去年我跟我妹妹一塊去旅游的時(shí)候,住的旅館很特別。我妹妹非常喜歡我們住的房間,還說(shuō)回家后要把自己的房間也裝飾成那樣。我本想今年去幫她拍點(diǎn)照片,讓她好照著重新裝飾屋子。沒(méi)想到上個(gè)星期我去她家的時(shí)候,她的房間跟旅館的房間看起來(lái)... 真的不只是相似,而是,一模一樣了! 這讓我想到了一個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ),那就是: carbon copy.
Carbon 本身是“復(fù)寫(xiě)紙”的意思,那大家都猜到了吧,carbon copy,就是形容“非常相似,一模一樣”。
我剛進(jìn)我妹妹的房間時(shí)特別吃驚,因?yàn)? her room is a carbon copy of the hotel room we stayed in last year. 她的房間跟去年我們住的旅館房間一模一樣。
下面例子中的這個(gè)男生在見(jiàn)到一個(gè)人后大吃一驚,到底發(fā)生了什么事呢? 我們來(lái)聽(tīng)聽(tīng)看:
例句-1:My new girlfriend said she wanted me to meet someone. I was shocked when I answered the door. Standing there was a woman who looked exactly like my girlfriend. She talked just like her, too. In fact, she was a carbon copy. That's when I realized I was dating a twin.
這段話是說(shuō):我的新女友說(shuō)她想讓我見(jiàn)見(jiàn)一個(gè)人。結(jié)果開(kāi)門(mén)的時(shí)候我大吃一驚。站在我面前的人跟我女友長(zhǎng)的一模一樣,講話的樣子也跟我女友一樣。我這時(shí)候才意識(shí)到,原來(lái)她們是雙胞胎!
想起來(lái),我原來(lái)也曾經(jīng)有過(guò)一個(gè)雙胞胎男朋友!我還總分不清他跟他哥哥呢。 He is a carbon copy of his twin brother. 他們兄弟倆看起來(lái)一模一樣。形容這種長(zhǎng)得一模一樣的人,英語(yǔ)里還有個(gè)特別的詞,叫doppelganger, 如果你找到了跟你長(zhǎng)得一模一樣的人,你就找到了你的doppelganger!
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碰到跟自己長(zhǎng)得很像的人也許很有趣,不過(guò)啊,有時(shí)候你可能希望獨(dú)一無(wú)二,特別是涉及創(chuàng)造力的時(shí)候。下面例子里的市長(zhǎng)大人大發(fā)脾氣。為什么呢? 我們來(lái)聽(tīng)聽(tīng)看:
例句-2:The architect claimed his designs for the city park were original. But on closer inspection, it became clear that wasn't true. All the features, including the gardens, pond, bridge and playing fields, were no different from those in a park in Boston. The mayor was furious. He trusted the architect to offer something unique, not a carbon copy.
這段話是說(shuō):這名設(shè)計(jì)師聲稱城市公園是他的原創(chuàng)設(shè)計(jì)。但是進(jìn)一步的調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn),這顯然不是事實(shí)。包括花園,池塘,橋梁和休閑場(chǎng)地的所有設(shè)施都跟波士頓一座公園分毫不差。市長(zhǎng)大發(fā)脾氣。他是要這名建筑師設(shè)計(jì)一座獨(dú)一無(wú)二的公園,而不是一座仿制品。
本來(lái)想要一座別致的公園,結(jié)果卻在城市里建了一座仿制品。換了我是市長(zhǎng),我一定也會(huì)大發(fā)雷霆。
我記得我剛工作的時(shí)候也發(fā)生過(guò)類似的事情。我們的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手不知道怎么得到了我們的創(chuàng)意,開(kāi)啟了一個(gè)完全雷同的項(xiàng)目! Our business competitor launched a carbon copy of our project. I bet they've got our ideas somewhere, 我們的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手推出了一個(gè)跟我們一模一樣的項(xiàng)目,他們肯定是從哪里得到了我們的創(chuàng)意。