VOA流行美語 Unit 281:tough call; tone it down

小燕下班後，跟Larry到一家愛爾蘭酒吧去喝酒。今天我們要學兩個常用語，一個是tough call, 一個是tone it down.

(Sound of a bar and Irish music in the background)

LL: Wow, Xiaoyan, you must be exhausted. Did you work a full shift?

XY: 我今天連着當了兩班，double Shift, 快累癱了。好在這是紐約，能賺不少小費。

LL: So let's eat and drink, shall we? Here's the menu.

XY: 好啊，我餓極了。你覺得點點兒什麼好？

LL: It's a tough call, Xiaoyan. There are a lot of great choices, so it's difficult to say that one in particular is the best.

XY: 這有什麼好難的！我告訴你什麼叫難吧，我的日子才叫難呢！

LL: You know? You are different than Li Hua when you don't understand something. She's so you're...

XY: 我怎麼樣？你是不是覺得我太張揚，不夠溫柔？我跟李華可不一樣。(語氣中帶有一絲嫉妒)

LL: 'A tough call' is a difficult decision to make, especially when there are so many choices or when something is not clear. For example, choosing the best meal on this menu is a tough call, because so many choices are good!

XY: 我知道了，tough call是說很難選擇。你是說菜單上很多東西好像都不錯，所以很難決定，it's a tough call. 你看，這還有這麼多種啤酒，我真不知道該點哪種。It's a tough call too.

LL: Not for me! Excuse me, waiter, I'll have a Guinness please. Make that two Guinnesses, because my friend here is battling a tough call on what beer to order. So have you had to make any other tough calls in your life recently, Xiaoyan?

XY: 有啊。我正拿不定主意，不知道該回去讀書，還是再在金龍幹一年，多賺點錢。It's really a tough call!

LL: Yeah, especially since you live in New York, where there are lots of opportunities, yet high costs of living. Ah, here come our beers!

XY: 來，讓我們爲年輕和機會乾杯。

*******

LL: The beers are good! How do you like your food, Xiaoyan? Is it better than Golden Dragon's food?

XY: Ha! That's not a tough call at all. 金龍的菜是最好的！

(Cut off due to blaring music音樂聲音放大)

LL: (Shouting over the music)Wow that's loud! I wish they'd tone it down!

XY: 什麼？ Tone it down? 你是想說 turn it down 吧。

LL: Just a minute. (to the waiter) Hey, could you turn down the music, please? We're trying to have a conversation, and we can't hear each other's voices. Thanks!

(音樂聲音變小)

XY: Larry, tone it down和turn it down的區別到底在哪裏啊？

LL: Well, 'turn it down' means to reduce the noise level of things like music and overall voice level. 'Tone it down' means to cool the overall tone or attitude that someone or someplace has.

XY: 我有點明白了。Turn it down是降低音量。Tone it down是降低聲調、語氣、改善態度、變得更爲和緩的意思。Tone it down能用來指行動嗎？比如說，我想請你吃飯，因爲我覺得你...

LL: Oh my, Xiaoyan. I think you DO need to tone it down. Perhaps you've had too many beers, haha!

XY: 那其他情況呢？比如說生活習慣和穿着打扮，can we use 'tone it down' for that, too?

LL: Yes. If people are acting out of control, or if they are wearing obnoxious clothing to a formal party, then they need to tone it down.

XY: (生氣地) 你是說我的穿着、舉止不得體嗎？

LL: Hey, Xiaoyan, tone it down. There's no reason to get excited and upset at me. I don't mean YOU specifically. I'm talking about a situation in general.

XY: 那好，這次原諒你。啊，你看那個男的，怎麼穿了一件粉紅色的外衣，太離譜了。Now, HE needs to tone it down. 不好，他好像衝我們走過來了。

LL: It's your lucky day, Xiaoyan. He's coming over here to buy you a drink!

XY: 不好，三十六計走爲上！我們趕快買單吧。

LL: Absolutely. Check please!

我們今天學習了兩個常用語。一個是tough call, 意思上很難做的選擇。另一個是tone it down, 是指降低語音、語調，讓舉止、態度變得更加和緩的意思。