Lesson 98 - what's her face / thingamajigLi Hua正在往图书馆走,突然,Larry把她叫住了。 Li Hua在今天的谈话中会学到两个常用语:what's her face和thingamajig。LL: Hey, Li Hua. One of your classmates asked me to give you this envelope.
LH: 我的同学要你给我这个信封?哪个同学呀?LL: Oh, it was... what's-her-face, you know, the tall girl with red hair.
LH: 高个子、红头发的女孩儿?你还说什么- What's her face? 哎,Face不是“脸”吗?LL: I said what's-her-face instead of her name because I couldn't remember her name. I guess it means I can remember her face, but not her name.
LH: 噢,你不记得她的名字,但是你记得她的脸长的是什么样子,所以你说what's her face, 也就相当于what's her name 。Hm,Larry, 你这么说是不是不太礼貌呢?LL: Well, it's not really rude, but it's very informal. You shouldn't call someone what's-her-face if she is nearby... in that case, you should just ask her what her name is.
LH: 哎哟,幸亏你告诉我, 尽管what's-her-face是很随便的说法,但是也不应该当着那个人的面这么说。要是这个人就在你身边,那么我就应该直接问她叫什么名字。哎,对了,Larry, 刚才你是说what's her face, 要是男孩子的话,那应该怎么说呢?
LL: You would say what's-his-face.
LH: 噢,要是男生,但是又记不起他的名字,那也可以说what's his face。我想起来了,那个高个红头发的女孩是Julia。我和Jenny向她借了上星期四的笔记,因为那天我俩没去上课。这个信封里肯定是她的笔记。
LL: That's right - You missed a class last Thursday. Hey wait, if you needed notes, why didn't you just ask me?
LH: 但是我们觉得 - what's-her-face... um, Julia... 她肯定比你记得好。LL: Well, come to think of it - If I were what's-her-face, er... I mean Jenny, I wouldn't want my notes either.
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LH: 哎,Larry, 你手里拿的是什么东西呀?
LL: This thing in my hand? Oh, it's the thingamajig I use to measure the air pressure in my car's tires.
LH: 什么?Thin-ga-ma-jig - 这名字听起来很好玩儿。LL: No no, that's not the real name of this thing. We use thingamajig, to replace the name of an object when we don't know or can't remember its real name.
LL: That's right. Actually, I think the thing in my hand is called a tire pressure gauge. Tom asked me to help him check the air pressure of his car's tires.