English - The Real Deal http://englishblog.org A blog on English. Mostly American, occasionally British. Always with a Chinese flavor. Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:16:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1.3 en The Real Deal http://englishblog.org/2006/05/18/the-real-deal/ http://englishblog.org/2006/05/18/the-real-deal/#comments Thu, 18 May 2006 15:45:50 +0000 Yan Miscellany http://englishblog.org/2006/05/18/the-real-deal/ window.document.getElementById('post-92').parentNode.className += ' adhesive_post';

怀着忐忑不安的心情告诉大家：我出书了。书名叫《时尚英语 美国流行文化A to Z》，由外语教学与研究出版社出版，ISBN 7-5600-5421-8，定价13.90元。

当地新华书店、外文书店买不到的朋友可以网购：

当当
卓越

更新：

美国的朋友可以通过Actrace网购（定价8.40美元）

Bonus video: Craig David - Unbelievable

封面：

封底：

书在全国各地的新华书店均有销售。北京、上海已经上架，其他城市具体的到货时间不一定，估计下旬应该可以买到。在北京的朋友还可以直接去外研社（紧挨着北京外国语大学）购买。

外研社的相关网页：http://www.fltrp.com/scrp/bookdetail.cfm?iBookNo=6371&sYc=1-1

如果想知道更多关于这本书的消息，可以打外研社的咨询电话： 010-88819928（个人购书） 010-88819799（批量购书）

这本书不纯粹是blog的文章精选，有些内容是全新的、没有在网站上出现过的。写书的过程很辛苦，希望大家多多支持，自己先买一本，然后动员所有对英语感兴趣的朋友去购买。 :D （折成美金还不到两块钱，真的很便宜哦！）有什么问题、意见和建议，随时给我留言。

豆瓣链接

5月31日更新：

综合各地网友的消息，在目前已经上架的城市里，最北是哈尔滨，最南是深圳。如果你处在省会城市，一定可以在当地的新华书店和外文书店里买到。如果买不到只是暂时还没到货，请不要着急。

7月12日更新：

钱江晚报书荐

]]> http://englishblog.org/2006/05/18/the-real-deal/feed/ Wear the pants http://englishblog.org/2008/04/01/wear-the-pants/ http://englishblog.org/2008/04/01/wear-the-pants/#comments Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:15:01 +0000 Yan Idiom http://englishblog.org/2008/04/01/wear-the-pants/ 竟然有这样的事。在不少国家（比如英国、美国、加拿大、澳大利亚等等），谁在家里穿裤子，谁就是一家之主，谁说了算！

别以为我借着愚人节忽悠你。不信去问问你认识的老外。

没有认识的老外？

好吧，我就给你证据：世界之大，无奇不有。

Bonus video: Jesse McCartney - Leavin’ (Kinda NSFW)

]]> http://englishblog.org/2008/04/01/wear-the-pants/feed/ Give someone a run for their money http://englishblog.org/2008/03/21/give-someone-a-run-for-their-money/ http://englishblog.org/2008/03/21/give-someone-a-run-for-their-money/#comments Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:00:29 +0000 Yan Idiom http://englishblog.org/2008/03/21/give-someone-a-run-for-their-money/ 今天短短几个小时之内居然连续五次听到或看到give someone a run for their money，邪了！

该短语的定义见此，我觉得比较贴切的中文翻译是“有得一拼”。例句：I think only Liverpool will be able to give Manchester United a run for their money next season.

我觉得翻成“势均力敌”也马马虎虎，不过还是“有得一拼”更贴切。因为give someone a run for their money有“水平很接近，不会让对方轻松获胜，但最终还是以微弱劣势败下阵来”的意味。“势均力敌”则是完全五五开，谁都可能赢。

这个短语的来源我始终没搞清楚。有说跟跑步有关的，也有说跟赛马有关的，似乎没有官方定论。我觉得相对比较靠谱的是这个说法：

When a horse lost a close race, the consolation statement was that at least the loser gave the winner a run for his money, i.e. the prize money for winning the race.

有谁知道正确答案的，请分享。多谢！

P.S. 该短语也可作give someone a run for the money或give someone a run for his/her money，没有区别。

Bonus video: Jordin Sparks with Chris Brown - No Air (Talk about giving each other a run for their money!)

]]> http://englishblog.org/2008/03/21/give-someone-a-run-for-their-money/feed/ Kung Pao Chicken http://englishblog.org/2008/03/18/kung-pao-chicken/ http://englishblog.org/2008/03/18/kung-pao-chicken/#comments Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:29:03 +0000 Yan Everyday Life Common Mistake Translation http://englishblog.org/2008/03/18/kung-pao-chicken/ 推荐一篇文章：宫保鸡丁—— 美剧，中餐，英语

本人一向不爱说教，今天就破个例吧：请大家向文章作者学习！这种注意积累的方法的确对学英语非常有帮助。要是你也这么留心自己看过的东西，你的英语会在不经意中得到很大提升！

另外，这篇文章的标题写的是“宫保鸡丁”，让我想起了以前经常纠结的一个问题：到底是“宫保”还是“宫爆”？当时还不是google和baidu的年代，没有上网查过。现在时代不同了，很快找到定论：宫爆鸡丁和宫保鸡丁

（See? 就是要从这些小地方多加积累，语言水平才会提高。*说教完毕，逃走。*）

Bonus video: Leona Lewis - Better In Time

]]> http://englishblog.org/2008/03/18/kung-pao-chicken/feed/ Rimshot http://englishblog.org/2008/03/14/rimshot/ http://englishblog.org/2008/03/14/rimshot/#comments Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:57:38 +0000 Yan Interesting Find http://englishblog.org/2008/03/14/rimshot/ 在看EW的American Idol recap时，注意到这么一句话：

I mean, Simon even did an air rimshot after one of Carrey’s on-air jokes, a move I thought was limited to American parents out to embarrass their kids.

我的第一反应：Simon did a what?

赶紧查字典，居然没有rimshot这个词。接着google，找到了一篇让我大笑的文章，因为作者和我对rimshot的“误解”完全一样。推荐大家阅读全文： WTF

My initial reaction was a mix of shock and intrigue…WTF?! Cue the rim shot? We hadn’t even kissed yet. He didn’t lose any points for this trust me…I was just a bit surprised.

Then I sat back and thought about it and decided that my idea of rim shot and his idea of rim shot HAD to be different. So I asked this chick that I work with and her first reaction was it was the drum noise that comes after a punchline…huh? Well a quick trip to google found that she was sort of right. Wikipedia said this…The term is erroneously used to refer to the sting played by the drummer in cabaret shows to accentuate the punchline of a joke. As a result, a particularly obvious laugh line is sometimes called a rimshot.

这一段笑死我了：

Today some dude at work used the ‘cue the rim shot’ line again and once again my slightly twisted brain jumped right to the porn definition of the term instead of the punchline.

顺带推荐文章里提到的一个榜单：Top 97 Words That Sound Dirty, But Aren’t

Bonus video: Paula Abdul - Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow

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