Lesson 100 - NAG / GET OFF ONE'S BACK(在线收听

nag

to get off one's back

大家常常可以听到有的丈夫抱怨说,自己的太太在家里老是唠叨个没完,说他家务事做得不够,衣服到处乱扔等。美国人用一个字来形容这种爱唠叨的现象,那就是:nag。Nag这个字的意思就是没完没了地唠叨,让人听起来很烦燥。但是,这个字不是用来专门形容太太的,它还可以用在其它方面,例如,下面这个例句里的工人把这个字用在他老板身上:

例句-1: I like my boss except for one thing - he's always nagging me about getting to work on time. I'm never more than five minutes late, and that's only when the bus doesn't show up on time.

这个工人说:我的老板什么都挺好,就是老是嘱咐我要按时上班,唠叨个没完。实际上,我即便晚到也从来没有超过五分钟的,而那也只是在公共汽车晚到的时候才会发生。

这句话里的nag是个动词,但是,nag也可以用做名词来形容那些不断批评别人,要别人按着他的意志行事的人。下面就是一个例子:

例句-2: My wife is such a nag about my smoking - she keeps after me all day long to stop it. You know, I've been smoking twenty years now and giving up my four packs a day is hard to do.

这个人说:我的太太在我抽烟的问题上真是爱唠叨,为了要我戒烟她成天说个没完。可是你要知道,我抽烟已经有二十年啦,要戒掉一天四包烟的习惯可是很难的事。

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要是有人老是对你唠叨个没完,你总有一天会感到无法忍耐,你可能会说: "Hey, get off my back, will you!"这就是说:"喂,你别跟我唠叨了,行不行!"我们这儿要讲的常用语就是:to get off one's back。

下面的例子是一个汽车工人在谈论他的老板:

例句-3: I'm telling you, if that guy doesn't stop nagging me about working faster, I'm going to tell him to get off my back or I'll walk right off the job and let him see how hard it is to find a good mechanic these days.

这个工人说:我告诉你,要是那个家伙再来唠叨要我干得更快地话,我就要告诉他别再纠缠不清,否则我就不干了,让他知道现在要找一个真正懂机械的工人是多么的难。

To get off one's back还可以指一些对人起限制作用的规章、条例或机构等。下面这个例子就是一个商人在抱怨政府过多的条例:

例句-4: Do you know what would help pick up the economy? Just get the government off our backs with all these useless rules and regulations that keep us filling out forms and showing inspectors around.

这个人说:"你知道什么能够促使经济发展更快吗?就让政府取销所有那些毫无用处的条例和规章就行了,省得我们老是填表格,带着检查员到处看。"

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/usayongyu/21119.html