周一是憂鬱難熬的日子,
周五是即將放飛自我的日子
周三呢?周三則是小周末!
來用英文聊聊小周末小確幸吧!
Laura 和同事 Michael 趁著工作告一段落,終於能休息一下聊聊天了。
先來學學「小周末」的英文怎麼說,再來加入他們的對話吧!
tough (adj.) 難熬的
tough 是形容詞,用來形容事物時意思是「難熬的;艱辛的;艱苦的;棘手的」,如:tough days (苦日子);用來形容人則可以指「強硬的;嚴厲的」,如:tough guy (硬漢)。
The brave knight accepted the tough challenge.
英勇的騎士接受了嚴苛的挑戰。
Pauline is a tough teacher and is very hard on her students.
Pauline 是一位嚴師,她對學生很嚴格。
hump day (n.) 小周末
hump day 意指「小周末」,也就是「周三」。hump 的意思是「隆起;駝峰」,這裡把一周比喻為一座山,「周三」正好位於周一至周五的中間,來到周三就好比抵達山頂,因此用 hump 來代稱。這個俚語最早見於 50 年代,職場上能聽到 Happy Hump Day (小周末快樂) 這種說法。
Here comes the hump day, which means there’s only two days left until the weekend.
小周末來了,意味著距離周末只剩兩天。
work overtime (phr.) 加班
這裡的 work 為動詞,表示「工作」,overtime 為副詞,意思是「超時」,work overtime 即為「加班」。
Chloe sued her boss because he forced her to work overtime without pay.
Chloe 控告她的老闆逼她無償加班。
單詞背完剛好來得及聽他們聊天!
Laura: Finally! We finally made it to Wednesday!
Laura:終於!我們終於撐到周三了!
Michael: Happy Hump Day! My favorite day of the week–except for the weekend of course!
Michael:小周末快樂!除了周末以外我最愛的就是這天!
Laura: Phew, the past two days were tough.
Laura:呼,過去兩天真難熬。
Michael: Yeah, fortunately we』ve come to the middle of the week…
Michael:真的,幸好已經到了周三……
Laura: Which is the only day that we don』t have to work overtime!
Laura:也正是我們唯一不用加班的一天!
Michael: Have you got anything planned for after work?
Michael:你下班後要做什麼特別的事嗎?
little things in life 小確幸
little things in life 直翻意思是「生活中的小事物」,在這裡意指「小確幸」。英文中並沒有單一確切的說法可以代表「小確幸」,說法不盡相同,然而下面這些說法意思是最接近的:little things that make life happy、 little things in life that make one happy。
I appreciate the little things in life that make every day special.
我珍惜那些使每一天獨一無二的小確幸。
plan sth. out (prh.) 精心規劃
這裡的 plan 為動詞,意思是「計劃」,動詞詞組 plan sth. out 則是「精心規劃某事」,強調比一般的計劃還要「仔細、精心計劃」。
I』ve planned out my holiday so that I won』t waste a single minute.
我已經精心策劃好我的假期了,這樣才不會浪費任何一分一秒。
relax (v.) 放鬆
relax 為動詞「放鬆」,relaxing 則是形容詞「令人放鬆的」,relaxed 為「感到放鬆的」。
「Relax and enjoy your flight,」 said the captain.
機長說:「放輕鬆享受旅程吧」。
一起來聽聽 Laura 的小周末計劃!
Laura: Well, nothing special actually. I just plan to enjoy some of the little things in life.
Laura:其實也沒什麼特別的。我只是打算享受一下一些人生中的小確幸。
Michael: Such as…?
Michael:比如……?
Laura: Do you remember the handbag I told you about last week? I finally made up my mind and bought it. I』m going to pick it up after work!
Laura:你還記得我上周提到的那個手提包嗎?我終於下定決心買下來了。我下班後要去拿!
Michael: That’s not 「little」! You』ve been lusting after that handbag for ages.
Michael:這一點也不是「小」確幸!你老早就想買那個包了!
Laura: You know me too well. How about you?
Laura:你太懂我了。那你呢?
Michael: I』m going to a spa and plan out my weekend while bathing in hot water. Is that too over the top for a hump day?
Michael:我要去做水療,泡個熱水澡一邊規劃周末行程。小周末這樣過會不會太誇張?
Laura: Not at all! Relax, you earned it!
Laura:一點也不!放輕鬆,這是你應得的!
撐過周一、周二,在小周末好好慰勞一下自己,才有動力周四、周五繼續努力!