【英语趣味课堂】脸书-Facebook

Maria: So talking about social media, is your parents on any social sites like Facebook, Twitter, et cetera.

Alex: My mum and dad are on Facebook. My mum doesn't use hers, she uses hers only to kind of see what I'm doing.

 

Maria: Stalk you?

 

Alex: Kind of yeah. My dad, he's on Facebook every once in a while. Again, he does kind of stalk me as well because he, he's very paranoid about Facebook, about social media sites so every once in a while I get an email from him and it will be like just so you know this was on your profile and you need to change it or this, or one of your friends commented or put a video on and I don't think that's appropriate if a job seeker looking for you. And I keep telling him I'm unsearchable, you know, like you can't find me but so he only uses it to make himself more paranoid. My mum got Twitter before I did.

 

Maria: Oh really?

 

Alex: I still don't have it. She got it for her job. She's working as a chief medical officer so she got it for her company, the start up company she's working for and I don't know, her opinion originally was that it was for people who are really, really self-centered and wanted to tell everyone about what they were feeling and now she's like this thing's actually kind of fun. So she's enjoying that. Both of my parents are on Skype annoyingly often. My dad travels a lot so he has to use Skype to get in contact with my mum. The video feature is really, really good for that, so they're on almost every night I think to each other. I usually receive stuff from them just like overnight or something when they're doing stuff like that, but Twitter is my mum's thing.

 

Maria: How do you feel about having your parents on these social media sites?

 

Alex: In some way, you know, it's good, like if, I don't talk to them ever on social media sites. Well I do it by Skype or something like that. I don't do it on Facebook. I don't do it on Twitter, although I don't have Twitter so it doesn't make a difference but, you know, Facebook, I'm, I don't know, I think it's a bit odd honestly. My parents, there's some stuff on there, you know, it's for my friends. It's not really for them so, I don't know, it's, I feel it can be a bit awkward. My mum has said hey I was looking at your Facebook site the other day and, you know, you instantly go sshhh, oh dear, you bristle¹, you know, you get nervous because you're like what did she find, so yeah good stuff.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

stalk

 

 

He was stalking me.

 

We use 'stalk' like this to talk about one person following or finding out information about another person because of an unusual level of interest in that person.  Notice the following:

 

She actually had to call the police about the man who was stalking her.

I don't want you to think I'm stalking you, but I have a very important question to ask.

paranoid

 

 

He's very paranoid about Facebook.

 

If you are 'paranoid' about something, you are nervous or scared about it.  Usually 'paranoid' is used to describe unreasonable² fears. Notice the following:

 

She is extremely paranoid about finding spiders in the house.

After years of bad traveling luck, she always gets a bit paranoid before she goes on trips.

unsearchable

 

 

I keep telling him I'm unsearchable.

 

If you are 'unsearchable' on a social media site, it means that someone cannot search for you by name and find you.  This is for privacy reasons. Notice the following:

 

A good way to keep your social media sites private is to make yourself unsearchable.

I will send you a friend request, because my name is unsearchable.

self-centered

 

 

Her opinion, originally, was that it was for people who are really, really self-centered.

 

Someone who is 'self-centered' only focuses on himself and doesn't think much about other people. Notice the following:

 

Only children can be very spoiled and self-centered.

He has always been a little self-centered about things like this.

bristle

 

 

You instantly go shhh, oh dear, you bristle, you know?

 

Used like this, 'bristle' refers to a feeling of being nervous or on edge.  When people start talking about something that makes you uncomfortable, you may tense up at the beginning of the conversation.  That is bristling³. Notice the following:

 

As soon as the phone rang, he bristled⁴ with annoyance⁵.

Every time she hears his name she bristles⁶ a little.

 

1 bristle   

v.（毛发）直立，气势汹汹，发怒；n.硬毛发

参考例句：

• It has a short stumpy tail covered with bristles.它粗短的尾巴上鬃毛浓密。
• He bristled with indignation at the suggestion that he was racist.有人暗示他是个种族主义者，他对此十分恼火。

2 unreasonable   

adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的

参考例句：

• I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
• They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。

3 bristling   

a.竖立的

参考例句：

• "Don't you question Miz Wilkes' word,'said Archie, his beard bristling. "威尔克斯太太的话，你就不必怀疑了。 "阿尔奇说。他的胡子也翘了起来。
• You were bristling just now. 你刚才在发毛。

4 bristled   

adj. 直立的，多刺毛的 动词bristle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• They bristled at his denigrating description of their activities. 听到他在污蔑他们的活动，他们都怒发冲冠。
• All of us bristled at the lawyer's speech insulting our forefathers. 听到那个律师在讲演中污蔑我们的祖先，大家都气得怒发冲冠。

5 annoyance   

n.恼怒，生气，烦恼

参考例句：

• Why do you always take your annoyance out on me?为什么你不高兴时总是对我出气？
• I felt annoyance at being teased.我恼恨别人取笑我。

6 bristles   

短而硬的毛发，刷子毛( bristle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the bristles on his chin 他下巴上的胡楂子
• This job bristles with difficulties. 这项工作困难重重。