时间:2018-12-01 作者:英语课 分类:美国习惯用语


英语课

   上个礼拜我帮一个好朋友搬家,结果发现她家有好多我认为没什么用的东西,什么大学时候的笔记本啊,书啊,还有看起来她好久都没穿过的衣服。我问她这些笔记本里是不是有很多珍贵资料,但她说,其实里面都是一些:flotsam and jetsam.


  这两个词都不太常见,flotsam意思是船沉没以后漂浮在水面上的废物,而jetsam是指因为担心船会沉,所以扔到水里的废物,以便减轻船上的载物量。
  大家可能猜到了,flotsam and jetsam, 连起来就是没有价值的物品。
  就像上面的例子中,在我朋友的大学笔记本里:there wasn't any important information written down, it was all flotsam and jetsam, 里面没有什么重要信息,全都没什么用。
  在下面的例子里,我们要看看一个人在他爷爷去世后整理遗物时发现了什么:
  例句-1: After my grandfather died, I went to clean out his garage. I found piles of yellowed newspapers and magazines, empty bottles, pieces of used furniture, and broken tools and sports equipment. There was nothing of any value. It was nothing more than flotsam and jetsam.
  这段话是说: 我爷爷去世后,我去整理他的车库。那里有成捆范黄的旧报纸和杂志,空瓶子,旧家具,还有已经损坏的工具和体育器材。什么值钱的东西都没有,全都是废物。
  其实大家经常会在车库里堆些没有用的东西,久而久之也就忘记了。比如我,我每年就得清理一次我的衣橱,能发现好多我再也不会穿的衣服,把他们捐给慈善机构。I clean my closet 1 once a year, and there are always some flotsam and jetsam.
  ******
  Flotsam and jetsam这个短语,除了指没有价值的物品以外,还有另外一个意思,就是不受重视的人。
  下面的例子里,一个记者就要来给我们讲讲当地居民关注的问题。我们来听听看:
  例句-2: Citizens who want more upscale living areas have been pleading 2 with the City Council 3. They want to see more of the poorer neighborhoods redeveloped. They're tired of seeing homeless people wandering around. To them, such flotsam and jetsam needs to be removed.
  这段话是说:希望提升居住环境的居民一直请求市政厅,他们希望重新开发更多的贫困社区。他们不想再看到无家可归的人到处游荡,对他们来说,这些人不该出现在他们的社区附近。
  这也是可以理解的,谁不想要一个安全的居住环境呢?我最近听我们小区的人说,当地学校校长决定启动一个项目,帮助那些问题学生。He believed it was time to pay greater attention to the flotsam and jetsam. And, truthfully, it is those struggling students that need more help,他认为应该给那些不受重视的学生更多关怀。确实,那些问题学生需要更多的帮助。

1 closet
n.壁橱;储藏室
  • I'll clear out that closet for you.我要替你把那个小衣橱清理出来。
  • Hang your overcoat in the closet.把你的大衣挂在衣橱里。
2 pleading
n.恳求
  • She went down on her knees, pleading for mercy. 她双膝跪下,乞求谅解。
  • His pleading melted her. 他的乞求软化了她。
3 council
n.理事会,委员会,议事机构
  • The town council passed a law forbidding the distribution of handbills.市议会通过法律,禁止散发传单。
  • The city council has declared for improving the public bus system.市议会宣布同意改进公共汽车系统。
标签: 习惯用语
学英语单词
a narrow shave
actinopraxis
aircraft-mounted mine detector
al-daour
albedometers
amphicreatine
aptitude for
arched false work
armed reconnaissance
asahikawas
asphalt flooring
ataerio of drupelets
averill
bachet
bangs-bangs-bangs
be on leave
biological decomposition
blood sucker
busca
cauliflory
central frequency
coastal navigational warnings
coiler pulpit
cold mirrors
continuous charging
convergent filtration
counting on
cupr
delay sweep
dorkish
drum-kits
economy of scope
elbel
electric fog horn
errorlevel
fall of snow
filiforme
fillmass chute
first of same tenor and bate being unpaid
graphic-mode display
Gynutoclinus
high frequency thin film thickness meter
high temperature ablative material
Highmore's body
hochstein
hot gas flame
intermediate products
Koebe function
laterobronchus
liquid-pressure scales
log arithmic diode
losings
Mackinaw City
mean lead
Morciano di Romagna
Morus mongolica
Moszczenica
mucousness
non-delivery
nonahedrons
Ocarina of Time
ocean data acquisition system
oiltight bulkhead
orangethorpe
orthotopic small intestine transplantation
pericontinental area
pile weave
polemist
policy
polyxylic
port block
prehypertrophic
pro-Zionist
production speed
project engineer scheduling technique
Pseudoracelopus
pur.
raise foreign funds
reconceptualise
refrigerator mom
relative byte address
rod bipoiars
rolled sheet iron
scapuloanterior
seal (contact) face
separable acf
sexduction
sightreaders
site model
stooker
tariff kilometerage
tayloria indica
tegminal
transperineal
Tridax
ultra-distance
urban-cowboy
weak signals
winter-annual cover crops
work-lines
wound rotor series resistor starting
zoster frontalis