在
前两部分
,我们讨论了“说”的各种不同表达形式,有利于
写作
时语言的多元化,这一讲来看一下跟
say
有关的
口语
表达。
例
1
:美剧《老友记》
S01E12
:
Monica
做菜很棒,她的阿姨让她帮忙做
lasagna
(意式千层面),却没跟她说明要做素的,结果
Monica
理所当然地加了肉。看看
Monica
在电话里跟阿姨怎么说。
Monica: Aunt Syl,
stop yelling!
All I'm saying is
if you had told me vegetarian lasagna, I
would've made vegetarian lasagna.
(阿姨,别吼了!我的意思是,如果你叫我做素面,我肯定做素面出来啊!)——言外之意:你根本没说清楚。
例
2
:《老友记》
S01E14
:
Ross
跟某女士第一次约会吃饭,净说些很学术、很无趣的事,又扯到什么狗坐飞机有没有时差的问题。
Ross:
I'm just
saying
if dogs do experience jet lag, then, because of the whole seven dog
years to one human year thing, then, when a dog flies from New York to Los
Angeles, he doesn't just lose three hours, he loses like a week and a half.
(
我是说,如果狗有时差问题,人过一年相当于狗过七年,那么狗从纽约飞到洛杉矶,损失的不是三小时,而是十天。
)
从以上两个例子看
be saying
的用法:它一般用在与别人的讨论中,往往前面已经说了一段话了,若想更好地表达自己的意思,后面就用
be saying
再来补充强调一下。
例:
(1)
I'm not saying
it's a bad idea, just
that we need to think about it.
(我不是说这个主意不好,但我们得仔细考虑。)
(2)
I'm just saying
it would be easier if we
made a copy.
(我只是觉得,如有有复印件,就更方便了。)
(3)
Teachers have to try to understand their students more,
you know
what I'm saying
?(老师得更努力地去了解学生,你懂我的意思吗?)
(4)
All I’m saying is that
it would be
better to do this first.
(我的意思是先做这个更好。)
例
3
:《老友记》
S01E03
:
Phoebe
的银行账户无缘无故多了
$500
,她说要去银行把这钱退了,朋友们劝她收着自己用。看看
Phoebe
怎么说。
Phoebe: Okay. Okay,
let's
say
I bought a really great pair of shoes. Do you know what I'd hear, with
every step I took? 'Not-mine. Not-mine. Not-mine.' And even if I was happy,
okay, and, and skipping- I’d hear 'Not-not-mine, not-not-mine, not-not-mine,
not-not-mine'...
(比如说,我用这钱买了双很好的鞋。我每走一步,就会听到什么声音,你知道吗?“不是你的,不是你的……”即使我很开心,然后欢跳几下,会听到什么?“不是
-
你的,不是
-
你的……”。)大意就是:不是自己的钱买的东西,用着不安心。
这里的
say:
如果说,比如说
。
再如:
(1)
Say
a student came to you with a
problem. You'd try to help him, right?
(比如说学生找你帮忙,你会尽量帮他的,对吧?)
(2)
Let's just say
they don’t approve our
plan. What do we do then?
(如果说他们不同意我们的计划,那我们怎么办?)
(3)
Let's say
your plan fails, then what?
(如果说你计划失败,然后怎么办?)
(4)
Just say
you won the lottery, then what
would you do?
(就算你中了乐透,然后呢?)