bbc你问我答--What a shame 真遗憾！（在线收听）

Q and A of the Week 你问我答 

What a shame  真遗憾！ 

  关于台词的备注:  

请注意这不是广播节目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能没有体现录制、编辑过程中对节目做出的 

改变。 

  請注意：中文文字内容只提供簡體版  

Rob:  Hello, I’m Rob  –  and this is Question and Answer of the Week. Helping me 

answer your questions today is Feifei . 

Feifei:   大家好！ 

Rob:  Now, we’ve got a good question today from Wan g Xi –  I feel that she’s 

almost  catching us English speakers out.  

Feifei:   Yes ,  I see what you mean . 今天的问题乍一听像是 Wang Xi 发现了英国人在说母

语的时候犯的一个错误。 

Rob:  Now, let’s hear  what Wang Xi’s question is . 

Question 

Hello, I'm Wang Xi. I  just have a qu estion about the use of 'shame '.  When you h ave a –  

make an accident ,  someone says " Oh, what a shame". Is it really mean ‘what a shame’ 

or ‘what a pity’? 

Feifei:   Wang Xi 想知道英国人在别人出了意外时常用的短语 ‘oh what a shame’  里面的单

词 ‘shame’  的意思是其原意还是  ‘what a pity’ 的意思?  

Rob:  Well –  yes. 

Feifei:   Yes to which one? 

Rob:  Yes to both! They really do mean ‘it’s a shame’ and it does also mean 

exactly the same  as ‘what a pity’. So it’s not a mistake. It’s  perfectly 

correct to say ‘what a shame ’.   

Feifei:   短语 what a shame 和  what a pity 的意思大体是一样的。这两个短语都用来表示

遗憾、可惜。What a shame 这个表达只有这一个意思吗？ 

Rob:  Yes –  ‘ w hat  a shame’  only has that one use, you don’t use it  to mean 

anything else.  

Feifei:   What a shame  这个表达得意思是真可惜、真遗憾。而单词  shame  本身的意思是羞

愧、耻辱。I think that might be why Wang Xi finds it odd.  

Rob:  Yes , the word ‘shame’ on its own has quite a different meaning. So when 

we say ‘what a shame’  –  what do you say in  Chinese ?  

Feifei:   We literally say ‘really a shame’ .   

Rob:  OK, well, let’s hear some examples of people using that phrase ‘what a 

shame’  in English.  

Example s  

Woman:  I can’t come on Saturday by the way. 

Man:  Oh really? What a shame! Why not? 

Woman :  I’ve got to work, and I won’t finish till late so I ’ll be travelling bac k .  

Man:  Her husband died recently. 

Woman: Oh what a shame, I didn’t know.   

Man:  Yes , it was  very sudden. 

Feifei:   第一个例子的对话内容和场景相对比较轻松。The situation is quite light –  not 

serious.  

Rob:  Yes , it sounds like  she’s going to miss a party or something like that. And 

her friend says it’s a shame ‘oh what a shame’.  

Feifei:   不过相比之下，第二个例子里谈论的内容就要严肃很多。In the second example, 

it’s  something much more serious.  

Rob:  That’s right, someone’s husband has died recently.  

Feifei:   例子中的女士听说她朋友的丈夫刚去世后说 ‘oh, what a shame ’.  

Rob:  And because you can use it in every situation where something is bad, it’s 

a very useful phrase to remember.  In Chinese  can y ou use the same 

phrase for both of these occasions? 

Feifei:   Yes, we would more or less use the same expression . And would you say 

we could use the phrase ‘what a pity’ in both those cases as well? 

Rob:  Yes definitely. And sometimes you also want to use it to start a sentence, 

to explain something which has happened.  " It’s a pity that…"  

Feifei:   汉语里我们可以说“非常遗憾的是… ” 。So, for example,  "I t’s a pity that you can’t 

come to the party" .  

Rob:  And you don’t need to use the word ‘that’,  so you could say  "I t’ s  a pity you 

can’t come to the party " . 

Feifei:   It’s a shame  和 it’s a pity 的用法相同。比如 it’s a shame you can’t stay .  

Rob:  Absolutely. So can you think of a clever way to end the programme, using 

the phrase?  

Feifei:   I think so. We could say  "I t ’s a shame we h ave to stop here".  如果你在英语

学习中遇到词汇或语法难题，欢迎你通过微博或邮件形式把问题发送给我们。我们的邮

箱是 [email protected] . Goodbye!  

Rob:  Bye!