"布朗尼加分"口語課堂:把握時代脈搏

第一次看到“keep one’s finger on the pulse”一下想到的是中醫裏的“把脈”。其實，人身上可直接用手指探查的脈搏不止手腕一處。歐美槍戰片，警匪片中我們也常常會看到將手指按在脖子兩側確定人是否存活的場景。所以，英語中用這個短語來表示“摸清情況，瞭解行情，瞭解趨勢”也就不奇怪了。

A: What’s your favourite TV programme.

B: I love American Idol. I watch Idol all the time because it helps me keep my finger on the pulse of American pop culture and music. 我很喜歡“美國偶像”節目，我一直在看這個節目，因爲它能讓我時刻感受到美國流行文化和音樂的潮流。

類似的意思我們還可以說：This is a program which keeps it’s finger on the pulse of global trends and entertainment industry. 這是一檔把握全球流行趨勢和娛樂脈搏的節目。

再來看幾個表示“摸清情況”的例子：

I'm just new at this game. I've only just started to keep my finger on the pulse. 在這一行我還是個新手。到目前爲止我還沒摸透行情。

The chairman does his best to keep his finger on the pulse of his company’s activities. 董事長竭盡全力去掌握他的公司各項活動的確切情況。

A successful politician is one who keeps his finger on the pulse of the electorate. 一位成功的政治家是一個對選民有深刻了解的人。

If you want to know what's happening on the social scene, ask Jane. She has her finger on the pulse and can tell you who's going to be there. 如果你想知道社交聚會的情況，就去問簡。她是消息靈通人士，能告訴你哪些人會到場。

本期內容我們就介紹到這裏。Rose期待與您相約下期“布朗尼加分”口語課堂。