流行美语 第 98 课

Li 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 infomp3al. 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.
* *****
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.
LH: 噢，Thingamajig 不是这个东西的名字。那要是不知道，或是忘了一样东西的
名称，我们就可以用这个thingamajig 来代替。哎，那不就是像我们中文里说的"
那玩意儿"吗？是不是？
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.
LH: 原来你手里拿的这个thingamajig 是用来测量汽车轮胎压力的。你要帮Tom
来测测他的车子轮胎啊 ？哎哟，Larry, 看来你对车子还挺懂的嘛！
LL: Hey, I never said I'm good with cars. To me, everything under the hood of my car
is just a bunch of thingamajigs.
LH: 汽车引擎盖下面的东西你是一窍不通啊？我才不信。噢，说到修车，我这辆
自行车的手闸最近不太灵，你帮我看看好不好？
LL: Let me see. I think you just need to oil these thingamajigs on your handlebars
here.
LH: 自行车把手上的这些零件该上油啊？你肯定吗？
LL: Well, if you don't believe me, you can ask what's-his-face, Jenny's boyfriend, the
tall Indian guy - He can fix bikes.
LH: 那个高个子的印度人，Jenny 的男朋友？你是说Rick 吧！他会修自行车？那
我可要去问问Jenny 了！
LL：OK! Let's go!

今天李华从Larry 那儿学到两个常用语。一个是what's her face, 也可以说what's his
face。意思是"那个叫什么什么的人"。李华学到的另一个常用语是thingamajig, 就
相当于中文里所说的"那个玩意儿"。