開心英語：盛夏里的“降溫”詞匯
2008年07月03日 16:14
陰雨天氣結(jié)束，氣溫迅速回升。大熱天的，講幾個(gè)和冷的東西有關(guān)的俗語也許會讓大家感到舒服一些。下面我們就來講由“雪”和“冰”組成的常用語。
1 snowball
聽到snowball這個(gè)字，我們腦子里就會出現(xiàn)孩子們冬天在雪地里扔雪球玩的情景。除了雪球的本意，snowball 也可以當(dāng)動詞用來形容某一樣?xùn)|西像滾雪球那樣很快就變得越來越大。
下面的這個(gè)例句就是用snowball來形容一家餐館的生意在最近幾個(gè)月變得越來越好。
Sally's happy about how her new seafood restaurant is doing. Business was slow at first but it's really snowballed the last couple of months: now you have to wait in line to get a table.
莎莉?qū)λ麻_的海鮮飯館很滿意。一開始，生意很清淡，但是最近兩個(gè)月來生意越來越好?，F(xiàn)在你要座位還得排隊(duì)等。
又如：The latest polls show that public opinion is starting to snowball in favor of our opponent. We need to find some more good things to say about our candidate and find them quick.
最近民意調(diào)查顯示，選民越來越傾向于我們的對手了。我們必須再找些有利于我們候選人的內(nèi)容來加以宣揚(yáng)，而且還要盡快地行動。
2 snow job
Snow job 就是用拍馬屁、夸張等手法來欺騙或說服別人。在美國，人人都要買各種各樣的保險(xiǎn)，包括健康、房子、
汽車保險(xiǎn)等等。那些保險(xiǎn)公司的推銷員靠著他們的三寸不爛之舌向顧客推銷，說得
天花亂墜，你一不小心就會上當(dāng)。
例如：This guy kept telling me how much I'd save with his company. But when I read the policy he was selling, I realized he was giving me a snow job. So I told him thanks but no thanks.
這個(gè)人一再對我說，要是買他們公司的保險(xiǎn)我會省多少錢。但是，當(dāng)我看了他推銷的保險(xiǎn)政策后，我才明白他是在騙我。所以我告訴他，謝謝，我不要。
幾乎在生活的各個(gè)方面，你都得十分小心不要上當(dāng)。例如：
That new man who's running for Congress makes a lot of promises what he'll do for the people. But I keep having this uneasy feeling that he's only giving us a snow job.
那個(gè)剛參加競選國會議員的人做了許多保證，說他以后要為公眾做些什么事。但是，我總感到不安，覺得他只不過是在欺騙我們。
3 to break the ice
To break 就是打破的意思，ice 就是冰的意思。To break the ice 作為俗語是指：緩和緊張氣氛，使在場的人放松一些。例如，一個(gè)公司舉行會議，參加會議的人都互不相識。那么，會議主席怎么來緩和一下氣氛呢？
He started the meeting with a couple of jokes to get people to relax. Then he went around the table and asked everybody to stand up and tell a little about themselves and that broke the ice in a hurry.
他(指會議主席)一開始就講了兩個(gè)笑話，讓大家放松一些。然后，他圍著桌子讓每個(gè)人站起來簡單地自我介紹，這樣很快就使氣氛緩和了。
又如：It's hard to break the ice at a party for adults where everybody is a stranger. But you put a bunch of young kids together and the noise tells you they break the ice in five minutes.
一群互不相識的成人聚在一起，要緩和氣氛可不容易。但是，要是一群孩子在一起，只要五分鐘他們就很融洽了，從他們的吵鬧聲中你就可以知道這一點(diǎn)。
4 icebergs
Iceberg的原意是：在南北極附近海面上飄動的大冰山。但是，在當(dāng)做俗語用的時(shí)候，iceberg是指一個(gè)冷漠無情，缺乏正常人熱情的人，就像下面例子里說的這個(gè)人。
My boss is the smartest man I know. But he's a real iceberg: he acts like he has no feelings for other people. In fact you can almost feel the chill when he walks into the office.
我的老板是我所認(rèn)識的人當(dāng)中最聰敏的一個(gè)。但是，他真是個(gè)冷漠無情的人。他好像對別人毫無感情。當(dāng)他走進(jìn)辦公室的時(shí)候，你幾乎會感到一股冷氣。
又如：We thought our neighbor next door was a real iceberg, cold and aloof to us all. But at his daughter's wedding he wore a big smile and was so friendly I couldn't believe he was the same man.
我們都認(rèn)為隔壁的鄰居是個(gè)很冷漠的人，對我們都很冷淡。但是，在他女兒的婚禮上，他笑容滿面，非常友好。我真是難以相信看到的是同一個(gè)人。
嘿嘿 好有意思
