“talk turkey”真是聊火鸡吗?
学地道英语口语,聊美国文化热点!
美剧里,经常会听到主人公说“Talk the talk, walk the walk”、“talk turkey”。这是什么意思?“说了又说,走了又走?”“聊火鸡?”好像从字面上无论怎么翻译都很奇怪。
而在英语中,像这样和 talk 相关的表达非常多,一不小心就容易理解错误。今天我们一起来看下这些容易理解错的“talk”表达吧~
1. Talk turkey
我们都知道,“turkey”在英语中有“火鸡”的意思,那“talk turkey”什么意思?“聊火鸡”?
其实是这样的,很久以前有两个人一起去打猎,抓到了几只火鸡和几只很瘦的鸟,最后分猎物的时候,一个人就把几只很肥的火鸡留给了自己,把那几只没什么肉的鸟给了另一个人,另一个人就大叫“Talk turkey”,要求分得公平一些。
现在,“talk turkey”常常指郑重其事地谈,坦率地说,开诚布公地谈。
例句:
Talk turkey or I'll go.
说正经事吧,不然我就走了。
I went back to the bar determined to talk Turkey.
我回到酒吧里,决定要言归正传了。
2. Talk the talk, walk the walk
其实,“Talk the talk, walk the walk”常常合在一起使用,“It means that to back up one's words with equivalent actions”,意思是用相应的行动来支持自己所说过的话。也就是言行一致、说到做到的意思。
例句:
"I do walk the walk, not just talk the talk," he said to applause and laughter.
“我会行动而不是夸夸其谈,”他在掌声和笑声中说到。
You can talk the talk and walk the walk when it comes to love so get out and have fun.
面对爱情你可以说到做到,所以放心的出去玩吧。
3. Talk shop
“聊天商店”?当然不是!“talk shop” 可以翻译成“to talk about your job with those you work with when not at work”,表示“三句话不离本行、说行话”。
例句:
You can talk shop and get to know others in your industry.
你可以谈谈工作,了解你所在行业的其他人。
As soon as they met, the linguists started to talk shop.
这些语言学家一见面就开始聊工作。