VOA流行美语 Unit 98: what's her face

Li Hua正在往图书馆走，突然，Larry把她叫住了。 Li Hua在今天的谈话中会学到两个常用语：what's her face和thingamajig。

LL: Hey, Li Hua. One of your classmates asked me to give you this envelope.

LH: 我的同学要你给我这个信封？哪个同学呀？

LL: Oh, it was... what's-her-face, you know, the tall girl with red hair.

LH: 高个子、红头发的女孩儿？你还说什么- What's her face? 哎，Face不是“脸”吗？

LL: I said "what's-her-face" instead of her name because I couldn't remember her name. I guess it means I can remember her face, but not her name.

LH: 噢，你不记得她的名字，但是你记得她的脸长的是什么样子，所以你说what's her face, 也就相当于what's her name 。Hm，Larry, 你这么说是不是不太礼貌呢？

LL: Well, it's not really rude, but it's very informal. You shouldn't call someone what's-her-face if she is nearby... in that case, you should just ask her what her name is.

LH: 哎哟，幸亏你告诉我， 尽管what's-her-face是很随便的说法，但是也不应该当着那个人的面这么说。要是这个人就在你身边，那么我就应该直接问她叫什么名字。哎，对了，Larry, 刚才你是说what's her face, 要是男孩子的话，那应该怎么说呢？

LL: You would say what's-his-face.

LH: 噢，要是男生，但是又记不起他的名字，那也可以说what's his face。我想起来了，那个高个红头发的女孩是Julia。我和Jenny向她借了上星期四的笔记，因为那天我俩没去上课。这个信封里肯定是她的笔记。

LL: That's right - You missed a class last Thursday. Hey wait, if you needed notes, why didn't you just ask me?

LH: 但是我们觉得 - what's-her-face... um, Julia... 她肯定比你记得好。

LL: Well, come to think of it - If I were what's-her-face, er... I mean Jenny, I wouldn't want my notes either.

******

LH: 哎，Larry, 你手里拿的是什么东西呀？

LL: This thing in my hand? Oh, it's the thingamajig I use to measure the air pressure in my car's tires.

LH: 什么？Thin-ga-ma-jig - 这名字听起来很好玩儿。

LL: No no, that's not the real name of this thing. We use "thingamajig", to replace the name of an object when we don't know or can't remember its real name.

LH: 噢，Thingamajig不是这个东西的名字。那要是不知道，或是忘了一样东西的名称，我们就可以用这个thingamajig来代替。哎，那不就是像我们中文里说的“那玩意儿”吗？是不是？

LL: That's right. Actually, I think the thing in my hand is called a "tire pressure gauge". Tom asked me to help him check the air pressure of his car's tires.

LH: 原来你手里拿的这个thingamajig是用来测量汽车轮胎压力的。你要帮Tom来测测他的车子轮胎啊 ？哎哟，Larry, 看来你对车子还挺懂的嘛！

LL: Hey, I never said I'm good with cars. To me, everything under the hood of my car is just a bunch of thingamajigs.

LH: 汽车引擎盖下面的东西你是一窍不通啊？我才不信。噢，说到修车，我这辆自行车的手闸最近不太灵，你帮我看看好不好？

LL: Let me see. I think you just need to oil these thingamajigs on your handlebars here.

LH: 自行车把手上的这些零件该上油啊？你肯定吗？

LL: Well, if you don't believe me, you can ask what's-his-face, Jenny's boyfriend, the tall Indian guy - He can fix bikes.

LH: 那个高个子的印度人，Jenny的男朋友？你是说Rick吧！他会修自行车？那我可要去问问Jenny了！

LL：OK! Let's go!

今天李华从Larry那儿学到两个常用语。一个是what's her face, 也可以说what's his face。意思是“那个叫什么什么的人”。李华学到的另一个常用语是thingamajig, 就相当于中文里所说的“那个玩意儿”。