李华刚买了一台笔记本电脑。她今天要学两个常用语,bells and Whistles和savvy。

LL: So, you got a new laptop computer, Li Hua? Wow! It has all the bells and whistles, doesn’t it?

LH: Bells and whistles?我怎么没看见这台电脑上有什么铃铛和哨子啊。

LL: Oh, What I meant was that your lap top has a lot of special features and extras that ordinary lap tops don’t have.

LH: 噢,我知道了,你刚才说的bells and whistles是指电脑上的DVD播放器和超宽屏幕等额外的功能。

LL: Yeah, that is right. Manufacturers like to put lots of bells and whistles on lap tops to entice people to buy them.

LH:没错,我就是冲着这些bells and whistles才买这台电脑的。你看,上面还有无线调制解调器和一个超大储存量的硬盘呢!

LL: When I bought a lap top computer last year, Li Hua, I did NOT get one with all the bells and whistles, and now I kind of regret it.

LH: 是啊,这些bells and whistles确实要多花点儿钱,可我觉得还是值得的。

LL: I suppose I can always add some bells and whistles to my basic lap top. I would like to have a bigger hard drive.

LH: 我听说加个硬盘并不难,我觉得你真的可以在你的电脑上加点儿bells and whistles.

LL: Although sometimes it is possible to have too many bells and whistles!

LH: Bells and whistles还会嫌太多吗?

LL: Well, I was thinking of the cell phone I bought recently. It definitely came with all the bells and whistles. So many bells and whistles, in fact, I don’t even know everything it does!

LH: 你是说手机啊。我也有同感。现在的手机功能越来越多,很多我都用不着,也不知道该怎么用。

LL: But some people really like to have all the bells and whistles. Like my Dad. The last time he went shopping for a new car, it had to have all the bells and whistles.

LH: 车上能有些什么bells and whistles?

LL: He wanted a car with leather seats that heated themselves and had a built in global positioning system.

LH: 能加热的皮座椅,全球定位系统,看来车上也能有不少的bells and whistles.

******

LH: Larry, 你能帮我把这些软件装到电脑上吗?

LL: I am happy to help you load your software on your new lap top, Li Hua. You know I’m tech savvy.

LH: Tech Savvy? 我知道tech是technology科技的意思,那savvy呢?

LL: Savvy means to understand something very well.

LH: 所以你说自己tech savvy, 就是说你对电脑和高科技的东西很在行喽?

LL: That’s right. I’ve always been interested in computers, and as a result I am fairly tech savvy.

LH: 那太好了。我可一点儿也不tech savvy. 我就知道怎么用电脑写论文,发电子邮件,除此之外就一窍不通了。Larry, 除了高科技以外,还有什么东西可以说savvy吗?

LL: Oh, sure, Li Hua. We often say that some one who dresses well and has good fashion sense is fashion savvy.

LH: 噢,fashion savvy就是很跟得上服装的潮流。那我可以说fashion savvy吧。

LL: Oh, you definitely have fashion savvy, Li Hua. You always dress very stylishly.

LH: 这肯定是我祖母的遗传。我看过她的照片,穿得可漂亮了。She definitely had fashion savvy.

LL: A person can also have street savvy.

LH: Street savvy? 你是说会认路吗?或者是有方向感?

LL: No, no. A person with street savvy knows how people act in the city and how to be safe in parts of the city that might be a little rough.

LH: 噢,street savvy是说街头的生存能力,特别是能在那些比较乱的街区不惹麻烦。看来,tech savvy和street savvy我都学不来,有fashion savvy就行了。

今天李华学到了两个常用语。一个是bells and whistles, 意思是附加的功能或是点缀品。另一个是savvy, 是指在什么方面很在行。