昨天晚上,我和先生一起去他們公司的Party,席間遇到一位女士,拉著我們聊個沒完。我們跟她并不熟,可是她一直在大談自己的孩子,向我們炫耀她兒子考上了好大學(xué),又是游泳健將,又受女孩子歡迎,blah blah. To death.
Death,大家都知道,是“死亡”,所以,把to death和某個形容詞放在一起,就表示“到極點(diǎn)”、“如何如何得要命”。
比如,我在party上遇到的這位女士沒完沒了地炫耀自己的孩子,她自己可能覺得很享受,可我簡直bored to death - 快被煩死了! 不過,我寧愿無聊,也不想經(jīng)歷下面這段話描述的心驚膽戰(zhàn):
例句-1:I remember walking late at night in New York City years ago. A stranger came up behind me and pointed a gun at my back. He told me to hand over my wallet. I said that I didn't have it on me, which was the truth. I was scared to death he was going to shoot. I'd never been so afraid in my life! Fortunately, he ran and disappeared into a crowd.
這段話意思是:我還記得,幾年前的一個深夜,我在紐約的街上走路。一個陌生人出現(xiàn)在我身后,用一把槍頂著我的后腰。他讓我把錢包交給他,可我真的沒帶錢包,只好實(shí)話實(shí)說。我當(dāng)時真嚇?biāo)懒耍滤麜_槍。我這輩子都沒那么害怕過! 幸運(yùn)的是,這個人跑掉了,消失在人群中。
被人用槍指著! 好家伙,聽著都害怕! 我沒有過這種經(jīng)歷,不過倒是體會過什么叫scared to death, 怕得要死。上個周末,我?guī)抑杜タ戳藞隹植离娪?。在屏幕上,一個變態(tài)殺人狂血腥地殺戮。我侄女看得津津有味,可是我坐在電影院里直打冷戰(zhàn),I was frightened to death - 嚇?biāo)懒?
在生活中,總是會有一些“要命”的事兒。比如,意外收到大禮包,你會trilled to death, 高興得要命;遇到暴風(fēng)雪,天氣, freezing to death, 冷得要命; 家人生病住院,你worried to death, 萬分擔(dān)心。再比如下面這位會計(jì)師,我們來聽聽他遇到了什么要命的事兒:
例句-2:A lot of my friends like to get away when the weather starts warming up. But there's no way I can. That's because I'm an accountant. From February through April, I'm busy preparing tax returns for my clients. I'm expected to stay late at the office, come in on weekends...I'm worked to death. It's unbelievably stressful, but that's my job.
這段話的意思是:天氣一轉(zhuǎn)暖,我的好多朋友就都出去旅游了。可我卻沒法這樣做,因?yàn)槲沂莻€會計(jì)師。每年二月到四月,我都忙著為客戶報稅,作退稅的準(zhǔn)備工作。我晚上得加班,周末也不能休息...簡直是精疲力盡。壓力之大別人難以想象,可沒辦法,這就是我的工作。
美國的報稅截至日期是4月15號,所以2月到4月是會計(jì)師們最忙的時候,他們的工作壓力當(dāng)然很大。不過,即使在自己家里,你也難免要承受一些壓力。比如,我女兒前幾天把她的幾個同學(xué)帶回家,在地下室里組了個樂隊(duì),她們叮當(dāng)五四,吹拉彈唱,練個沒完。我覺得,they're rehearsing some of the songs to death, 她們已經(jīng)把其中一些歌練得快爛了! 不過,我也不能說什么,不能打擊她們的積極性,因?yàn)镮 love my daughter to death, 我女兒就是我的心頭肉啊!