史考特: 你對葛瑞斯是認真的,對吧?
保羅: 是啊。
史考特: 但她小你很多歲。
保羅: 她小我兩歲而已。而且我前幾天看到你和蔡小姐情話綿綿。
史考特: 所以呢?我很喜歡她啊。
保羅: 是沒錯,可是你才 18 歲,而她 22 歲了。
史考特: 戀愛的時候年紀不是問題。
保羅: 你改變說法啦。
whisper 指『在耳邊輕聲細語』。nothing 指『無關緊要的事物』,sweet nothings 就是情侶之間常講的甜蜜卻沒實質內容的『情話』,相當於 sweet talk。因此 whisper sweet nothings in someone's ear 這個俚語就是『在某人耳邊情話綿綿』的意思。
伊恩和潔思米剛交往時,整天情話綿綿講不完,內容肉麻到連不小心聽到的路人都吐了滿地。但是潔思米偏偏就吃這套,她對伊恩說:
I love to hear you whisper sweet nothings in my ear.
= I love to hear you say sweet things to me.
= I love to hear your sweet talk.
(我喜歡你對我情話綿綿。)
sweet 也有下列有趣的用法:
have a sweet tooth 愛吃甜食
羅伯特愛吃甜食,別人睡前是用牙刷刷牙,可愛的羅伯特卻總是用糖果刷牙,因為他每天半夜都會爬起來吃幾根巧克力棒才能入睡,所以現在嘴巴裡只剩 8 顆牙了。我們就可以這樣說:
He has a sweet tooth.
= He likes to eat sweets.
(他喜歡吃甜食。)
*sweets n. 糖果
sweet deal 划算的交易或好買賣
He got a sweet deal on his new car.
(他買新車時拿到了一個划算的交易。)
whisper 也有下列的用法:
whisper campaign 指背後低聲的傳言或秘密中傷的活動
There was a whisper campaign to discredit the candidate.
(有人在背後低聲傳播謠言來詆毀那位候選人。)
ear 是『耳朵』。中文有句話說『左耳進,右耳出』,英文就是 go in one ear and out the other(從一隻耳朵進去,從另一隻耳朵出來)。
湯姆很喜歡去溪裡游泳,但是湯姆爸卻常告誡他溪裡有會咬人重要部位的怪魚,但湯姆卻都把這些話當作耳邊風。
His father's warnings went in one ear and out the other.
= His father's warnings were heard but ignored.
(他爸爸的警告被當成耳邊風。)
*ignore vt. 忽略,不理會
Mary has a sweet tooth.
瑪麗很愛吃甜食。
Paul was all ears when Sherry talked about herself.
雪莉講述自己的事情時,保羅全神貫注地聽。
John is serious about everything he does.
約翰做什麼事都認真看待。
Carol bought a car the other day.
卡蘿前幾天買了一輛車。
Jamie would like to be rich some day.
傑米未來想要變得有錢。