BBC地道英语:Swot 书呆子

The script of this programme 本节目台词

Diarmuid: (laughing to himself) Dear, oh dear.

Feifei: Hi Diarmuid. What are you laughing at?

Diarmuid: I'm just looking at these. My mum found them in the attic.

Feifei: 在阁楼里找到的东西？What are they?

Diarmuid: They're my old class reports from my school days. They've been stored away for all these years.

Feifei: Diarmuid 上学时候的学习成绩报告。那我可要看看他上学的时候是不是个乖孩子。What do the reports say?

Diarmuid: Have a look for yourself.

Feifei: Let me see. Let's choose a subject... here we are, History: (reading from report) "Diarmuid has failed to learn anything this year because he spends all his time chatting at the back of the classroom."

啊？什么都没学到？这可不怎么好呀！

Let's look at another... Maths: "Diarmuid must learn that it is not enough just to sit at his desk. He must pay attention to the lesson, and study hard out of class and do his homework."

Diarmuid: I wasn't very good at maths.

Feifei: So I see. Let's have another… Science: "This lazy boy is a disgrace to the school uniform!"

Diarmuid: That teacher never liked me.

Feifei: Diarmuid 的学习成绩报告单上老师的评语实在是惨不忍睹。It seems you were an awful student.

Diarmuid: Well, it's true I was never a swot.

Feifei: A what?

Diarmuid: A swot. S.W.O.T. Swot. That's our Authentic Real English word of the day. Can you guess what it means?

Feifei: Well, since you say you were not a swot and you got very bad grades at school, I would say that a swot is a very good student.

A student swotting in the library

Diarmuid: You're right. A swot is a student who spends all their time studying, or swotting.

Feifei: Swot 书呆子。

Diarmuid: Yes, but be careful because being a swot usually means that other students don't like you.

Feifei: Swots 通常什么都不做，一身心只顾学习，也就是我们说的两耳不闻窗外事，一心只读圣贤书。他们在学校不受那些不爱学习的学生欢迎，同时也招来大家对他们成绩的嫉妒。

Example

A: Look at this old photo of our class at school.

B: Oh yes, there's Simon Studious. He was such a swot. I wonder whatever happened to him.

A: I heard he started his own software company; he's a multi-millionaire now.

B: Oh. Wish I'd worked a bit harder then.

Diarmuid: But you don't have to be a student to use this word. We can use the verb form – to swot up – to mean learn more about anything.

Feifei: So I could say I'm going to swot up on laptops because I want to buy a new computer.

Diarmuid: You certainly could. And when you get that new computer, you can log on to our website www.bbcukchina.com. Bye for now.

Feifei: Bye.