birdbrain,bird-brain 愚蠢,輕佻者
birdbrained,bird-brained 愚蠢的,輕佻的
Birdbrain 1933年初期始見(jiàn)于英文文獻(xiàn)。當(dāng)名詞時(shí),指男指女均可,當(dāng)形容詞時(shí),指“愚蠢的,輕佻的”,跟隨名詞如 idiot (白癡)、call girl(應(yīng)召女郎)等。Birdbrain 雖是土話(huà),用來(lái)?yè)p人,但語(yǔ)氣并不粗俗,正式社交場(chǎng)所可以使用。
Birdbrain 用以損人,貶人
1. birdbrain 輕佻女子;笨蛋,蠢貨
A. Does it bother you1 that people think you’re stupid?
游客以為你們愚笨,你在乎嗎?
B. They2 automatically assume that you’re a birdbrain. You3 have to keep proving yourself4.
(N.Y.Press,4/29-5/5/98)
他們自動(dòng)認(rèn)為我們是輕佻女郎,我們必須不斷地自我證明自己有料。
注:
1. 本文是汽車(chē)展示會(huì)上女模特兒的經(jīng)驗(yàn)談。
2. people,they 指展示會(huì)游客中的好色之徒。
3. You 該模特兒指她同業(yè)的女人。
4. Keep proving yourself Keep后面常加 V-ing,表示“繼續(xù)做下去”,Keep 本是及物動(dòng)詞,在此有l(wèi)inking Verb 的功能,故V-ing傾向于現(xiàn)在分詞,也有人主張此處V-ing是動(dòng)名詞,因?yàn)镵eep silence與Keep silent 均可。
A. Defenders of Farrah Fawcett1 have claimed she was…knowingly playacting the role of a birdbrain when she appeared on David Letterman’s Late Show this past June,burbling and meandering so effectively that less sophisticated viewers might be forgiven for thinking she was in serious distress,or even drugged.
(Entertainment Weekly,81/5/97)
擁護(hù)法絲特者辯稱(chēng),她六月上勒得曼的深夜秀時(shí),故意……飾演輕佻女子,她嘰哩咕嚕地漫談,使對(duì)她不十分熟悉的觀(guān)眾還誤以為她不是極度苦惱,就是食用了過(guò)量麻醉劑,實(shí)在情有可原。
注:
1. Farrah Fawcett (1947-2009)在1960-70年代為金發(fā)碧眼性感影視雙棲名星。
A. The birdbrain believes that by lobbying to stop logging1 he can help save2 some owls.
那個(gè)蠢貨相信,他為停止伐木進(jìn)行游說(shuō)就能有助救些貓頭鷹。
B. He has the support of many environmentalists.
他獲得很多環(huán)保人士的支持。
注:
1. stop logging 停止伐木。stop是及物動(dòng)詞,logging是動(dòng)名詞(gerund)當(dāng)賓語(yǔ)用。
2. help save 在help(vt.)后不論有無(wú)賓語(yǔ),再加的不定式動(dòng)詞(Infinitive)均省去“to”。
2. bird-brained 輕佻的
A. Hollywood has a long tradition of bestowing Oscars for prostitute roles, dating back to 1928. This year,Sorvino—a Harvard graduate who played a bird-brained call girl with a big heart and a squeaky voice—was among three actresses nominated for playing hookers.
(Reuters,3/25/96)
好萊塢溯自1928年起頒發(fā)奧斯卡獎(jiǎng)給飾演妓女者,已成悠久的傳統(tǒng)。本年度,哈佛畢業(yè)生蘇薇諾飾演說(shuō)話(huà)吱吱喳喳卻富有同情心的輕佻妓女,被提名為三位飾演妓女的演員之一。