据说本周末有暴风雪,天气预报越来越不准,经常是雷声大雨点小。不过,今天阳光还是不错的。
吃早饭时,Bob说:
I’m gonna run around this afternoon.
听了这话,我脑子里浮现出Bob在腊九寒冬、灿烂阳光下在小区里慢跑的画面。
于是我回答:
好主意啊!你是该起来出去走走(说实话我从来没见过Bob在小区里跑步,他那身材,散散步还差不多),只是,外面有点太冷了。
Bob一听我的回答,皱起了眉头:
我干嘛要出去跑步?我今天忙着呢!
这下轮到我懵圈了。难道是我理解出问题了?他明明说了“run around”!
来听听我们的这个对话吧,听完你就知道答案了。
Bob: Honey, I’m gonna run around this afternoon.
Ping: That’s a good idea. You should get out and take a walk, except that it’s a little too cold outside.
Bob: No! Why should I take a walk? I have a lot of things to do today.
Ping: Oh I see. When you say “run around”, you mean “running errands”. I thought you were going to run around in the neighborhood!
Bob: Oh...My wife!
原来,run around在这里不能按字母理解成跑步,而是“跑腿” (run errands)的意思。处理一些琐碎事,比如去给车子加油,去ATM取现,等等,通通都属于errands(杂事)。
比如:
I have been running errands all day and I’m so tired!
今天跑了一天的腿,累死了。
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