浪费时间做无用功
Reinvent the wheel
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak.
大家好，欢迎收听地道英语。
I'm Feifei…
我是菲菲……
… and… hi there… I'm...I'm Neil.
……嗯……大家好……我是……我是尼尔。
Err… Neil, could we have your attention please?
呃……尼尔，你能集中一下注意力吗？
Sorry Feifei –
抱歉啊菲菲，
I'm still trying to finish the script for this programme.
我还没写完这期节目的稿子。
What?
什么？
You're still writing the script for this programme!
你还在写这期节目的稿子！
So what's going to happen today then?
那今天一会儿要怎么办？
Well, I thought that you could pretend to arrive late…
嗯，我觉得你可以假装迟到了……
I've lost my coffee…
我丢掉了咖啡……
I just need to think of an authentic real English phrase to use now…
我只需要想出一个现在要用的真正地道的英语表达……
Oh come on Neil,
噢得了吧尼尔，
there is no need to reinvent the wheel!
没必要浪费时间做无用功！
Feifei, you're amazing –
菲菲，你太赞了——
to reinvent the wheel –
浪费时间做无用功！
that's a great English phrase.
这真的是个很棒的英语短语啊。
I'll use that in my script.
我要把它用到我的稿子里。
To reinvent the wheel means 'to waste time trying to create something that has already been made'.
“浪费时间做无用功”的意思就是“浪费时间来创造已有的东西”。
So I'm saying, don't waste time writing a script that has already been written –
所以我是说，不要再写已经写过的稿子了——
all your ideas have been written before!
你所有的想法之前都已经写过了！
Really?
真的吗？
I'll show you –
我让你看看——
but first let's hear some more examples of this phrase…
但是首先我们再来听几个关于这个短语的例子……
Don't reinvent the wheel;
不要浪费时间做无用功了；
we already have a plan that seems to work well.
我们已经有了一个似乎很有效的计划了。
He spent days working out the new course syllabus when we had planned it already –
他花费了几天时间来制定新的课程大纲，但我们之前就已经计划好了，
he's just reinvented the wheel!
他只是在浪费时间做无用功！
Nancy's new idea is just the same as the old one –
南希的新主意和旧的一样，
she's just reinvented the wheel!
她只是在浪费时间做无用功罢了！
So to reinvent the wheel means 'to waste time and effort doing something that someone has done before'.
所以说浪费时间做无用功的意思是说“浪费时间和精力做一些别人之前已经做过的事情”。
Now let me show you that old script…
现在让我来给你展示一下旧稿子……
Oh yeah.
噢好。
Let's have a look.
让我们来看一眼。
Arrives late… drinks coffee… I tell a joke…
迟到……喝咖啡……我讲一个笑话……
you're right Feifei, this is almost the same script.
你说得对菲菲，这几乎是一样的稿子啊。
I'll just copy the idea for today's script.
我只是重复用这个主意来做今天的节目啊。
Actually, maybe you shouldn't reinvent the wheel -
其实也许你不应该浪费时间做无用功，
and start writing something new and original.
并且开始写一些新的、有独创性的东西。
Sorry - we're out of time Feifei.
抱歉，我们没有时间了菲菲。
I just need to say something funny and we can go…
我只需要说些好笑的话然后我们就能走了……
I've had a 'wheely' good time!
我度过了一段“非常”愉快的时光！
That wasn't funny.
那并不好笑。
Bye!
再见！