029讲: 拗口

DONNY 在北京学汉语,他的中国朋友要是遇到了不知道用美语怎么说的词,就会来请教他。今天是吴琼要问的:拗口。

DONNY: 吴琼,What's up? 

WQ: 我表姐要生宝宝了,发动全家给孩子起名儿呢,这不,我翻翻字典,找点灵感。

DONNY: Interesting! 我也来出主意!

WQ: 孩子姓唐,你说叫什么好?

DONNY: 唐?嗯...唐 - 老 - 鸭。

WQ: 啊?!

DONNY: Haha! I'm sorry, Wu Qiong. I know this is a terrible name, but when you mentioned the word "唐”, the name rolled right off my tongue. 

WQ: Rolled right off your tongue? 从舌头上滚下来?我明白了,就是顺口,脱口而出。你一听到“唐”字,顺口就说出了唐老鸭。 那...如果不顺口,也就是拗口,该怎么说呢?

DONNY: You can say it's a tongue twister. Tongue is spelled t-o-n-g-u-e, and twister, t-w-i-s-t-e-r. 

WQ: 哦,tongue twister, 就是说起来拗口的东西! This name is a tongue twister 这个名字真难念。

DONNY: 没错! Wu Qiong, you know the luxury car brand "Mercedes-Benz", do you?

WQ: Mercedes-Benz? 就是奔驰嘛!

DONNY: Right. The Chinese translation 奔驰 rolls right off the tongue. However, if we call the brand 梅赛德斯•本兹, to me , that's a tongue twister! It's like I'm tripping over my own tongue when I try to say it. 

WQ: Trip over your own tongue? 我知道 t-r-i-p, trip 是摔倒的意思,所以 trip over one's own tongue 就是打磕巴,吃螺丝吧?

DONNY: Absolutely! 

WQ: DONNY, We need to find a good name for this baby. We don't want people to trip over their own tongues when they say the baby's name!

DONNY: Of course, but first let's see what you've learned today! 

WQ: 第一,顺口叫 to roll right off the tongue

第二,拗口的东西则是 a tongue twister

第三,打磕巴,吃螺丝,叫 to trip over one's own tongue。