LH: Larry,我特别喜欢看这种侦探片,最后把坏人抓住,特痛快。对了,刚才那电影里的侦探说,那杀人凶手是个copycat。那是什么意思啊?
LL: A copycat is someone who imitates someone else. The murderer in the movie imitated other famous murderers, so he was copycat killer.
LH: 嗯,copycat就是指模仿别人的人。噢,现在我懂了。那个侦探是说那个杀人犯是模仿其他杀人犯的作案方法。哎呀,怪不得我看电影的时候有些地方弄不懂。对了,Larry,这个copycat还可以用在其他的地方吗?
LL: Sure. For instance, my younger sister used to imitate me a lot when she was a kid. She would repeat whatever I said, so I caller her my little copycat.
LH: 你叫你小妹妹little copycat。你妹妹一定很可爱。她一定很崇拜你,所以才模仿你的一举一动,重复你说的话!
LL: Yeah, it was kind of cute, but it got annoying after a while.
LH: 小妹妹学你的样有什么讨厌的?
LL: Kids are great copycats and they always manage to copy things that they shouldn't. If I said a bad word, my sister always repeated. My mother thought I was teaching her bad words on purpose.
LH: 所以大人要给小孩树立好的榜样嘛! 你不要你妹妹说粗话,那你就不该说粗话。不过,你妈妈以为你故意教坏妹妹,那肯定让你很不好受。对不对?
LL: That's right. It got me into a lot of trouble. Hey, I also remember that when I was a kid, it was common for kids to accuse each other of being a "copycat."
LH: 没错,小孩子最喜欢说别人学自己,好象自己很聪敏,别人就只会模仿。
LL: You're right. To call someone a copycat means that the other person isn't original and was just imitating what someone else was doing.
LH: Larry,你说的这句话不是跟我刚才说的意思一样吗? You're a copycat!
LL: Not entirely the same!
LL: Hey, Li Hua, did you ever do any wacky things when you were a kid?
LH: 对不起,Larry,你刚才说什么。我没听懂,你问我小时候做过什么wacky的事,那是什么意思啊?
LL: Wacky means crazy or silly. Kids tend to do wacky things. For instance, when I was a kid, I tried to play Tarzan with our living room curtains.
LH: Wacky就是指疯疯颠颠或犯傻。对,小孩子往往会做一些傻事。不过,像你小时候想学泰山而把窗帘当树枝爬上去,这也太危险了。
LL: Yeah, I had just seen the movie, Tarzan, and I decided to climb the curtains and swing from them the way Tarzan swung from the vines. Pretty wacky, huh?
LH: 我想也是,你肯定是看了泰山这电影后才那么wacky的。 不过说到wacky,我小时候也不见得比你差,也做了不少wacky的事呢!
LL: Such as?
LH: 嗯,比方说,我8岁那年,我爬上邻居家的一棵树,上去了,却不知道该怎么下来呢。
LL: That's wacky! So what did you do?
LH: 我挂在树上,还能怎么办?只好大叫,请人来救我喽!后来有人拿了张梯子,把我给救下来了。
LL: That's funny. Hey, how's your cat doing? Has she done anything wacky lately?
LH: 嗨,说到我的猫小雪球,它做的wacky 事那才多呢!昨天我在看电视上一个介绍大自然的节目,小雪球看到银幕里的小鸟就一直想扑上去和它玩。那个模样真逗!