〈職人英語通〉老神在在 as cool as a cucumber 文/Dr.J.J.
有些人很酷,不管發生天大的事情都不動聲色,眉頭都不皺一下的。中文說某人老神在在,就表示這人很沉穩。而英文則是用可愛的小黃瓜來形容,意即,當一個人冷靜得像根小黃瓜的話(as cool as a cucumber)就有同樣的涵意了。
至於為何是小黃瓜呢?緣由已難證實,不過夏天的時候,愛美的姐姐妹妹們常會用兩片小黃瓜敷在眼睛上,既消暑又美白,這樣聯想的話,就不難記住如果下次要形容別人老神在在的時候,只消說這人酷得像根小黃瓜就行了。
Jessica:You promise you won’t panic first and I’ll tell you what happened.
Jessica:你先答應我你不會慌張,我才要告訴你發生什麼事情了。
Phoebe:Come on, you know this word “panic” doesn’t actually exist in my dictionary.
Phoebe:拜託,我字典裡可沒有慌張這個字呢。
Jessica:But this is just not like anything else. It’s Emergency!
Jessica:可是這件事跟其它不同,很緊急呢!
Phoebe:Sister,tell me what happened! I promise you I’ll be as cool as a cucumber!
Phoebe:妹妹,你就說吧!我保證我會老神在在的呢。
Jessica:You really swear to God that you won’t yell or scream or cry….
Jessica:你發誓你不會尖叫或哭喔…。
Phoebe:Darling, even I’m only 2 years older than you. I must say you young chicks need to go explore the outside world a bit more.
Phoebe:親愛的,雖然我只比你大2歲,我還是得說,你們這些年輕妹妹啊,真是應該要多出去看看外面的世界。
Jessica: Takeshi Kaneshro is borrowing our office as the venue for his new MV. He’ll be here in 30 minutes.
Jessica:金城武要借用我們辦公室當他新MV的拍攝場地,30分內他就會來了。
Phoebe:Takeshi Kaneshiro? What! 30 minutes? God, pass me my lipstick.
Phoebe:你是說金城武?什麼!30分鐘?天啊,把我的脣膏拿給我。
Jessica:Here it is.
Jessica:嗯,這裡。
Phoebe:My mascara, the seductive purple one.
Phoebe:我的睫毛膏,紫色誘惑那條。
Jessica:Yes Madame.
Jessica:遵命。
Phoebe:My powder, Jesus, why didn’t you tell me earlier!
Phoebe:我的蜜粉!老天啊,你幹嘛不早點告訴我。
Jessica:But you promised me you’ll be “as cool as a cucumber!”
Jessica:可是你剛保證你會老神在在的啊!
Phoebe:This is different, I’m meeting my fiance; in 30 minutes, got it?
Phoebe:這不一樣啊,我在30分鐘內要跟我的未婚夫見面,你懂不懂啊?
Jessica:Weird, all the girls in the office say the same thing.
Jessica:真是怪了,所有辦公室的女人都這樣說耶。