The english we speak(BBC教學)第204期:Like turkeys voting for Christmas 像火雞支持過聖誕節一樣

Feifei and Rob are really looking forward to the Christmas break. But the boss wanted them to work on Christmas Day. Rob told the boss that agreeing to work on Christmas Day would be like turkeys voting for Christmas. Like turkeys voting for Christmas? What does this all mean? Listen and find out.

菲菲和羅布非常期待聖誕假期。但是老闆希望他們在聖誕節當天上班。羅布告訴老闆，同意在聖誕節上班就像火雞支持過聖誕節一樣。像火雞支持過聖誕節一樣？這是什麼意思？請收聽本期節目並找出答案。

Rob: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak where we teach you English words and phrases which you might not find in your dictionary. I'm Rob.

羅布：大家好，歡迎收聽地道英語節目，我們會在節目中講解詞典裏沒有的英語單詞和詞組。我是羅布。

Feifei: … and I'm Feifei. Hello.

菲菲：……我是菲菲，大家好。

Rob: I am getting very excited, it's nearly Christmas.

羅布：我越來越興奮了，馬上就要到聖誕節了。

Feifei: I love Christmas! All the food, the presents, the silly games and the…

菲菲：我喜歡聖誕節！美食、禮物、有趣的遊戲還有……

Rob: Oh, Feifei, did you hear the boss wants us to agree to work on Christmas Day?

羅布：哦，菲菲，你有沒有聽老闆說他希望我們同意聖誕節上班？

Feifei: Really? Why? I would never agree to that!

菲菲：真的嗎？爲什麼？我是絕對不會同意的！

Rob: I don't know, but he wanted us to agree to it. So I told him us agreeing to work on Christmas Day would be like turkeys voting for Christmas.

羅布：我也不知道，不過他希望我們同意。所以我告訴他同意在聖誕節上班就像火雞支持過聖誕節一樣。

Feifei: 'Like turkeys voting for Christmas'? Rob, I know you like your turkey dinner but what's this got to do with turkeys?

菲菲：像火雞支持過聖誕節一樣？羅布，我知道你喜歡火雞晚餐，可是這和火雞有什麼關係？

Rob: Let me explain, Feifei. As you know, lots of people eat turkeys at Christmas. So, do you think if the turkeys had a choice, they would vote for Christmas?

羅布：菲菲，我來解釋。如你所知，許多人會在聖誕節那天吃火雞。那你認爲如果火雞可以選擇，它們會支持過聖誕節嗎？

Feifei: No, of course not, it would be crazy for them to vote for Christmas because they get eaten.

菲菲：不會，當然不會，如果它們同意過聖誕節那它們一定是瘋了，因爲它們會被吃掉啊。

Rob: That's right. So in English, we use this idiom 'like turkeys voting for Christmas' as a metaphor when someone accepts a situation which will have a negative outcome for them.

羅布：沒錯。所以在英語中，當有人接受會給他們帶來負面結果的情況時，我們就會用“像火雞支持過聖誕節一樣”這個習語。

Feifei: Ah, so in our case, if we agree to work on Christmas Day then we can't have the food, the presents or the drinks; more importantly, we can't spend time with our family which will be really disappointing for us.

菲菲：啊，所以像我們的情況，如果我們同意在聖誕節上班那我們就不能享用美食、禮物還有飲料了；更重要的是，我們不能和家人一起度過美好時光了，這會讓我們非常失望的。

Rob: Exactly! It will be 'like turkeys voting for Christmas'. Let's hear some people using this phrase.

羅布：完全正確！這就像火雞同意過聖誕節一樣。我們來聽些例句，看看這個短語如何應用。

Examples

例句

Workers agreeing to pay cuts would be like turkeys voting for Christmas.

工人們要是同意減薪那就像火雞支持過聖誕節一樣。

It would be like turkeys voting for Christmas if people asked for a tax rise.

如果人們要求增稅，那就像火雞同意過聖誕節一樣。

Rob: Remember this is an informal saying so do take note of the context it's used in.

羅布：要記住，這是個非正式用語，所以要注意使用的語境。

Feifei: Thank you Rob for teaching us this humorous idiom. All this talking of turkey is making me very hungry.

菲菲：羅布，謝謝你教我們這個幽默的習語。一直談火雞我都餓了。

Rob: Me too, maybe we should just skip work today and go find some turkey to eat?

羅布：我也是，也許我們今天應該翹班去吃火雞？

Feifei: Now Rob, if I said yes to that, it would really be like turkeys voting for Christmas.

菲菲：羅布，如果我說好，那就真的是像火雞同意過聖誕一樣了。

Rob: Ha ha…

羅布：哈哈……

Feifei: Do join us again for another The English We Speak. We wish you a very Happy Christmas!

菲菲：請記得收看我們的下期節目。祝大家聖誕節快樂！

Rob: Merry Christmas!

羅布：聖誕節快樂！

譯文屬僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載

重點講解：
1. look forward to sth./doing sth.
期待；盼望；
eg. The children were eagerly looking forward to the party.
孩子們熱情地期待着晚會。
eg. I have long been looking forward to meeting you.
我一直盼望有機會同你見面。
2. agree to do sth.
同意；應允；答應；
eg. The boss agreed to meet the strikers half way.
老闆同意向罷工者做出讓步。
eg. He agreed to testify on behalf of the accused man.
他同意爲被告作證。
3. take note of
留心；注意；
eg. Take note of the weather conditions.
留心一下天氣狀況。
eg. They took note that she showed no surprise at the news of the murder.
他們注意到她對謀殺的消息一點都不感到驚訝。