LL: Today, Li Hua, I discovered that I don't know diddlysquat about putting up wallpaper.
LH: 什么? diddlysquat?听你的意思,你好象是说你对贴墙纸什么也不懂,是吗?
LL: That's right. I don't know diddlysquat means I don't know anything.
LH:噢,Don't know diddlysquat就是什么也不懂,一窍不通。
LL:Right. When I was wallpapering my apartment, I didn't get the pieces perfectly straight before I put them on, and now the pattern doesn't line up.
LH: 我也对贴墙纸一窍不通。不过,贴之前好象总得把墙纸弄直了。否则,墙纸的花样怎么对得起来呢!
LL: Yeah, but it is harder to do than you might think. I really needed to read instructions in a how-to book before I started, but I didn't do diddlysquat to prepare.
LH: 原来你什么准备都没有做就开始贴墙纸呀!美国有很多关于如何装修房屋的书,你什么没看就动手啦?你胆子也够大的。得了,你来帮我点忙, 分散一下注意力,心情就会好一些。好吗?
LL: Sure, how can I help?
LH: 我昨天买了一个新的电脑硬盘,可我在这方面什么也不懂,I don't know diddlysquat about computer。 你来帮我装一下,好吗?
LL: You are just like my mom, Li Hua. She doesn't know diddlysquat about computers either─but I am happy to help out. When should I come by?
LH: Larry,你能帮我装上,那太好了。午饭以后可以过来吗?
LL: OK, I'll do that. But maybe you can come help me remove the wallpaper I put up.
LH: 帮你撕墙纸,I don't know diddlysquat about that! 让我看看再说吧。
LH: Oh, Larry, 这墙纸还真是没对齐。
LL: Yeah, I know. Please don't rub it in.
LH: 不要抹进去?我们不是要把墙纸撕下来吗?
LL: No, no. By "rub it in", I didn't mean rub the wallpaper into the wall. I meant that I already know the wallpaper doesn't line up, so you don't need to tell me again and make me feel worse.
LH: 我明白了, rub it in的意思是在伤口上抹盐,令人更难堪。 墙纸没贴好,你已经很难过了,我又提起这件事,就是rub it in - 让你更难受,对吗?
LL: Yeah, especially when it is something you are not happy about. "Rubbing it in" just makes a person feel worse.
LH: Rub it in,只会让人更难过, 所以我们的朋友Rick撞车之后,你并没有对他说, “你怎么这么不小心”,因为你不想让他更难堪。
LL: Right, I didn't want Rick to feel even worse about his car.
LH: 上个星期考试,我考得好, 你考得不好,我说,“你本来就该好好复习嘛”。这又是 rubbing it in,往伤口上抹盐,对 不对?
LL: Exactly.
LH: 可是我只是想对朋友提出忠告,并没有 抹盐的意思。
LL: I know you didn't mean to rub it in, Li Hua. Well, let's go see what we can do about your hard drive.
LH: Great. 好吧,去看看我的电脑吧。
LL: You are really lucky that we are friends! I mean, you don't know diddlysquat about computers. You'd never be able to install the hard drive without me.
LH: 我知道我对电脑一窍不通, 你就别往伤口上抹盐了。You don't have to rub it in!
今天李华学到了两个常用语。一个是don't know diddlysquat about something,意思是对某件事一无所知,一窍不通。李华学到的另一个常用语是 rub it in, 意思是在某个人的伤口上抹盐,令人更加难过。