(Finn and Feifei on a visit to the zoo)
Feifei: Hi. I'm Feifei and joining us here in the zoo to present Authentic Real English is Finn.
Finn: Hello.
Feifei: What's the matter, Finn? 怎么不高興呢?動物園這么多動物,多好看呀!
Finn: Yes, I love animals too. But I don't know what I'm going to do with that white elephant.
Feifei: 你不知道應該如果應對 a white elephant? 你是說遠處的那頭白象?
Finn: No. The one my uncle is giving me.
Feifei: 什么?你叔叔送你一頭象?
Finn: He is moving to South Africa and he's giving away some of his things.
Feifei: 如果我要搬到南非的話,估計我也會把帶不走的東西都送人??墒悄阏娲蛩沭B(yǎng)一頭大象嗎 Finn?
Finn: That's the problem. I am not. Well, it is beautiful…
Feifei: 是呀,大象長得太好看了。
Finn: …and it is powerful…
Feifei: 非常健壯。
Finn: But it needs too much petrol!
Feifei: 汽油?給大象喝?
Finn: Yes. Old sports cars need a lot of petrol, you know.
Feifei: 就說嘛,嚇死我了。我以為你要給大象喝汽油。Finn 是說跑車很費油。
Finn: Yes, of course! It wasn't talking about an actual elephant.
Feifei: 你聽,大象也松了一口氣。
Finn: Yes, he did. In English, when you call something a 'white elephant', you mean it's large, costs a lot of money to keep and has no useful purpose.
Feifei: 我們用 'white elephant' 這個短語來描述貴而無用的,華而不實的東西。不過我知道你喜歡騎自行車,跑車對你來說用處不太大吧。
Finn: That's right. Let's listen to some examples of how to use this expression.
I've paid a lot of money for this posh designer dress that I never use. It is a white elephant!
The new airport is a white elephant! It's got four runways and it's equipped with the latest technology, but not many people visit this region.
Feifei: White elephant 還可以用來描述一樣看起來漂亮,但是在實際生活中浪費空間的東西。
Finn: That's right.
Feifei: 所以說呀,這些華而不實的玩意兒可遠遠比不上動物園里這些大象的人氣。
Finn: Feifei, shall we go and have a look?
Feifei: 好的,咱們去看看可愛的大象們 and these are certainly not white elephants! Bye.
Finn: Bye.
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(來源:BBC英語教學 編輯:Julie)