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SHREK--Chapters 9 and 10 |
Chapter 9
Princess Fiona對Shrek說,"And where would a brave knight be without his noble steed?"
Donkey誤解了公主的意思,回應"I hope you heard that. She called me a noble steed. She think I’m a steed."
Steed通常指的是打仗時士兵的座騎。Noble steed這一個片語是在說在戰場上表現光榮的馬兒。不過Donkey把steed和stud兩個字搞錯了。A stud是指專門用來繁衍後代的種馬或其他雄性牲畜。如果你用這個字來形容男人的話,表示這個男人的性生活豐富,而且善於此道。
Princess Fiona對Shrek說,"You may remove your helmet, good Sir Knight." Shrek回答她,"I have helmet hair." 騎車時若有戴安全帽,脫下安全帽後,頭髮會被安全帽壓平。這時你可以說,you have helmet hair。當然囉,我們知道Shrek只是在找藉口不要脫掉頭盔罷了,因為他怕他的長相會嚇到Fiona。
Princess Fiona對Shrek說,"Please, I would’st look upon the face of my rescuer." Shrek回答說,"Oh, no you wouldn’t—st."在這裡Shrek想要學王子有禮貌的講話,所以加了「最高級」的字根 -st。事實上,這些字尾變化(endings)在古時候的英國人看來,反而是不正確的。
最後Fiona只好命令Shrek摘下頭盔,此時Shrek回答,"Okay. Easy. As you command, Your Highness." 這是一種對公主講話時的禮貌用法,但同時也可以拿來開別人的玩笑。當一個男人對女人說"Yes, Your Highness"時,表示他覺得這個女人只是一個平凡人,但卻表現的像公主一樣。所以,Shrek這麼說時似乎有一點瞧不起Fiona的意味。
Fiona看到Shrek是個妖怪時,她很驚訝。此時,Shrek說道,"Oh, you were expecting Prince Charming?" Prince Charming的意思等於the White Horse Prince--白馬王子,也就是完美的男人。
Shrek和Donkey用了兩個成語嘲笑Lord Farquaad很矮的身高:
身材像Farquaad的男人都in short supply. in short supply = there's not much of, hard to find;很少人會像Lord Farquaad那麼矮。例子:With the outbreak of SARS, surgical masks are in short supply. (SARS爆發之後,外科手術口罩短缺。)
There are those who think little of him. think little of = have little respect for(瞧不起)
接著,Fiona說道,"You know you’re just jealous that you can never measure up to a great ruler like Lord Farquaad."結果Shrek回答說,"Yeah, well maybe you’re right, Princess. But I’ll let you do the measuring when you see him tomorrow. " measure up to = be as good as(像...一樣棒)
Chapter 10
抬頭仰望星空時,Shrek同Donkey聊天,"Look, there’s Bloodnut, the Flatulent. You can guess what he’s famous for. ...No, look, there he is and there’s the group of hunters running away from his stench." Flatulence是醫學用字,表示腸胃脹氣而且一直放屁。Stench這個字表示惡臭,比stink還臭。 英文中表示氣味的字許多,odor屬於比較負面的字,而smell是比較中性的字。較正面的字是fragrance (like flowers,花香)和aroma (often referring to food,食物的香味),以及perfume(香水)。不過,比較正面的字像fragrance, aroma, 和perfume也可以反諷很臭的味道。例如:"The garbage truck parked right outside my window. That was some aroma!" or "Hong Kong certainly lives up to it's name. It's fragrant alright!"
Shrek和Donkey在鬥嘴之後,終於合好了,此時Donkey問道,"So, uh, are there any donkeys up there?" Shrek回答,"Well, there’s um Gabby, the small and annoying." Shrek在這兒試著想要表達善意,所以編了Gabby,影射Donkey。一個人很多話可用to gab來表示。Gabby這個名字是Gabriel (male)或Gabriella (female)兩個名字的暱稱﹔也可以當作愛說話的人的綽號。而Donkey,真的滿多話的。