John: Hello, this is Real English from BBC Learning English, I’m John.
Jean: 大家好,我是董征。欢迎收听我们的地道英语节目。
John: In Real English today we look at words and phrases that you might not find in your dictionary.
Jean: 和汉语一样,英语里也是有着非常多的成语和俗话的,所以要想能听得懂英国人日常的说话聊天,就一定要来学学这些他们常用的通俗词语。
John: Today’s word is skive, to skive.
Jean: Skive, 这个词是什么意思呢?
John: Well you can use skive to talk about children who aren’t at school when they should be.
Insert
My brother was really naughty at school, he was always skiving off lessons to go and play football instead.
Jean: 噢,这个词挺有用的。Skive就是偷懒逃学、逃课的意思吧?
John: Yes, and we heard there that the phrase is often used with the word ‘off’ - ‘to skive off’.
Jean: To skive off, 去逃学了。不过skive是只在形容学生逃课的时候才用的吗?
John: No, you can use it to talk about work as well.
Insert 2
I haven’t got much work to do today. D’you fancy skiving and going for a long lunch?
Jean: OK, 原来skive还可以用来形容偷懒工作开小差的意思啊?
John: That’s right, you can skive off from work, skive off from school. But you can also use it to mean being in the right place – at school or at work - but not actually doing any work!
Insert 3
He’s been skiving all day – just checking his email and playing on the internet – he hasn’t done any work at all!
Jean: Skiving也可以用来形容那些上着班却不干正事的行为!对了 John,那这些偷懒逃学不干正事的人,我们有没有个词来形容他们呢?
John: Yes, you can call them skivers.
Jean: Skivers偷懒逃学不务正事者,对,这个词好!
John: But it’s not really that naughty, most people skive off sometimes.
Jean: 是吗?难道你也这样吗John?
John: Yes, I suppose I sometimes skive when I should be working but not very often!
Jean: 那好吧,看你偷懒程度不算严重,我们先暂时不叫你skiver好啦。
John: I hope not.
Jean: 不过,今天我们的节目时间就又到了。
John: Join us next time for more Real English from BBC Learning English
Jean: Goodbye!
John: Bye-bye!