The english we speak(BBC教學)第177期:Funny ha ha or funny peculiar 有趣還是怪異

Neil: Hi there, Helen. Now, something really funny happened to me on my way here this morning.

尼爾：嗨，海倫。今天早上我來上班的路上發生了一些非常奇怪的事情。

Helen: Oh, really? Do tell me. I love a funny story!

海倫：哦，真的嗎？一定要告訴我。我最喜歡聽有趣的事情了！

Neil: Right. A man got on my bus wearing his shoes on the wrong feet.

尼爾：好啊。有一個穿錯了鞋子的男人上了我坐的公交車。

Helen: OK. And what happened next?

海倫：好。那之後發生了什麼？

Neil: Then he started speaking to me. He asked if I liked Shakespeare.

尼爾：然後他開始和我說話。他問我是否喜歡莎士比亞。

Helen: Oh, right.

海倫：哦，好的。

Neil: And then he started reading one of Hamlet's famous speeches!

尼爾：然後他就開始朗讀《哈姆雷特》裏一段著名的臺詞！

Helen: Yeah, Neil?

海倫：尼爾，就這樣？

Neil: Yeah?

尼爾：怎麼了？

Helen: You told me it was a funny story. But I'm not laughing. It's not funny. It's a bit weird.

海倫：你跟我說這是個好笑的事情。可是我沒有笑。這並不好笑。而是有點兒怪異。

Neil: Yeah - I meant funny peculiar, not funny ha-ha.

尼爾：是啊，我就是說這是個奇怪的事情，而沒有說是好笑的事情。

Helen: Funny peculiar?

海倫：Funny peculiar是什麼意思？

Neil: Yes, 'funny' is usually something you laugh about. But sometimes we use 'funny' to mean 'strange' or 'weird'. Because it has these two meanings - sometimes people want to make it clear which one they mean. 'Funny ha-ha' is for things which make you laugh, and 'funny peculiar' describes...

尼爾：嗯，funny這個詞通常用來指好笑的事情。但是有時我們也用這個詞來表示奇怪或是怪異。因爲這個詞有兩個意思，有時人們要講清楚他們用的是哪個意思。Funny ha-ha就是指讓你大笑的事情，而funny peculiar則用來形容……

Helen: It describes things which are weird!

海倫：用來形容怪異的事情！

Neil: That's it. These are our phrases in today's The English We Speak. Let's hear some examples.

尼爾：沒錯。這就是今天地道英語節目要學的兩個短語。我們來聽一些例句。

A: Martin was late every day last week.

A：馬丁上週天天都遲到。

B: That's funny.

B：那真奇怪。

A: You mean funny peculiar?

A：你是指奇怪嗎？

B: Yeah, it's strange. He's always on time.

B：對啊，很奇怪。他總是很準時的。

A: I went to a funeral last week. Everyone there was in a good mood. It was funny. Funny peculiar, I mean.

A：我上週參加了一場葬禮。那裏的所有人心情都很好。真奇怪。我的意思是那很怪異。

B: Yeah that does sound a bit odd. But a funeral is a celebration of someone's life.

B：是啊，那聽起來是有點兒奇怪。葬禮是對某個人一生的讚美。

Helen: Anyway, Neil, thanks for your story about the guy on the bus. Do you know what happened on my way to work today?

海倫：尼爾，不管怎麼說，謝謝你和我們分享了公交車上那個男人的故事。你知道我今天來上班的路上發生了什麼嗎？

Neil: No?

尼爾：什麼呀？

Helen: The bus driver was telling jokes.

海倫：公交車司機講了笑話。

Neil: That's funny, peculiar. It's odd for bus drivers to tell jokes. But was the joke funny ha-ha?

尼爾：那真怪異。公交車司機講笑話，這事兒真是奇怪。不過那個笑話好笑嗎？

Helen: Sadly, no! A bit like your jokes.

海倫：不幸地是，不好笑！和你的笑話有點兒像！

Neil: Hey - that's not true! My jokes are funny!

尼爾：嘿，那不對！我講的是奇怪的笑話！

Helen: They're funny - peculiar!

海倫：它們都很怪異！

Neil: Thank you so much, Helen.

尼爾：海倫，非常感謝你。

Both: Bye!

二人一起：再見！

重點講解：
1. happen to sb.
（尤指不愉快的事）發生（在…身上）；（某人）遭到；遇到；
eg. We forget the vast majority of things that happen to us.
我們遺忘了大部分發生在自己身上的事情。
eg. I was worried something might happen to you and looked for you everywhere.
我擔心你出什麼事情，我到處找你。
2. make sth. clear
把…表達清楚；把…說明白；
eg. He wanted to make it clear that the rumours about his future are pure speculation.
他想澄清那些圍繞他的謠言純粹是無稽之談。
eg. It's time to make a few things clear.
事到如今有幾點必須澄清。
3. on time
準時；按時；
eg. Having been delayed by heavy traffic, she found it important for her to arrive on time.
由於交通堵塞的耽擱，她覺得不可能按時到達了。
eg. If you cannot deliver the goods on time, I shall be obliged to send you to court.
如果你不能按時交貨，我就不得不將你告上法庭。