地道英语在线听-Singleton 单身

Bridget Jones, the UK's most famous singleton. Image: Imagenet

Neil: Hello, welcome to Real English from BBC Learning¹ English, I'm Neil.

Lily: And I'm Lily. 大家好，我是杨莉！

Neil: In Real English we look at words and phrases that you might not find in your dictionary.

Lily: 在我们的 Real English《地道英语》节目中 我们要来学习一些书本以外的新词和说法。

Neil: It's up-to-the-minute English that British people use in their everyday lives. Now, Lily, have you seen the film Bridget Jones's Diary?

Lily: Of course, everyone has seen that film Bridget Jones's Diary. 我们要来谈谈电影《布里奇特 琼斯的单身日记》。

Neil: How would you describe the main character, Bridget Jones?

Lily: Well, she's in her thirties, she smokes and drinks too much and she's single.

Neil: Yep, she's single. And the word she uses to describe herself is a singleton.

Lily: Singleton.

Neil: That's right, singleton.

Lily: So, does it just mean a person who is single?

Neil: It does. A singleton is a person who doesn't have a boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife.

Lily: A singleton 就是一个既没有伴侣也没有配偶的单身。

Insert

A: Didn't you go on a date last night? How was it? Did you like him?

B: Well, I liked him but he didn't ask to see me again so I guess he's not interested. I suppose I'll just stay a singleton all my life!

A: Oh don't be silly, you’ll meet someone soon.

Neil: She's a singleton. She doesn’t have a husband or boyfriend.

Lily: Is it an informal word?

Neil: Yes it is. It's slang² and actually quite funny.

Lily: Is it impolite?

Neil: No, not at all.

Lily: So Neil, tell me are you a singleton?

Neil: Well actually I'm married, but before I met my wife I was a singleton for a few years.

Lily: Oh really? Neil 现在已经娶妻结婚了，不过在遇到他妻子之前，他也单身了好多年。So he was a singleton.

Neil: Join us again soon for some more Real English, from BBC Learning English.

Lily: 这次的 Real English 也就播送到这里.

Neil: See ya!

Lily: Bye.

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 slang   

n.俚语，行话；vt.使用俚语，辱骂；vi.辱骂

参考例句：

• The phrase is labelled as slang in the dictionary.这个短语在这本字典里被注为俚语。
• Slang often goes in and out of fashion quickly.俚语往往很快风行起来又很快不再风行了。