流行美语 第157课:clam up; tank

Larry和李华正在为他们的朋友Laura担心。他们两人都觉得Laura好像有什么心事。今天李华会学到两个常用语：clam up和to tank。

LL: Laura has been acting really strange lately, but every time I try to ask her what's bothering her, she just clams up.

LH: 我也注意到了，Laura最近是有点怪怪的。我也问过她怎么回事，她就是不肯说....对了，Larry，你刚才说clam up，那是什么意思啊？

LL: To clam up is to become silent and refuse to talk about something.

LH: To clam up就是闭紧了嘴巴，不肯把心里的事告诉别人。可是Larry，clam不是一种蛤蜊吗？这跟说不说话有什么关系？

LL: Yes, in fact, that's where the expression comes from. Clams can close their shells very tightly. If a person refuses to talk, his lips are closed just like a clam's shell.

LH: 噢，对了。一个人嘴巴闭得紧紧的时候，就好像蛤蜊闭上壳，怎么也不打开。这个说法太形象了！

LH: The problem is that Laura has clammed up about whatever is bothering her, which means that we have no way of helping her out.

LH: 那倒也是。她要不说，我们又怎么能帮她。也许我们应该让她一个人静一静，等她想说的时候自然会告诉我们到底是怎么回事。

LL: That's probably the only thing we can do.

LH: 其实我爸爸也是一样。心里如果有事，从来不肯说。有的时候把我妈急的一直生气。

LL: A lot of people clam up when something is bothering them. I tend to clam up when I'm really nervous.

LH: 我也是耶！我只要一紧张，就不说话了。每个人不一样，我妹妹一生气就可以几天不说话。别人也不知道她在生什么气。

LL: That's like my mother. She could clam up for days when she is angry with my father.

LH: 你妈妈跟你爸爸生气几天不说话。那你爸爸怎么办哪？

LL：Whenever my mother clams up, he clams up too.

******

LL: I found out what was bothering Laura. She was upset because the last play she wrote tanked. Everyone criticized it.

LH: 大家都批评她最近写的剧本。为什么？你说她写的那个剧本tanked，那是什么意思？Tank， 不就是打仗用的坦克吗？

LL: No, this has nothing to do with the tank used in war. This "tank" is a verb. When something "tanks" that means that it is a complete failure.

LH: 噢，这个tank 和军用坦克毫无关系。这里说的tank是个动词。意思是完全失败。所有的剧评家都批评Laura的舞台剧。那真是太惨了。可怜的Laura!

LL: Yeah, no wonder she clammed up. I wouldn't want to talk about it if one of my projects tanked, either.

LH: 就是啊，自己的成果被别人这样批评，心情一定不好受。对了，Larry，为什么大家不喜欢Laura的剧本呢？

LL: I have no idea. I haven't seen or read her play, so I have no way of judging her work. Laura is a good playwright, I don't understand why her work tanked.

LH: 嗯，没有看过她的剧本是很难判断。不过，Laura确实是一个很好的剧作家。也许我们应该去看看她写的舞台剧，说不定没有这么糟么。

LL: Even if the play really is terrible, we could at least show our support by going to see it.

LH: 你说的对，不管是好是坏，我们去看就代表我们对Laura的支持。好！我去问她在哪儿可以买票。Larry，那你什么时候有空去看呢？

LL: Let's go this Friday. Originally, I had planned to see a movie this Friday, but the movie I wanted to see tanked, so I might as well go and see Laura's play.

LH: 怎么就那么巧呢？你要看的电影也失败了。好，就这么说定了。我去买票，星期五我们就去看Laura的舞台剧喽！

今天李华学到两个常用语。第一个是clam up，是指一个人不肯把心里的话告诉别人。另一个常用语是to tank，也就是失败的意思。