流行口語 第182課

Larry的车子正在厂里修理。今天李华陪他去取车。李华会学到两个常用语：grease monkey和fender bender。

LL: I hope my car is ready. The grease monkey said it would be fixed¹ by 3:00 this afternoon.

LH: The grease monkey? Larry，你的车不是送到修车厂了吗？修车厂怎么会有猴子呢？

LL: (Laugh) No, there aren't any monkeys like the monkeys in the zoo. Grease monkey is a slang term for auto² mechanic.

LH: 你们把汽车修理工叫grease monkey？真有意思。所以你是说，修车的工人告诉你，车子在3点以前会修好。

LL: Right, but I doubt it will be ready. Every time a grease monkey tells my car will be ready, he's wrong.

LH: 你不相信那修车的人？为什么每次他们说的时间都是错的？

LL: Well, last time I had my car fixed. The mechanic said it would be ready the next day. As it turned out, my car wasn't ready until three days later.

LH: 原来上回修车你就受骗过。说好第二天可以取车，结果拖了三天才修好。怪不得你不相信他们了。对了，Larry，我们可以当着修车工的面叫他们grease monkey吗？

LL: Some mechanics wouldn't care, but others might not like being called a grease monkey. If I mean it as a joke, it's okay; however, it can also be used negatively.

LH: 有些人不在乎，有的人会不高兴。这也是很自然的。要是叫他们grease monkey是开玩笑的话，我想应该不会有什么问题。

LL: Yeah, but it can be an insult.

LH: 那么到底怎么样才算是开玩笑呢？

LL: Well, my sister tried to fix her car and got covered in grease. After that, my father jokingly called her his little grease monkey.

LH: 哈哈，你妹妹自己想修车，结果搞的全身油污，你爸爸叫她my grease monkey。那你呢？你有没有自己修过车？

LL: No, I'm not very good at fixing cars. I would be a lousy grease monkey.

******

LH: Larry, 你还没告诉我，为什么你的车要送去修啊？

LL: I was in a little fender bender the other day and my tail light needed to be fixed.

LH: 你的车怎么啦? A fender bender? 那是什么东西啊？

LL: A fender bender is a minor³ car accident. Usually, no one is seriously hurt in a fender bender and the cars are not damaged too badly.

LH: A fender bender就是小事故。Larry你撞车啦，怎么都没有告诉我呢？

LL: It was just a fender bender, so I didn't think it was important enough to tell you about.

LH: 小事故也可能会受伤啊。你怎么样？你没什么事吧？

LL: I'm fine. I didn't even get a scratch.

LH: 你没事就好。对了，你怎么会和别的车擦撞呢？

LL: The girl in the car behind me was talking on her cell phone and she wasn't paying attention. She drove into the back of my car.

LH: 一面开车一面打手机真的很危险的。那个从后面撞上你的女孩，如果开车速度再快一些，你们都有可能受伤呢！

LL: Fortunately, she wasn't driving very fast, so it turned out to be just a minor fender bender.

今天李华学到两个常用语。一个是grease monkey, 是指修理汽车的工人。另一个常用语是fender bender, 这是指小车祸，通常没有人受伤的事故。
 

1 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

2 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

3 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。