The english we speak(BBC教學)第10期:Go round in circles毫無進展
Rob: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak with me, Rob...
羅伯:大家好,歡迎和我,羅伯一起來到“我們所說的英語”欄目。Feifei: me Feifei. Thanks for offering to drive me to the airport Rob.
菲菲:還有我,菲菲。感謝你開車送我去機場,羅伯。Rob: No problem. It takes forever on the bus, so I thought I would save you some time.
羅伯:沒關係。坐公車去太慢了,所以我覺得我能幫你節省點時間。
Feifei: Thanks, but do you actually know the way to the airport?
菲菲:謝謝,但是你是不是真的知道去機場的路線呢?Rob: Yes of course, why are you asking?
羅伯:當然了,爲什麼要問呢?Feifei: It's just we seem to be going round and round this roundabout. Rob, shouldn't you take that turning there?
菲菲:只是我們好像一直在繞着環狀交叉路口轉啊轉。羅伯,我們是不是該拐向那邊呢?Rob: No! That's where we just came from. Maybe it's this one... no, that can't be right.
羅伯:不!那是我們來的方向。或許是這條路......不,這一定不對。Feifei: Rob! We're going round in circles!
菲菲:羅伯!我們一直在繞圈子!Rob: Hmmm...
羅伯:嗯......Feifei: We aren't getting anywhere! Come on Rob, I'm going to miss my flight.
菲菲:我們哪兒也去不了!加油啊羅伯,我快要錯過我的航班了。Rob: Well done Feifei, you've just explained today's phrase – ‘go round in circles' – although it's nothing to do with driving. If you do something for a long time without achieving any results and you always come back to the same problem, then you can describe the situation as 'going round in circles'.
羅伯:幹得好,菲菲,你剛纔解釋了今天的短語—“繞圈子”—儘管這和開車沒有任何關係。如果你做一件事情做了很長時間且沒有任何結果而總是回到相同的錯誤,那麼你就可以形容這種狀態交“繞圈子”。Feifei: OK, so it really means you don't make any progress?
菲菲:好的,所以這真的意味着你沒有任何進展?Rob: Yes that's right. Let's hear some examples while I decide which turning to take:The politicians talked for hours but they couldn't come to an agreement; they were just going round in circles.I've been going round in circles trying to find the right person to talk to about getting a refund on my ticket but with no success. I give up!Because we didn't have the data from the survey, we went round in circles discussing the same old problems.
羅伯:是的,正確。在我決定往哪裏轉的時候讓我們來聽幾個例句:那些政客們討論了好幾個小時卻沒有達成協議,他們一直在繞圈子。我一直在繞圈子,嘗試找到能退還我票的人卻失敗了。我放棄了!因爲我們沒有關於調查的數據,所以我們在討論相同的舊問題上兜圈子。Feifei: So 'going round in circles' means not getting anywhere – and Rob, we're not getting anywhere today – and I need to get to the airport.
菲菲:所以,繞圈子指不去任何地方。還有,羅伯,我們今天哪也沒有去呢,而且我需要去機場。Rob: OK, don't panic. It's definitely... errr... this way.
羅伯:好的,別慌張。這一定是...嗯...往這邊走。Feifei: Careful!
菲菲:小心!Rob: Now you see, we're not going round in circles. We're going in the right direction... we're on the right road... we're making progress.
羅伯:現在你看到了,我們沒有繞圈子。我們走了正確的方向。我們在右邊的路,我們正在前進。Feifei: At last we're making progress! No more going round in circles.
菲菲:至少我們在前進!沒有繞圈子。Rob: Oh no... hold on...
羅伯:哦不,等一下。Feifei: What is it Rob?
菲菲:怎麼了羅伯?Rob: Another roundabout! Which way now?
羅伯:又一個環狀交叉路口!這次往哪走?Feifei: Hmm, take my advice: if you don't want to go round in circles, get organised: take the bus!
菲菲:嗯,採納我的建議吧:如果你不想繞圈子,有組織一點,坐公車吧!Rob: Sorry Feifei. There's another flight tomorrow.
羅伯:對不起菲菲。明天還有一趟航班。Both: Bye.
一起:再見!