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  • Hi again. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam.

    嗨!歡迎回到 EngVid,我是亞當

  • Today's lesson is a little bit interesting.

    今天要教的東西滿有趣的

  • I'll give you a little bit of a background first of all. English speakers, and this is a very cultural part of English...

    我會先告訴你一些背景資料,說英文的人...這也是英文文化裡滿重要的一件事

  • And remember, culture plays a lot... Has a big role when it comes to language.

    記住,文化影響很重要,文化對語言的影響佔了很大一部份

  • A lot of speakers, in English, don't want to say certain words.

    許多說英文的人,會避免自己說出一些特定的字眼

  • For some reason, they think this word is dirty or heavy, or they just don't like this word, so we find soft expressions.

    由於某些原因,他們覺得這些字很髒或是聽起來很沉重,所以我們有了這些軟性說法

  • We find other ways to say the same thing that everybody understands, everybody from the culture understands.

    我們找出了一些其他人也聽得懂的說法,處在同個文化裡的人都會懂的

  • It may be a little bit difficult for non-native English speakers to understand these expressions, so today we're going to look at a few.

    對英語學習者來說,這些說法可能會比較難懂,所以今天我們來看一些這樣的用法吧!

  • There are many, many such expressions.

    英文有許多、許多這樣的說法

  • We're just going to look at a few for today.

    我們今天只會來看一些

  • Firstly, these soft expressions are also called euphemisms. You don't need to know this word.

    第一點,這些軟性的說法也被稱為委婉詞語,你可以不用特別記住這個詞

  • If you want to look up more expressions, type: "euphemisms" into your search box on the internet, and you'll see many more.

    如果你想多看其他的委婉用法,可以在網路搜尋欄裡打「euphemisms」,你就會看到其他的用法

  • I'm just going to give you a few to give you an example of what a euphemism is.

    我會舉些例子,讓你看看什麼是委婉用法

  • And when you watch Hollywood movies or TV shows, if you hear these expressions, now hopefully, you will understand what they mean.

    當你看好萊塢的電影或是一些影集時,如果你聽到這些用法,希望你聽得懂它們代表什麼意思囉

  • So we're going to start with: "passed away" which is very common.

    首先我們先看 'passed away",這用法很常見

  • I think many of you probably know this expression. Or: "did not make it".

    我想你們很多人應該都知道這用法,或是說 "did not make it"

  • So if you go to the hospital, your friend was in a car accident, and you bring him to the hospital or the ambulance brings him to the hospital,

    假如你在醫院,因為你的朋友出車禍了,接著你或是救護車帶他去醫院

  • and he's in there for a while, and then you see the doctor.

    然後在醫院過了一陣子後,你去見醫生

  • And you go to the doctor: "How's my friend?" And the doctor says: "Oh, I'm sorry. He didn't make it."

    你問醫生:「我的朋友還好嗎?」醫生說:「噢,我很抱歉,他撐不下去了」

  • What does that mean? Or: "I'm sorry. He passed away." What does that mean?

    那是什麼意思?或是說「我很遺憾,他走了」那又是什麼意思

  • It means he died.

    意思是他死了

  • Now, why people don't like to say the word "died", well, it's a very heavy word.

    好,為什麼人們不喜歡提到 "died" 這個字呢?是這樣的,這個字用起來十分沉重

  • Death, people don't like to talk about death, so they find other ways to say the same thing.

    死亡,人們不喜歡談論死亡,所以他們找到了替代的說法

  • Okay?

    懂嗎?

  • Now, all of these are not bad things, but you know, we just want to soften the language.

    現在要說的這些用法並不是不好,但你知道,我們就是會想要委婉地表達

  • We want to be a bit more polite sometimes.

    我們有時會想要表現得比較有禮一點

  • If you want, if you're in the washroom and you want...

    如果你想,如果你在廁所但你想去...

  • Sorry, if you're in the restaurant and you want the washroom,

    噢抱歉,如果你在餐廳而你想去洗手間,

  • but you don't want to say the word "washroom" or you don't want to say the word "toilet", you say...

    但你不想說「洗手間」或是「廁所」,你可以說...

  • If you're a boy, you say, or a man, you say: "Where's the little boys' room?"

    如果你是男生,或是個男人,你可以說 "Where's the little boys' room?

  • If you're a woman: "Where's the ladies' room?"

    如果你是女人,你可以說 "Where's the ladies' room?"

  • Now, we understand all this to be toilet. But people think "toilet" is a dirty word.

    現在我們都懂這些都是在指廁所,但人們覺得「廁所」這個字不乾淨

  • They don't like to say the word "toilet", so they say: "Little boys' room", or: "Ladies' room". Okay?

    他們不喜歡說「廁所」這個詞,所以他們會說 "Little boys' room" 或是 "Ladies' room",懂嗎?

  • Now, sometimes you'll see people in a wheelchair.

    接著,有時你會看到坐輪椅的人

  • Maybe they had an accident, maybe they were born this way, but they can't walk.

    他們可能出過車禍,或是一出生就是如此,他們無法行走

  • They're in a wheelchair. Or you see people who have a...

    他們坐在輪椅上,或是你看到某些人有...

  • who were born with a disease, and they're not, you know, they're not fully functional like everyone else.

    某些人一出生身體就帶著殘疾,他們並不,你知道的,有些普通人能做的他們做不到

  • We used to say: "handicapped".

    我們之前會說他們為 "handicapped"

  • But people find this word to be a little bit offensive, and so it's not politically correct; it's not a nice thing to say.

    但人們覺得這個字有點傷人,也不政治正確,這種說法不好就是了

  • So now, we say: "They are mentally challenged." Or: "They are physically challenged."

    因此現在,我們會說 "They are mentally challenged." 或是 "They are physically challenged."

  • It used to be: "handicapped" or: "disabled".

    這些字以前曾是 "handicapped" 或 "disabled" 的意思

  • But people don't want to say "disabled"

    但現在人們不想再說 "disabled" 這個字了

  • because they think or they know that these people are very able, they can do many things; they're just limited.

    因為他們覺得,或是他們其實認為這些殘疾者一樣能做很多事,他們只是受限了

  • Okay? They are challenged by their condition.

    懂嗎?他們是被自己的狀況挑戰

  • So they are mentally challenged or they are physically challenged is a more polite way to say it.

    因此他們是 "mentally challenged" 或 "physically challenged" 是比較委婉的說法

  • Okay, so now, we're going to look at the next expressions.

    好的,現在我們要來看看下個說法

  • If you want to talk about a man or a woman,

    如果你想要談論一個男人或女人的身材,

  • and the not polite way to talk about them is to say: "He or she is fat, big. "

    比較沒有禮貌的說法是 "He or she is fat, big."

  • So, people don't like the word "fat".

    人們不喜歡 'fat" 這個字

  • So, for a more polite way or a softer way to say "fat" for a woman is: "She is full-figured."

    因此比較用來形容 "fat" 的女人較有禮或是婉轉的說法是 "She is full-figured."

  • Full-figured means she's complete. She's full in all the places, and that's what we say.

    "Full-figured" 意思是她身材面面俱到,她各處都很豐滿,這就是我們的說法

  • A man, we're a little bit less nice to men.

    男人的話,我們對男人就沒那麼好了

  • A man has "let himself go". Means he stopped taking care of himself, and became fat. Okay?

    一個男人已經 "let himself go" 意思就是他不再照顧自己,因此變得肥胖,懂嗎?

  • Again, not a nice word, but not necessarily a very nice expression either, but it's softer.

    一樣,這不是很好的用法,也不一定是個好的表達方式,但這委婉許多

  • It's not as direct, but everybody understands what this means.

    這不直接,但每個人都懂這句話的意思

  • Now, if you have a friend or you have a family member and he says that...

    現在,如果有個朋友或是你的家人說...

  • Or you introduce him as being "laid off" or "between jobs",

    或是你要提到他被 "laid off" 或 "between jobs"

  • this is a more polite, a softer way to say he is unemployed.

    這是種比較有禮的說法,比較委婉地表達他待業中的狀況

  • It means he doesn't have a job. He's looking for a job. He's being laid off.

    意思是他沒有工作,他正在找工作,他被裁員了

  • "Laid off" is a nicer way to say "fired". He lost his job.

    "Laid off" 是炒魷魚的婉轉說詞,他失去他的工作了

  • So, if somebody's between jobs, they are unemployed.

    如果有人正在「工作之間」,代表他們待業中

  • People don't like to say they are unemployed; everybody has a certain judgment about that,

    人們不喜歡說他們失業中,每個人對於這件事都有一定的看法

  • so they say they're between jobs or they're looking for something.

    所以他們會說 "between jobs" 或是他們正在找尋某件事物

  • Same idea.

    一樣的意思

  • Now we get into a little bit more fun expressions.

    現在我們的用法會比較有趣一些

  • So, for example: oh, I have a new iPad. Only $100. Brand new.

    舉例來說 :「噢,我有台新的 iPad,我只花了 100 元」,全新的

  • And somebody says: -"Oh. How did you get it so cheap?" -"Oh", I said:

    接著其他人說:「噢,你怎麼找得到這種價格呀?」「噢」,我繼續說:

  • "I got it off the back of a truck." or: "It fell off the back of a truck."

    「我在一台卡車的後面找到的」或是「它從卡車後面掉下來的」

  • In British English, they would say: "lorry". "Lorry" means truck.

    在英式用法,他們會說 "lorry","lorry" 是卡車的意思

  • If somebody tells you they got something off the back of the truck... Sorry, it's also the back of the truck.

    如果有人跟你講他們從卡車後面找到東西...抱歉,也是卡車後面

  • It means it is stolen. So you didn't buy it from the store; you bought it on the street.

    意思是它是贓貨,因為你不是從商店買的,你是在街頭買到的

  • Somebody had a truck, you paid them cash, they give you the product.

    有人有台卡車,你付現金,他們拿貨給你

  • It was stolen somewhere. You don't care.

    它是從某個地方偷來的,你也不在乎

  • You have a brand new product for less than half the price.

    因為你用低於半價的價格就買到全新的商品了

  • So, "off the back of the truck", "fell off", it was stolen.

    因此,"off the back of the truck" 及 "fell off",代表它是贓品的意思

  • If something... Oh, sorry. Let me make sure we understand that these are here. Now, when...

    如果某個東西,噢抱歉,讓我確定我要講的都在這...現在,當...

  • It used to be a long time ago that when you bought a car, you could buy a brand new car or you could buy a used car.

    這通常是以前的用法,但當你買車時,你可以選擇買新車或是買台用過的車

  • But then, eventually, people started not to like the word "used".

    但最後,人們開始不喜歡 "used" 這個字了

  • "Used" means somebody else used it, had it for its good time, and then got rid of it.

    "Used" 的意思是其他人用過了,有用這台車度過美好時光過,接著才脫手賣掉

  • So marketing departments got smart, and they started using a different expression to mean used.

    因此行銷商變聰明了,他們開始用不同的說法去代表 'used" 這個字

  • "Previously enjoyed". Somebody else enjoyed this thing, now you can enjoy it too.

    "Previously enjoyed",代表之前有人享受過這項產品,現在輪到你享受了

  • It's still used. It still has 100,000 kilometers on it, it still has a cigarette hole in the seat,

    它一樣是被使用過,它還是有十萬公里的里程紀錄,座位上一樣有個被煙燙到留下的小洞

  • but it was previously enjoyed. Now it's your turn to enjoy it.

    但這是被上個人使用過的商品,現在輪到你了

  • Okay, the next expression we have is, for example, if you see someone in your office, a co-worker,

    好的,我們要介紹的下個用法,舉例來說,如果你看到有人在你的辦公室,也就是你的同事

  • she comes to work and her stomach is a little bit bigger.

    她過來上班,然後你發現她的肚子變大了

  • Then the next week, it's a little bit bigger, a little bit bigger, but the rest of her is staying slim.

    下週你再看一次,又變大了,一直變大,而她身體的其他地方還是瘦瘦的

  • So you say: "Oh, you know, I think she might have a bun in the oven."

    於是你說:「噢,你知道嗎?我覺得她好像有個『麵包在烤箱裡』」

  • "A bun in the oven" means pregnant.

    " A bun in the oven" 意思就是懷孕

  • Now, if you're in high school, for example, and one of your classmates,

    那麼如果是在高中,舉例來說,你的某位同學

  • she's like 16 or 17, and same thing, her stomach's getting bigger,

    她大約16、17歲,接著一樣的事發生,她的腹部漸漸隆起

  • then we say: "You know what? I think she's knocked up."

    我們會說:「你知道嗎?我覺得她好像肚子被搞大了」

  • "Knocked up" also means pregnant, but this is more slang, and it's a little bit more of a negative idea.

    "Knocked up" 的意思是懷孕,但這比較像是俚語用法,整體來說比較負面

  • Okay? So it's not necessarily softer. It's saying the same thing, pregnant, but it's a bit of a negative connotation to it.

    懂嗎?所以這並不一定比較婉轉,這代表的是同一件事,懷孕,只是有著比較負面的涵義

  • So be careful about using that one.

    要用這種說法時要多注意一點

  • But just so you know what it means.

    讓你知道一下這用法的意思這樣

  • Now, again, like I said before, there are many, many, many such expressions in the English language. Look them up online.

    現在一樣,像我之前我說過的,英文有許多許多不同的用法,在網路上多看看吧

  • And if you want, you can always come and ask me a question in the comments section at www.engvid.com.

    如果你想要的話,你永遠都可以來 engvid 的網站下面留言問我問題

  • You can also come test your knowledge of these ones with the quiz.

    你也可以用這些測驗考考自己

  • Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel, and come see us again very soon. Bye.

    別忘了訂閱我的頻道,也要快來看我們,掰掰!

Hi again. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam.

嗨!歡迎回到 EngVid,我是亞當

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