李華陪Larry 去買車。今天我們要學(xué)兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)：caught dead 和deal breaker.

    LL： Thanks for helping me shop for a car ， Lihua. It's always good
to have advice from someone you trust when making a big purchase.

    LH：別客氣。你昨天上網(wǎng)給我看了你要買的車，我就知道你需要有人給你出
謀劃策。

    LL： You didn't like the pictures ？ I think that bright purple pickup
truck would have been great ！

    LH：那輛皮卡是不錯(cuò)，可你要開(kāi)亮紫色的車，先得換個(gè)女朋友才行。

    LL： What do you mean ？ You wouldn't be caught dead riding in a purple
pickup truck？

    LH： Caught dead？我的意思是說(shuō)那輛車顏色太丑，難道安全也有問(wèn)題嗎？

    LL： Actually ， no. When you say you wouldn't be "caught dead" doing
something ， it means that you would never do it， because it would be
really embarrassing if someone saw you.

    LH：沒(méi)錯(cuò)，我絕不會(huì)坐那么難看的車。I wouldn't be caught dead riding
in a purple pickup truck. 要是讓別人看見(jiàn)，那我可真是沒(méi)臉見(jiàn)人了。

    LL： Oh come on ……I do lots of things with you that normally I wouldn't
be caught dead doing for you.

    LH： Oh yeah？ Like what？

    LL： Well normally I wouldn't be caught dead singing in public， but
last weekend I agreed to go to the karaoke bar with you.

    LH：別裝了，我從來(lái)沒(méi)見(jiàn)有人唱Ricky Martin的歌唱得那么投入的。

    LL： Alright， maybe I enjoyed it a little bit. But don't tell anyone.
I wouldn't be caught dead doing that in front of my male friends.

    LH：言歸正傳，你不如買輛雙人自行車，咱倆可以一起騎？

    LL： Are you kidding？ Two-person bikes are so lame. I wouldn't be
caught dead riding one of those.

    LH：你什么時(shí)候變得這么沒(méi)情趣了！不想唱卡拉OK，不想騎自行車……you
know， normally I wouldn't be caught dead with such a boring guy. 我一
般情況下是絕不會(huì)跟這么乏味的男孩子交往的。

    LL： Are you kidding？ Nobody who has a purple pickup truck can be
considered boring.

    ******

    LH： Larry，你覺(jué)得這輛車怎么樣，又省油，又安全。

    LL： Yeah ， but just look at how boring it is. It's plain white，
and it's not a convertible.

    LH：買車可是件大事，你不能光看車的外表，還得考慮實(shí)用性。

    LL： Yeah ， but look. It doesn't even have a sunroof. I would still
buy it even though it's not bright purple ， but I'm afraid the sunroof
is a deal breaker.

    LH：什么是deal breaker？

    LL： A deal breaker is a critical condition that must be met in order
for you to do something.

    LH：你的意思是，不是敞篷車沒(méi)關(guān)系，不是亮紫色也沒(méi)關(guān)系，這些都可以湊
合，但是如果沒(méi)有天窗，那就絕對(duì)沒(méi)商量嘍？

    LL： That's right. Or say you were thinking of dating a guy. He might
be really nice， good looking and funny ， but if he lived with his parents，
that would probably be a deal breaker.

    LH：在中國(guó)，男朋友跟父母住在一起是很常見(jiàn)的。這我可以接受，但是如果
他開(kāi)的是一輛亮紫色的汽車，那干脆免談。That would definitely be a deal
breaker.

    LL： Really ？ Well in my case， I'm afraid a poor taste in cars would
definitely be a deal breaker for me.

    LH：你生氣了？我是開(kāi)玩笑的。雖然我不愿意坐紫顏色的車，但你自己開(kāi)，
我還是沒(méi)意見(jiàn)的。

    LL： Well that's good. I need a car that can fully express my individuality.
I wouldn't be caught dead in one of these boring， ordinary cars.

    LH：你如果真的這么喜歡紫色的話，那就買，我支持你。

    LL： You know what Lihua， I think you're right.

    LH：不過(guò)你可想好了，一定要能負(fù)擔(dān)得起保修費(fèi)用才行。

    LL： If it breaks down， I will just live in the back. That's how
much I love that purple truck.

    LH：好，那咱們可得講清楚，我的男朋友可以住在父母家，但絕不能睡在車
里。That is definitely a deal breaker ！

    今天李華學(xué)了兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)。一個(gè)是caught dead ，意思是打死也不愿意。另
一個(gè)是deal breaker，意思是不能通融的條件。