white elephant 华而不实的东西-凯发k8官网

feifei: hi. i'm feifei and joining us here in the zoo to present ¹ real english is finn.

 

finn: hello.

 

feifei: what's the matter, finn? 怎么不高兴呢？动物园这么多动物，多好看呀！

 

finn: yes, i love animals too. but i don't know what i'm going to do with that white elephant.

 

feifei: 你不知道应该如果应对 a white elephant？你是说远处的那头白象？

 

finn: no. the one my uncle is giving me.

 

feifei: 什么？你叔叔送你一头象？

 

finn: he is moving to south africa and he's giving away some of his things.

 

feifei: 如果我要搬到南非的话，估计我也会把带不走的东西都送人。可是你真打算养一头大象吗 finn?

 

finn: that's the problem. i am not. well, it is beautiful…

 

feifei: 是呀，大象长得太好看了。

 

finn: …and it is powerful…

 

feifei: 非常健壮。

 

finn: but it needs too much petrol!

 

feifei: 汽油？给大象喝？

 

finn: yes. old sports cars need a lot of petrol, you know.

 

feifei: 就说嘛，吓死我了。我以为你要给大象喝汽油。finn 是说跑车很费油。

 

finn: yes, of course! it wasn't talking about an actual elephant.

 

feifei: 你听，大象也松了一口气。

 

finn: yes, he did. in english, when you call something a 'white elephant', you mean it's large, costs a lot of money to keep and has no useful purpose.

 

feifei: 我们用 'white elephant' 这个短语来描述贵而无用的，华而不实的东西。不过我知道你喜欢骑自行车，跑车对你来说用处不太大吧。

 

finn: that's right. let's listen to some examples of how to use this expression.

 

i've paid a lot of money for this posh ² dress that i never use. it is a white elephant!

 

the new airport is a white elephant! it's got four runways and it's ³ with the latest technology, but not many people visit this ⁴.

 

feifei: white elephant 还可以用来描述一样看起来漂亮，但是在实际生活中浪费空间的东西。

 

finn: that's right.

 

feifei: 所以说呀，这些华而不实的玩意儿可远远比不上动物园里这些大象的人气。

 

finn: feifei, shall we go and have a look?

 

feifei: 好的，咱们去看看可爱的大象们 and these are certainly not white elephants! bye.

 

finn: bye.

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