"布朗尼加分"口語課堂:起死回生

Hello，大家好。我是ROSE。很高興又和您相約“布朗尼加分”口語課堂。今天我們要將的是一個關於死而復生的故事。是不是真的有能起死回生的神力呢？您聽過便知。

One day the police see a body on a beach in Egypt. The man is dead as a doornail. The ID cards in the man's wAllet identify him as Tony Brown, age 30.

A short time later, Tony's friends and relatives are sitting in a funeral tent. They feel blue and they're crying over him. All of a sudden, the "dead" man walks into the tent, looking like a million dollars. His friends and family are dumbfounded. When they realize it's really Tony, they go crazy. They laugh, they cry, and they kiss him. Tony explains, 'A thief ripped me off and took my ID cards. So when the police found the dead man, they thought he was me!" When Tony's friends and family get over their shock, the funeral turns into a party. They're on top of the world! Police are still trying to identify the dead man.

埃及的一處海灘警察發現了一具dead as a doornail的屍體。Nail, 釘子，doornail, 門釘。意思就是“死僵了，肯定死掉了”。 再比如“ It lie there with its eyes closed , dead as a doornail.” 它躺在那裏眼睛閉著, 確實死了。 每個詞在不同的語境裏可能會有不同的意思，需要我們根據上下文，斟酌出最合適的對應翻譯。比如在下面這個例子裏 as dead as a doornail翻譯成什麼更確切呢？
After my long illness, any hopes I might have had of going to college next year were as dead as a doornail. 由於長期生病，我明年上大學的一切希望都落空了。

家人認爲從此失去了Tony,因而feel blue。通過語境也可以判斷blue在這裏等同於sad,表示“悲傷”。我們熟悉的藍調音樂(Blue) 也以描寫憂鬱情緒爲主。就在大家爲Tony舉行葬禮的時候，Tony卻回來了，而且looking like a million dollars。這一用法我們在前面已經介紹過，表示healthy and happy. 但是親戚朋友卻 dumbfounded了。Dumbfounded, 意思相當於shocked, 震驚的。驚呆了。比如這個例子：We were completely dumbfounded by her rudeness. 她粗魯無禮，把我們嚇呆了。

rip off 意思相當於steal或rob…of,表示“偷竊”。再來看一個例子：She ripped off a leather jacket while ostensibly /os’tensibly/ trying on clothes. 她裝模作樣試穿衣服時偷了一件皮夾克。 下面這個例子中rip off還有“欺騙，剝削”的意思。That hotel rips off the tourists. 那家旅館敲觀光客的竹槓。

on top of the world. 也就是“幸福之至”的意思。Almost everyone can identify when they're on top of the world, enjoying the benefits of high self-esteem. 幾乎每個人都能發現什麼時候自己處於最快樂中，並享受着高度自尊的好處。

恩，雖然痛苦了一陣子，但如果能因此能更加珍惜親人朋友，這場虛驚還是值得的。最後讓我們在一首老歌top of the world中，和您說再見。