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第66講:baloney; kickback
各位肯定碰到過(guò)那種會(huì)胡說(shuō)八道的人,他們不是說(shuō)謊,就是在形容某些事物的時(shí)候夸大其詞。美國(guó)人在日常談話中有好幾種說(shuō)法是指那些胡言亂語(yǔ)的。今天我們先給大家介紹一個(gè)經(jīng)常能聽到的說(shuō)法:baloney。Baloney這個(gè)字是來(lái)自意大利地名Bologna,那里出一種很便宜的香腸,里面放的是一些質(zhì)量不太好的肉末。Bologna是怎么變成baloney的,這就不太清楚了。可是,人們逐漸用baloney這個(gè)字來(lái)形容某些人說(shuō)的話一錢不值。比如說(shuō),有一個(gè)叫瓊斯的人向老板提出要求加工資。老板說(shuō)了些好聽的話就把他打發(fā)走了;氐郊依铮(dāng)瓊斯太太問(wèn)起這件事時(shí),瓊斯說(shuō):
"Honey, the old man told me what a great job I'm doing and how I am so valuable to the company. But he said the company isn't making enough money right now to give anybody a raise, he thinks he may be able to do something about it a year from now. But I'm afraid all he gave me was a lot of baloney."
瓊斯對(duì)他太太說(shuō):“親愛(ài)的,那老頭說(shuō)我工作做得如何好,我對(duì)公司來(lái)說(shuō)又是如何重要。但是,他說(shuō),當(dāng)前公司沒(méi)有足夠的收入來(lái)給任何人加工資。他說(shuō)明年他也許能想辦法給我加工資。不過(guò),他說(shuō)的那些話恐怕多半都是空話。”
政客們?cè)诟?jìng)選的時(shí)候經(jīng)常會(huì)遭到對(duì)方的攻擊,他們也經(jīng)常用baloney這個(gè)字來(lái)回?fù)魧?duì)方。例如,一個(gè)參加競(jìng)選的議員看到對(duì)方在電視和報(bào)上指責(zé)他和一些大企業(yè)的關(guān)系太密切。然后,他就在記者會(huì)上說(shuō):
"Baloney! That's all it is when my opponent keeps saying that my voting record always favors big business over the average citizen. Let me say it again: that's nothing but baloney!"
這個(gè)議員說(shuō):“胡說(shuō)!我的對(duì)立面說(shuō)我在投票時(shí)老是從大企業(yè)的利益出發(fā),而不考慮一般老百姓。讓我再重復(fù)一遍:他們的這些話純屬一派胡言!
可是,在現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中我們也確實(shí)看到有的政客老是維護(hù)有錢人的利益,有的還甚至接受賄賂。美國(guó)人把那些政府官員接受的賄賂稱為:kickback。政府官員接受賄賂是違反美國(guó)聯(lián)邦、州和其他地方法律的,可能會(huì)受到嚴(yán)厲的懲罰。請(qǐng)聽一位電臺(tái)記者廣播的一則新聞:
"John Doe, the former head of the City Public Works Department, went on trial today in the district court. He is charged with taking a 50,000-dollar kickback from the Blank Construction Company after giving them a 3 million dollars contract to repair the city streets."
這句話的意思是:“以前市政工程部的頭頭約翰多伊今天在地區(qū)法院受審。他的罪名是接受布蘭克建筑公司給他的五萬(wàn)美元賄賂,以換取他給該公司一項(xiàng)價(jià)值三百萬(wàn)美元修理街道的合同。”
下面是一個(gè)選民在講他們地區(qū)的一位議員:
"We thought our congressman was a sure bet to be re-elected. But he's in real trouble--his opponent charges him with getting kickbacks for voting a certain way and seems to have some evidence to prove it."
他說(shuō):“大家都以為我們的議員肯定會(huì)再次當(dāng)選的,但是他現(xiàn)
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