The english we speak(BBC教學)第323期:Reinvent the wheel 浪費時間做無用功
Is Neil wasting time thinking of ideas for today's programme? Feifei thinks he's writing the same old thing — but what's writing got to do with reinventing a wheel? All will be revealed in this programme — if Neil finishes writing it!
尼爾正在爲今天的節目想主意，但是他是在浪費時間嗎？菲菲認爲他一直在寫重複的內容，但是寫文稿和“重新發明車輪”有什麼關係？本期節目將揭曉所有答案，如果尼爾完成文稿的話！Feifei: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I'm Feifei...
菲菲：大家好，歡迎收聽地道英語節目。我是菲菲。Neil: ... and... hi there... I'm Neil.
尼爾：大家好，我是尼爾。
Feifei: Err... Neil, could we have your attention please?
菲菲：額……尼爾，請你注意一下好嗎？Neil: Sorry Feifei — I'm still trying to finish the script for this programme.
尼爾：抱歉，菲菲，我正在努力完成本期節目的文稿。Feifei: What? You're still writing the script for this programme! So what's going to happen today then?
菲菲：什麼？你還在寫這期節目的文稿？那今天的節目要怎麼進行？Neil: Well, I thought that you could pretend to arrive late... I've lost my coffee... I just need to think of an authentic real English phrase to use now...
尼爾：嗯，我想你可以假裝遲到了，或者我弄丟了咖啡，我只需要想出一個現在要用的地道英語短語……Feifei: Oh come on Neil, there is no need to reinvent the wheel!
菲菲：哦，得了吧，尼爾，沒必要浪費時間做無用功！Neil: Feifei, you're amazing — to reinvent the wheel — that's a great English phrase. I'll use that in my script.
尼爾：菲菲，你太棒了，“浪費時間做無用功”這個短語太棒了。我要用在我的文稿裏。Feifei: To reinvent the wheel means 'to waste time trying to create something that has already been made'. So I'm saying, don't waste time writing a script that has already been written — all your ideas have been written before!
菲菲：這個短語的意思是浪費時間去創造已有的東西。我的意思是，不要浪費時間去寫已經寫好的文稿，你的想法之前都已經寫過了！Neil: Really?
尼爾：真的嗎？Feifei: I'll show you — but first let's hear some more examples of this phrase...
菲菲：我拿給我看，不過我們先來聽些例句。Examples
例句Don't reinvent the wheel; we already have a plan that seems to work well.
不要浪費時間做無用功了；我們已經有一個看起來很有效的計劃了。He spent days working out the new course syllabus when we had planned it already — he's just reinvented the wheel!
他花費了好幾天的時間來制定新的課程大綱，可是我們之前就已經計劃好了，他只是在浪費時間做無用功！Nancy's new idea is just the same as the old one — she's just reinvented the wheel!
南茜的新主意和之前的想法一樣，她只是在浪費時間做無用功罷了！Feifei: So to reinvent the wheel means 'to waste time and effort doing something that someone has done before'. Now let me show you that old script...
菲菲：所以這個短語的意思是“浪費時間和精力做一些其他人之前已經做過的事情”。現在我給你看一下以前的舊文稿……Neil: Oh yeah. Let's have a look. Arrives late... drinks coffee... I tell a joke... you're right Feifei, this is almost the same script. I'll just copy the idea for today's script.
尼爾：哦好。我們來看看。遲到……喝咖啡……我講個笑話……菲菲，你說的對，這幾乎是完全一樣的文稿。今天節目的文稿我只是複製了以前的想法。Feifei: Actually, maybe you shouldn't reinvent the wheel — and start writing something new and original.
菲菲：其實也許你不應該浪費時間做無用功，你可以開始寫一些新的、有獨創性的東西。Neil: Sorry — we're out of time Feifei. I just need to say something funny and we can go... I've had a 'wheely' good time!
尼爾：抱歉，菲菲，我們沒時間了。我只需要說些好笑的事情，然後我們就可以走了……我度過了一段“非常”愉快的時光！Feifei: That wasn't funny.
菲菲：那並不好笑。Both: Bye!
二人一起：再見！
譯文屬僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載
重點講解：
1. think of 想出，想到(主意)；
例句：I beat my brains out trying to think of a way of getting round the difficulty.
我絞盡腦汁，試圖想出避開那一困難的辦法。
2. work out 想出，得到(解決方法)；解(謎)；
例句：I think we should work out a strategy to deal with this situation.
我想我們應該制訂出一項行動計劃，用來對付這種情況。
3. the same as 與…相似；與…一樣；
例句：Pound's valuation was the same as mine.
龐德的見解和我相同。
4. out of 缺乏；沒有；
例句：I can't find the sugar — and we're out of milk.
我找不到糖——而且我們也沒牛奶了。
