美语中,一些感叹词的意义跟字典上的解释不尽相同,要在日常生活中才能体会到。让我们看看以下几个例子:
Oh的字典意义是“嗬;哦;哎呀”,表示惊讶、的恐惧等。但将这个词连起来用,却是“糟了、的坏了”的意思,比如说:
1.Oh,oh,the Ozone hole is back!
糟了,臭氧层的穿孔又出现了!
2.Oh,oh,my boss has sent for me.
坏了,老板叫我去一趟。
Whew的字典意义是“唷”,表示惊讶、的失望、的厌恶,常含诙谐之意。在日常生活中,常能听到人们在遇险或干了重活以后用这个词,比如:1.Whew,that piano was heavy!It took eight of us to move it to the next room.
咻,那架钢琴真重!我们八个人才把它抬到隔壁房间。
2.This morning on my way to work,a deer jumped out right in front of my car.I missed it by a hair,whew!
今天早上在上班路上,一只鹿突然窜到我的车前,我差一点点就撞上了,咻!
Huh的字典意义是“嘿”,表示疑问、的蔑视。日常生活中,常用来表示难言之隐,比如:
1.You agreed that I could have your car if I did this,right?
你说好的,如果我做了这件事,你就会把你的车给我,是吧?
Huh...that‘s not exactly what I had in mind.
哦……那不是我的本意。
还有一个字典还没收入的词——hmmm,也常用来表示这个意思:
2.If there‘s no objection,shall we say we‘ll meet every day for an hour?
如果没有异议,我们是否能定下来,每天开一小时碰头会?
Hmmm...one hour a day.Isn‘t that a bit too much?
这……每天一小时,是不是有些太多了?
Duh在英语字典里是表示不理解的一种感叹词;在中英词典里表示犹豫、的不快等。但在日常生活中,这个词越来越多地用来表示一种轻蔑,特别是认为某人说了很愚蠢的话后,当然也用于自嘲:
1.The new governor said in his inaugural speech,everyone has to eat,duh.
新州长在就职演说中说,每个人都需要吃饭,多新鲜啊!
2.Las tnight I went to a benefit concert,thinking it was free.Then at the door there was this ticket person,who told me that it was a concert to raise money for the poor and everyone was ex-pected to donate,and it was writ-ten right on the ticket in myhand,duh.
昨晚,我去了一个募捐音乐会,以为是免费的。结果到了门口让收票的挡了,说是音乐会是为穷人募捐的,所以每个人都应当解囊认捐。其实我手中的票上写得清清楚楚,真是的。
知道这些感叹词在日常生活中的用法后,我们便可以用来附和对方说的话,常常是一个“Whew”或“Duh”就能起到事半功倍之效。