【英语早间课堂】忙得一刻也不得停

 各位亲爱的朋友们，欢迎和Juliet一起来趣味学英语。

 

王鹏上班挣钱得了第一个月的薪水，就想找朋友一起庆祝一番。他首先想到的就是知根知底的好友Jack¹。由于Jack今晚要准备明日公司重要会议的一份报告，这请客的事儿就没能成。于是王鹏便去找Steve。Steve，Jack和他可以说是三个“铁哥们”。Steve在得知Jack未能参与的时候，说了一句话。哪知这句话让王鹏大发雷霆，说Jack是个十足的骗子，太不够哥们义气了。那么Steve说的是什么话致使王鹏如此气愤呢？Jack到底是不是个一个骗子呢？我们就带着这2个疑问，走进王鹏和Steve他们俩的对话中来。

 

 

Wangpeng : Jack said he doesn't have time to dinner with us because he is busy in his inportant report at a meeting at his company tomorrow.

 

Jack说他没有时间和我们一起吃饭，因为他要为明天的公司重要的一份报告做准备。

 

Steve : Yeah, he has been on the go.

 

是的，Jack现在on the go。

 

Wangpeng : On the go? I cannot believe Jack lied to me, saying that he is in the middle of something. And now, I know...I know he is going somewhere!

 

我简直不敢相信Jack居然会欺骗我，说他很忙。现在，现在我知道了他是要去什么地方。

 

Steve : Calm down, Wangpeng. You don't catch the phrase² "on the go". It means³ "very busy and active". Jack didn't cheat you.

 

冷静一下，王鹏。你不知道on the go这个词语的意思。它的意思就是“很忙，忙碌”的意思，（就是你知道的in the middle of something这个表示“忙碌”的说法）。

 

现在大家知道了吧，致使王鹏气愤万分的是他不知道非常地道的非常给力的表示“忙碌”的说法：on the go。On the go 这个短语本身就给人一种一直在动的感觉。实际上是“忙个不停”“忙得不可开交”“四处奔波”“跑来跑去”的意思。美国人很喜欢用这个短语来形容“一个人忙得一刻也不得停”。我们再来看一个小对话：

 

A : Are you ill? You don't seem like in the pink.

 

你病了吗？你看起来脸色不大好呀。

 

B : No, I have been on the go all week. I have not got enough time to relax.

 

我没有病，我一周都忙得不可开交，没有足够的时间休息放松。

 

下面我们再来看现代文学老舍先生些的《骆驼祥子》中用到了on the go进行翻译的话。

 

1. Xiangzi was on the go until eleven that night.

 

祥子的腿没停住一会儿，一直跑到夜里十一点。

 

2. It was midnight before Xiangzi, who had been on the go , could take a breath⁴.

 

一直转转到十二点，祥子才找到叹口气的工夫。

 

3. His birthday preparations had kept her on the go for several days and this was the thanks she got! It was insufferable!

 

他办寿，她跟着忙乱了好几天，反倒没落出好儿来，她不能容让！

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 phrase   

n.短语，词组；成语，习语

参考例句：

• The phrase was caught on and immediately became popular.这个短语被采用后很快就流行了。
• That's exactly the phrase I was looking for.这就是我一直找的那个短语。

3 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

4 breath   

n.呼吸，气息，微风，迹象，精神，一种说话的声音

参考例句：

• I'm just going out for a breath of fresh air.我正要出去呼吸新鲜空气。
• While climbing up the stairs the old man always loses his breath.那老人上楼时总是气喘吁吁的。