The english we speak(BBC教學)第85期:Not give someone the time of day 對某人不理不睬
Chris: Hi there Li.
克里斯：李，你好。Li: Oh, hi Chris.
李：哦，你好，克里斯。Chris: Are you alright? You seem annoyed?
克里斯：你還好嗎？你看起來很生氣。
Li: Oh, I'm fed up. I had to stay late at work again yesterday. I still didn't manage to finish all the work, so I came in early today as well.
李：哦，我很煩。我昨天又不得不加班到很晚。我還是沒能完成所有的工作，所以我今天很早就來了。Chris: Sounds like you need a cup of tea. I'll put the kettle on. What have you got to finish?
克里斯：聽起來你需要一杯茶。我去燒壺水。你要完成什麼工作？Li: Well, it's not even my work I have to finish–it's Lisa's.
李：嗯，其實我要完成的並不是我的工作，是麗薩的工作。Chris: What do you mean?
克里斯：你是什麼意思？Li: Since she started, she's always asking me to do her work for her. She'll start it, and then give it to me to complete, then leave early while I have to stay late to get it all done!
李：她開始工作以來，就一直不停地讓我幫她做她的工作。她開始一項工作，然後把那份工作交給我來完成，之後提早下班，而我卻不得不加班到深夜來完成所有工作！Chris: Oh, I know how you feel. Lisa did the same thing to me last week. She's really difficult to work with. Normally I wouldn't give her the time of day, but she is the manager's secretary.
克里斯：哦，我瞭解你的感受。上週，麗薩也讓我做了同樣的事。真的很難與她一起共事。通常我都不理她，可是她是經理的祕書啊。Li: You wouldn't give her the time of day? What time?
李：你不會把一天的時間給她？什麼時間啊？Chris: No, no… it's an expression–a negative expression. What I meant was I wouldn't normally pay attention to her. It's a bit of an unfriendly expression to use. Here are some examples:
克里斯：不是，不是……這是一個固定表達，是一個否定表達。我的意思是通常我不會理她。這是一個不太友好的表達。這裏是一些例子：After the way Dave talked about me during the meeting, I wouldn't give him the time of day.
在戴夫在會議上用那種方式和我說話以後，我就不理他了。Politicians are all the same–they're never honest. I wouldn't give any of them the time of day.
政治家都一樣，他們從來沒有誠實過。我不會關注他們的。Chris: Long ago, in Shakespeare's time, the phrase 'good time of day' was a greeting often used. These days we say 'good morning'…
克里斯：很久以前，在莎士比亞時代，good time of day這個短語是用來打招呼的。就是我們現在說的“早上好”……Li: Or 'good afternoon'.
李：或者是“下午好”。Chris: That's right. So to say that you wouldn't give someone the time of day means you wouldn't want to greet them or say hello. So the saying means you refuse to give someone your attention.
克里斯：沒錯。所以如果你不給某個人一天的時間，意思就是你不會跟他們打招呼或問候。所以這個短語的意思就是你拒絕關注某個人。Li: Oh, I see.
李：我明白了。Chris: But sadly we can't avoid some people in the office, no matter how hard we try!
克里斯：不過很不幸，我們無法避開辦公室的一些人，無論我們多努力的嘗試也沒用！Li: Well, I'd better get back to work… I've got so much to do!
李：嗯，我最好還是回去工作吧……我有特別多的工作要做！Chris: Good luck. Let me know if you need any help.
克里斯：祝你好運。如果需要幫助儘管開口。Li: Thanks Chris. See you later.
李：謝謝你，克里斯。一會兒見。重點講解：
1. fed up
厭倦的；厭煩的；膩味的；
eg. He had become fed up with city life.
他已經厭倦了城市生活。
eg. I'm just fed up and I don't know what to do.
我就是膩味了，不知道該怎麼辦。
2. not give someone the time of day
對某人毫不理睬；
eg. Tina didn't give Neville the time of day.
蒂娜不理睬內維爾。
eg. He is a disgusting fellow, I would not give him the time of day.
他這個人很討厭，我不願意理他。
3. pay attention to
關心；注意；
eg. Don't pay attention to anything he says. He lies like a gas meter.
不要理睬他的話，他一味撒謊。
eg. More and more urbanite begin to pay attention to mental health.
越來越多的都市人，開始注重心理健康。
