时间:2019-02-04 作者:英语课 分类:美国习惯用语


英语课

to brainstorm 1


egghead


美国人在面临难题的时候往往会坐在一起交换意见,找出解决问题的方案。不管是在私营公司,或是在政府机构里,这种现象是常见的。美国人把这种做法叫作:to brainstorm。


Brain就是脑子,storm就是暴风雨。Brainstorm是一个字,意思就是:群策群力。比如说,一个电视广告公司为一家汽车制造商录制了一段广告,介绍这家厂生产的1990年新车。可是这个汽车商对广告不满意。于是,广告公司的经理对手下的雇员说:


例句-1: "I'm sorry to tell you our client 2 has turned down the ads we did for him. Let's meet at 2 o'clock and brainstorm ideas."


这个经理说:"我很抱歉我得告诉你们,我们的顾客不喜欢我们替他录制的广告。让我们两点开个会,一起出主意再重新替他做广告。"


这里的brainstorm是作为动词用的。下面说话的人把brainstorm当做名词用,它的意思是:好主意。他说:


例句-2: "Say, I just had a brainstorm! In our ads for these new cars, why don't we talk about their safety features and not how fast they go. A lot of people are worried about safety these days."


这人说:"咳,我有了个好主意!在介绍这些新车的广告里,我们不如不要说它们跑多快,而着重介绍这些车的安全设施。现在许多人都为安全担心。"


大多数人都很尊敬那些脑子灵活聪明的人。可是,有些聪明的人总觉得自己比周围的人强,处处要表现自己。美国人把这种人称为:egghead。


Egg就是鸡蛋,head就是头。Egghead作为一个字是在1952年美国总统大选时开始用的。当时,共和党的候选人是二次世界大战联军的最高司令员艾森豪威尔将军。艾森豪威尔的竞选对手是伊利诺伊州州长、民主党候选人史蒂文森。史蒂文森是个知识分子,他在竞选过程中发表了一系列精心撰写的讲话。可是,这些讲话只有像史蒂文森那样的知识分子才感兴趣,所以共和党人就取笑他说:


例句-3: "Sure, all the eggheads love Stevenson. But how many eggheads do you think there are?"


这句话的意思是:"当然罗,所有知识分子都喜欢史蒂文森。可是你想想,知识分子一共才有多少呀?"最后艾森豪威尔当选为美国总统。


不管地位高低,大大小小的eggheads们似乎都是书生气十足。下面是一个人在说他的哥哥:


例句-4: "I have to tell you that since he went off to college, Bill has turned into a real egghead. He'd rather read a book on physics than see a movie or a good football game on TV."


他说:"我得告诉你,比尔上了大学后,他真是变成了一个书生气十足的人。他宁可看物理书也不愿去看电影,或看电视上精彩的足球赛。"


今天我们讲了to brainstorm和egghead这两个词。To brainstorm就是大家群策群力,egghead指的是书生气很足的知识分子。


「美国习惯用语」第一百零五课就讲到这里。欢迎下次再一起来学习美国习惯用语。再见。



vi.动脑筋,出主意,想办法,献计,献策
  • The women meet twice a month to brainstorm and set business goals for each other.她们每个月聚会两次,在一起出谋献策,为各自制定生意目标。
  • We can brainstorm a list of the most influential individuals in the company.我们可以集体讨论,列出该公司中最有影响的人员的名单。
n.委托人,当事人,顾客
  • She can't come to the telephone;she's serving a client.她不能来接电话,她正在接待一位顾客。
  • The lawyer produced a clever defence of his client.律师机智地为委托人辩护。
学英语单词
a blanket of sth
acetogeneses
after twelve
alignment diagnostic
ambulance corps
angiologies
antiradical
antiulcerogenic
Apractognosia
aster ericoidess
blenderizes
Bourdon pressure gage
breast bone saw
catalog management
Chasseral
chip curl
Cineform
communities
Coragoxin
count down
crown-of-thorns
de jong and bouman photographs
decussroium
deliberate maiming
deterministic finite tree automaton
divvied
dune belt
effective Hall Parameter
elastic theory
electric machine for tropical use
electric-shocks
electricity system
electro-chemical reactor
exhilarate
Faliero
Ffs
floating pontoon wharf
foot rests
foreshore
Gempei War
generalized polynomials
gigamp
handywomen
hemophilus ducrevi
hernial covering
heterophone
induced radioactive nuclide
janking
land tax collected in kind
Las Peňas
late fee
lee-boot effect
Lefini
looping structure
low-growth
macrocryst
Madrid interband offered rate
managerial goals
marbletopped
mcanarney
McKnight L.
mentsch
Met.E
microphytophagous mites
nanolaminates
Nazirite
net shaker
nitroanilide
nonlinear parametrization
Ollerton
outfinessed
p-(p-toluoyl)benzoic acid
para-site
periblast
play a waiting game
pogostemon cablins
pollution,contamination
precaudal plate
presentation model
pro fanity
red bayberries
redundancy check
retzina
Rhamnus croceus
roller bin gate
secancy
send someone off
side frequency
slipped his wind
soal
steel plate galvanized
sto gate dielectric
Stop loss limit
traffic surveillance and control system
trifoveolate
tursiopss
TV-ad
unturns
Utta
Valle del Cauca
vernalised
vrindi