Helen: Hello, welcome to Real English from BBC Learning English. I'm Helen.
Oliver: 嗨,我是Oliver。
Helen: Today we’re looking at words and phrases that you might not find in your dictionary.
Oliver: 地道英語(yǔ)和大家一起學(xué)習(xí)現(xiàn)代英式英語(yǔ)中經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)的流行詞匯和實(shí)用表達(dá)。那Helen,今天給我們帶來(lái)的新詞是什么呢?
Helen: Today we are going to concentrate on the phrase – the big cheese.
Oliver: That's interesting, the big cheese. Cheese 是干酪, 就我自己來(lái)講,我非常不喜歡 cheese 的味道,更不在意大大塊的奶酪了。
Helen: Good to know that you are not a fan of cheese. I love it. Here the phrase 'big cheese' means something quite different. It actually refers to people in business.
Oliver: 是和生意人有關(guān)的?那究竟什么樣的人會(huì)被叫做大奶酪呢?
Helen: To be the big cheese of a company, you are at the very top of the company, you are very important and you have the power to make things happen in the company.
Oliver: I see, 就像董事級(jí)的人物,非常有權(quán)力的商場(chǎng)人物。
Helen: That's right, big bosses sometimes are called 'the big cheese'.
Oliver: 讓我們聽(tīng)一個(gè)例子。
Insert
A: Please make sure you come early tomorrow.
B: Why?
A: Because JP is going to be here tomorrow.
B: Who is JP?
A: Oh, you know, John Parkins, he's the big cheese from head office.
Oliver: Helen, 用這個(gè)短語(yǔ)的時(shí)候有什么需要注意的地方嗎?
Helen: Well, it's an informal phrase. And best not to say it directly to your big boss.
Oliver: 這是個(gè)不太正式的用法,不要當(dāng)著你的老板的面用,也不要直接叫他 – the big cheese.
Helen: Definitely don't say to your boss, "Hello, how are you today, big cheese?". You might get fired for that.
Oliver: 好了,我們今天學(xué)到的是 the big cheese,意思就是公司內(nèi)部非常重要或有實(shí)權(quán)的人物,這是個(gè)非正式的表達(dá)。
Helen: You've been listening to Real English from BBC Learning English. See you next time.
Oliver: 我們下次節(jié)目再會(huì)。