听播客学英语 272 废话

 　　We have had some quite serious podcasts recently, so here – for a change – is some complete nonsense¹.

　　Early in the morning in the middle of the night,

　　Two dead boys got up to fight.

　　Back to back they faced each other

　　Drew their swords and shot each other

　　A deaf policeman heard the noise

　　And came and killed the two dead boys

　　He took them in to court and said

　　These two boys I have found dead.

　　This is a very old nonsense rhyme, and there are many different versions² of it, both in Britain and in North America.

　　Look at the third and fourth lines. “Each other” (or “one another”) is the way we express reciprocal³ actions in English. For example: Kevin faced Matt. Matt faced Kevin. They faced each other. Kevin shot Matt. Matt shot Kevin. They shot each other. I saw Sarah. Sarah saw me. We saw each other. And so on.

1 nonsense   

n.胡说，废话

参考例句：

• Go along with you! What you say is all nonsense!去你的！你说的全是废话！
• "Don't talk nonsense",she said sharply.“别胡扯”，她严厉地说。

2 versions   

n.译本( version的名词复数 )；版本；（个人对事件的）描述；（原物的）变体

参考例句：

• There are two versions of the game, a long one and a short one. 这游戏有两个版本，一长一短。
• When both versions of the story were collated,major discrepancies were found. 在将这个故事的两个版本对照后，找出了主要的不符之处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 reciprocal   

adj.相互的，互惠的，互补的；n.相互，互惠 [数］ 倒数

参考例句：

• Our relationship is based on reciprocal respect.我们的关系是以互相尊重为基础的。
• Although I gave him many presents,I had no reciprocal gifts from him.虽然我给他很多礼物，但我没有收到过他给我的礼物。