DONNY在北京学汉语,他的中国朋友要是遇到了不知道用美语怎么说的词,就会来请教他。今天是吴琼要问的:拗口。
DONNY: 吴琼,What's up?
WQ: 我表姐要生宝宝了,发动全家给孩子起名儿呢,这不,我翻翻字典,找点灵感。
DONNY: Interesting! 我也来出主意!
WQ: 孩子姓唐,你说叫什么好?
DONNY: 唐?嗯……唐 - 老 - 鸭。
WQ: 啊?!
DONNY: Haha! I'm sorry, Wu Qiong. I know this is a terrible name, but when you mentioned the word“唐”, the name rolled right off my tongue.
WQ: Rolled right off your tongue? 从舌头上滚下来?我明白了,就是顺口,脱口而出。你一听到“唐”字,顺口就说出了唐老鸭。 那……如果不顺口,也就是拗口,该怎么说呢?
DONNY: You can say it's a tongue twister.
WQ: 哦,tongue twister,就是说起来拗口的东西! This name is a tongue twister 这个名字真难念。
DONNY: 没错! Wu Qiong, you know the luxury car brand "Mercedes-Benz", do you?
WQ: Mercedes-Benz? 就是奔驰嘛!
DONNY: Right. The Chinese translation“奔驰”rolls right off the tongue. However, if we call the brand 梅赛德斯·本兹, to me , that's a tongue twister! It's like I'm tripping over my own tongue when I try to say it.
WQ: Trip over your own tongue? 我知道trip是绊倒的意思,所以trip over one's own tongue 就是打磕巴,吃螺丝吧?
DONNY: Absolutely!
WQ: DONNY, We need to find a good name for this baby. We don't want people to trip over their own tongues when they say the baby's name!
DONNY: Of course, but first let's see what you've learned today!
WQ: 第一,顺口叫“to roll right off the tongue”;
第二,拗口的东西则是“a tongue twister”;
第三,打磕巴,吃螺丝,叫“to trip over one's own tongue”。
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