目镜

参考例句：

• Skiers wear goggles to protect their eyes from the sun.滑雪者都戴上护目镜使眼睛不受阳光伤害。
• My swimming goggles keep steaming up so I can't see.我的护目镜一直有水雾，所以我看不见。

12 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》