捉弄我
To make a monkey out of me
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak.
大家好，欢迎收听地道英语。
I'm Li…
我是李…
And hello, I'm Rob.
大家好，我是罗布。
Sorry, I didn't hear that.
对不起，我刚刚没听到你说什么。
If I just take this head off…
我把这个头套摘下来的话…
can you hear me better now?
你现在能不能听清楚点了？
Hello!
大家好！
That's better but why are you wearing a life-size monkey costume Rob?
清楚多了，但为什么你穿着一套真人大小的猴子装呢，罗布？
Well my friend said I should wear it to his son's birthday party this morning –
今天上午是我朋友儿子的生日宴会，我朋友说我应该穿着这套衣服去——
his son loves monkeys
他儿子很喜欢猴子，
and it would make his birthday really special if he saw one!
如果能看到一只猴子，将会使他的生日十分特别。
Well, that's very kind of you Rob –
好吧，罗布，你人很善良——
and how did the party go?
生日宴会怎么样？
Well that's the problem.
嗯，这就是问题所在了。
As you can see,
你看，
I dressed up like a monkey,
我打扮得像只猴子一样，
travelled across London on the bus and there was no party!
坐着公交车穿过伦敦城，却发现根本没有什么生日宴会！
Ha ha – no party!
哈哈——没有生日宴会！
It looks like your friend has been 'making a monkey out of you'!
听上去你朋友捉弄了你呀！
Making a monkey out of me?
捉弄了我？
Yes, that's a very good phrase.
对，这是一个很好的短语。
You mean he's trying to make me look foolish or to humiliate me.
你是说他设法让我看上去很愚蠢，或者说让我丢脸了？
He's certainly done that!
他确实是这么做的！
Let's hear some examples of the phrase in action…
让我们来听几个例子，看看这个短语是怎么用的吧…
Mary made a monkey out me by telling to me to ask her best friend out on a date –
玛丽捉弄了我，她让我约她最好的朋友出来——
she said no!
她却说不要！
My boyfriend's always making a monkey out of himself by getting drunk at parties.
我男朋友总是让自己出丑，他总是在聚会上喝醉。
Sid made a monkey out of Paul by telling him to wear a suit to the party –
希德捉弄了保罗，他告诉保罗穿着西装去参加聚会——
everyone else was wearing jeans!
可其他人都穿着牛仔裤！
So 'making a monkey out of someone' is not a nice thing to do.
所以，捉弄人可不是什么好事。
You can also say 'making a fool out of someone'.
你也可以说“愚弄某人”。
So Rob, you're angry because he's made a fool out of you?
所以罗布，他捉弄了你，你很生气吧？
Yes that's right!
对！
This phrase doesn't just apply to people who dress up like monkeys.
这个短语不仅适用于打扮得像猴子一样的人。
It can apply to any situation where someone has been made to look foolish or ridiculous-
它适用于任何有人被捉弄，看起来很愚蠢可笑的场合——
like me.
就像我一样。
But Li, this phrase compares someone to a monkey
但是李，这个短语将人比作猴子，
because monkeys look like they are fooling around.
因为猴子好像总是在做蠢事。
Isn't that right?
对吧？
No.
不。
In the Chinese culture,
在中国文化里，
a monkey is seen as a clever animal
猴子被看作是一种聪明的动物，
and is often compared to a clever person.
并且人们总是用猴子和聪明人作比。
Oh really?
噢，真的吗？
Well, in that case I might wear this monkey costume for a little bit longer.
既然这样，这套猴子服我就要多穿一会儿了。
How does it make me look?
我穿着这个看上去怎么样？
Clever, smart?
聪明吗，机灵吗？
Quite smart and quite handsome too.
很机灵，也很帅。
Oh thank you very much!
啊，太感谢你啦！
Bye.
再见。
Bye.
再见。