迷你对话学地道口语第920期:徒劳,白费力气

 　　第一， 迷你对话

　　A: She refused?

　　她拒绝了？

　　B: Yes. Do you think I can persuade her if I try again?

　　是拒绝了。你认为如果我再试一次，我可以劝服她妈？

　　A: She’s not the kind of woman you can persuade.

　　她不是那种你劝得动的女人。

　　B: I know her characteristic, but I don’t give up the chance.

　　我了解她的性格，但是我不想放弃这次机会。

　　A: You know, you are flogging a dead horse. Up till now, no have ever seen successful in talking her to anything she refused.

　　你知道吗，你是在白费劲。直到现在，她拒绝的事情，没有人能够劝说得了。

　　第二， 地道表达

　　flog a dead horse

　　1. 解词释义

　　Flog a dead horse的字面意思是“打死一匹死马”，比喻为“徒劳，白费力气”或者是“事情已经决定，不必再加讨论”的意思。其英文解释为：to insist on talking about something that no one is interested in, or that has already been thoroughly¹ discussed。

　　2. 拓展范例

　　e.g. The history teacher lectured us every day about the importance of studying history, until we begged him to stop flogging a dead horse.

　　历史老师每天跟我们说学习历史的重要性，直到我们求他停止做徒劳无益的事情。

　　Jill: I think I'll write the company president another letter asking him to prohibit smoking.

　　我觉得我要另外写一份信件给公司经理，让他说禁止吸烟。

　　Jane: There's no use beating a dead horse, Jill; he's already decided² to let people smoke.

　　你那是在做徒劳无益的事情，Jill，他已经决定允许大家抽烟了。

　　第三， 咬文嚼字

　　1. give up：停止，放弃

　　e.g. He was compelled by illness to give up his studies.

　　他因病被迫放弃学业。

　　e.g. Father told Harris not to give up his friends when he moved away.

　　父亲告诉哈里斯他搬走后不要与他的朋友们中断往来。

　　2. up till now：直到现在

　　e.g. Up till now, The shadow over me still fails to recede³.

　　时至今日，我心中的笼罩的阴影仍然挥之不去。

　　e.g. Problems of ours are that up till now we have not found an exact method to solve this difficulty yet.

　　我们的问题是到目前为止我们还没找到一个真确的方法去解决这个困难。

　　3. be successful in sth.：在……取得成功

　　e.g. Why do you feel you will be successful in this work?

　　你为什么觉得你能胜任这份工作？

　　e.g. He was successful in the examination.

　　他考试成绩良好。

　　4. talk sb. to sth. ：说服某人做某事

　　e.g. All levels of the oil industry are prone⁴ to talk themselves into a crisis.

　　石油工业界各阶层人士都不难说服自己相信有一次危机即将到来。

　　e.g. Don't you ever try to talk me into consent on his behalf.

　　不要说服我去赞同他的利益。

1 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 recede   

vi.退(去)，渐渐远去；向后倾斜，缩进

参考例句：

• The colleges would recede in importance.大学的重要性会降低。
• He saw that the dirty water had begun to recede.他发现那污浊的水开始往下退了。

4 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。