The english we speak(BBC教學)第147期:Touchy feely 情感外露；煽情的
Li: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I'm Yang Li.
莉：大家好，歡迎收聽地道英語節目。我是楊莉。William: (subdued) I'm William Kremer.
威廉：（悶悶不樂的）我是威廉·克萊默。Li: So, what English are we speaking today, William?
莉：威廉，今天我們要學什麼英語短語啊？
William: (sigh) I don't know.
威廉：（嘆氣）我不知道。Li: Oh what a big sigh! What's wrong?
莉：哦，好沉重的嘆氣啊！你怎麼了？William: Oh, it doesn't matter.
威廉：哦，沒什麼。Li: Oh, come on! I can see something's not right. What's wrong?
莉：告訴我吧！我能看出來你不太對勁。你到底怎麼了？William: (sigh) It's... well, if you must know, it's Tigger... he's died.
威廉：（嘆氣）就是……嗯，如果你非要知道的話，就是提格死了。Li: Tigger? Who's Tigger?
莉：提格？提格是誰？William: Tigger... Tigger is... Tigger was my beautiful cat. He was my best friend. I suppose you could say that. I'm going to miss his stripey face in the morning. And his purr, yeah, I'm going to miss that. But, you know, these things happen. I shouldn't get so upset...
威廉：提格……提格是……提格是我漂亮的寵物貓。它是我最好的朋友。我想可以這麼說。早上我會想念它那佈滿條紋的臉。當然我也會想念它的呼嚕聲。可是，你知道，發生了些事。我不應該這不沮喪的……Li: Why not? I think it's normal to be very sad when a pet dies.
莉：爲什麼不呢？我認爲失去寵物誰都會非常傷心的，這很正常。William: No, no, it's silly! I'm getting upset over an animal! I'm not a baby! I should grow up.
威廉：不，不，這太傻了！我竟然爲一隻寵物而沮喪！我又不是孩子！我應該更成熟些。Li: But you might find it helpful to talk about your feelings for Tigger.
莉：不過談談你對提格的感情會對你有幫助的。William: No, no, no, no! I hate all of that touchy-feely stuff!
威廉：不，不，不，不！我討厭所有這些煽情的事情！Li: Touchy-feely?
莉：Touchy-feely？William: Yeah, if something is touchy-feely it's very emotional. If you are a touchy-feely person you don't mind talking about your feelings and maybe actually hugging people.
威廉：對，這個詞指那些情緒化的事情。如果你不介意談論你的感情或是去擁抱別人，那你就是情感外露的人。Li: I see. So is this a negative phrase, touchy-feely?
莉：我明白了。所以這是個貶義詞組嗎？William: Yeah, a little bit. Let's hear a couple of examples of it in use:
威廉：對，有一點貶義的成分。我們來聽幾個應用此短語的例子：Man: Do you know, I never once saw my mum and dad kiss or hug.
男：你知道嗎，我從來沒看到過我媽媽和我爸爸親吻或是擁抱。Man 2: Really? Gosh, that seems incredible.
男2：真的嗎？天哪，那簡直讓人難以置信。Man: But I think they really loved each other. They just weren't all touchy-feely about it.
男：不過我認爲他們真的非常相愛。他們只是沒有把情感表露出來。Woman: Did you go to that drama group?
女：你去那個劇團了嗎？Woman 2: Yeah. I don't think I'll go again.
女2：去了。不過我不會再去了。Woman: Oh? Why not?
女：是嗎？爲什麼？Woman 2: Well, the acting was fine. But it's all that touchy-feely stuff they do that I don't like.
女2：嗯，他們的表演還不錯。可是他們太情緒化了，我不喜歡那樣。Li: Look, you English people! You just can't talk about your feelings, can you?
莉：看看，你們這些英國人！你們就是不想談論你們的感情，不是嗎？William: Well, you might be right Li–we're not famous for talking about our feelings. Now, before we finish, I have heard this phrase touchy-feely being used in a very different way too. Listen to this:
威廉：嗯，莉，也許你是對的，我們不擅長談論情感。現在，在結束節目之前，我聽到過這個詞組的另一種用法。我們來聽下面這個例子：Woman: I love your sweater!
女：我喜歡你的毛衣！Man: Thanks.
男：謝謝！Woman: It's so soft! I love this material. It's so touchy-feely!
女：這件毛衣太柔軟了！我喜歡這個布料。它真的太柔軟了！Man: OK. Shall I take it off and then you can touch it properly?!
男：嗯。我是不是該把衣服脫下來讓你好好摸一下？Li: So in that example, 'touchy-feely' was being used to describe a kind of material.
莉：在剛剛那個例子中，touchy-feely用來形容一種布料。William: Yes. If something is touchy-feely it is very soft. You want to stroke it, just like Tigger. I'm going to miss stroking Tigger.
威廉：對。如果用來形容某樣東西，說明這個東西非常柔軟。讓你想去撫摩它，就像提格一下。我會想念柔軟的提格的。William: The way he used to purr... And sometimes he would bring me a little present, you know. A dead mouse or maybe a little bird. So thoughtful.
威廉：它打呼嚕的方式……你知道，有時它還會給我帶來小禮物。可能是一隻死老鼠或是一隻小鳥。太體貼了。Li: Hmm. It's OK to cry you know, William...
莉：嗯。威廉，你知道，你哭出來也沒什麼的……William: (recovering himself) No! No it's not. No touchy-feely stuff!
威廉：（自我恢復）不！不行，我不會哭的。不能有這種煽情的事情！Li: Oh I give up. Goodbye everyone.
莉：好吧，我放棄了。大家再見。William: Bye!
威廉：再見！重點講解：
1. grow up
長大成人；成熟；
eg. But eventually, kids grow up and become teens.
但是，孩子終歸會成長並步入青少年時期。
eg. I need time to grow up.
我需要時間變得更成熟。
2. touchy-feely
煽情的；矯情的；肉麻的；
eg. Palin adopted a touchy-feely tone during the hour long interview.
在長達一小時的採訪中，佩林表現地頗爲煽情。
eg. The self-help workshop was very touchy-feely, and made me feel uncomfortable.
這種自助研討會太過情感化，讓我覺得不自在。
3. give up
投降；認輸；放棄；
eg. After a fruitless morning sitting at his desk he had given up.
他在書桌前徒勞地坐了一上午之後便放棄了。
eg. But some mountaineers do not give up.
但是一些登山家並沒有放棄。
