阿谀奉承
Curry favour
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I'm Feifei…
大家好，欢迎来到BBC地道英语。我是菲菲……
…and hello, I'm Rob. Erm, Feifei, why were you in the cafe with the boss earlier?
大家好，我是罗伯。呃……菲菲，刚才你为什么和老板一起在咖啡厅？
Was I?
我吗？
Come on. I saw you having lunch with the boss.
别装了，我看到你和老板一起吃午餐了。
Nobody ever has lunch with him.
之前可没人和老板一起吃过饭。
OK, I admit it. I was having lunch with the boss. What's wrong with that?
好吧，我承认。我和老板共进午餐了，但那又怎样？
Well, we all know there is a promotion in the department on offer –
我们都知道咱们部门有一个晋升的机会——
and you are obviously trying to curry favour with the boss so that you get the job. Honestly!
很明显你是想“curry favour”老板，然后得到这个升职机会。你真是的！
Hold on.
等一下。
I can assure you I was NOT having curry with the boss – it was just a sandwich.
我跟你说我并没有和老板一起吃咖喱——我们吃的是三明治。
Feifei, if you 'curry favour with someone' you are not eating curry.
菲菲，如果说你“curry favour with someone”，那并不是说你在吃咖喱。
It means you are trying to get someone – the boss – to like you or even give you something. Something like a promotion.
这是说你正试图让某人——也就是老板——看上你，或者说给你提供些什么，比如说升职。
I was not! But I like the expression.
我没有！不过我喜欢这个表达。
OK. Well, let's hear some examples of people currying favour with someone else…
好吧，我们一起听一些别人阿谀奉承的例子吧……
I know what you're up to! You're trying to curry favour with the manager by telling her what a great job she's doing!
我知道你在干什么！你在拍经理的马屁，跟她说她的工作有多伟大！
The company tried to curry favour with its employees by giving them all a pay rise.
这家公司给员工们都涨薪了，以此来笼络他们。
He's trying to get free tickets to the gig by currying favour with the tour manager – it won't work!
他想得到演奏会的免费门票，正讨好领队呢——这可不管用！
This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English and we're talking about the phrase 'to curry favour (with someone)' which means 'to try and get someone to like you or give you something'.
这里是BBC地道英语，我们正在讨论短语“to curry favour (with someone)”的意思。这个短语是指讨好别人使别人看上你或者给你好处。
Another way of saying it is you are 'trying to keep in with' someone.
还有一个与它意思相近的短语是“trying to keep in with someone”，和别人都搞好关系。
It's all a bit false, Rob, trying to make someone like you - which is why I was NOT trying to curry favour with the boss.
罗伯，让别人看上你这有点不大对——所以我才不能去讨好老板。
You won't get the promotion anyway.
不管怎么说，你是得不到晋升的机会的。
We were actually talking about you!
实际上我们讨论的是你！
Oh yes?
是吗？
He wanted my advice on whether he should give the promotion to you.
他想给你升职，问一问我的意见。
To me! Well, come on then, what did he say?
给我升职！拜托，他怎么说的？
You'll need to curry favour with me, if you want to know that!
那你就要好好讨好我了，如果你想知道的话！
How about dinner? I know a nice little curry house just round the corner.
吃晚餐怎么样？我知道街角有一家非常好吃的咖喱店。
Bye.
拜~
Bye bye.
拜拜~