中國廣場舞

Abe： Hey there pretty lady， you and your 1）gal pals heading over to the square to do a bit of dancing？

Esther： You know us too well！

Abe： You mind if I 2）tag along？ ①I could use a little eye candy this morning…

Esther： Oh， you old brute. You have a onetrack mind.

Abe： ②That may be， but I’m far from a onetrick pony. I’ve got some moves of my own I could show you. Like this sexy hip roll： Oh！！

Esther： You silly old fool. You broke your hip again didn’t you？

Abe： Nah. I just need a little—Ugh—stretch first.

Esther： You also need to slow down a bit. We’re already in enough trouble as it is. ③The last thing we need is your kids bringing a 3）wrongful death suit against us， with our pending legal matters still up in the air.

Abe： It’ll take more than some twerking to 4）sideline old Abe. Wait！ Did you say legal problems？ What’s the matter？

Esther： ④Oh， I think it’s much ado about nothing， but our morning square dancing has apparently rubbed some people the wrong way， and so police were called and told that we were disturbing the peace. Can you imagine some helpless old ladies trying to disturb people’s lives？ Who do they think we are？ Don’t they realize we are just simple seniors， taking the time to meet with friends and stay in shape？

Abe： Be that as it may， I can see it from the other side as well. We are retired， so our purpose now is to what？

Esther： It’s the same as it’s ever been； to pursue happiness.

Abe： And for you ladies to do that it involves shaking those gorgeous 5）rumps of yours to the sounds of 6）gongs and drums every morning.

Esther： That’s one way of putting it.

Abe： But how about all those college student dorms right over there？ Or those working class apartments next to the park？ The people living there need quiet time in the morning and at night to， I don’t know， rest， study， write or whatever they have to do for their own slice of happiness.

Esther： I’m too old to look at things from others’7）perspectives. I just wanna dance.

Abe： Don’t you get it？ It’s not about the dance. It’s about the noise.

阿貝：你好，漂亮的小姐，你和你的女伴們要前往廣場跳舞嗎？

埃斯特：你太了解我們了！

阿貝：你介意我跟隨嗎？今天早上我就可以一飽眼福了……埃斯特：噢，你個老混蛋，你腦子里只想這種事。

阿貝：或許吧，但我不僅僅只有這一招，我有自己的舞步可以秀給你看，類似這樣的性感扭臀舞：噢！

埃斯特：你個愚蠢的老家伙，又摔到屁股了是不是？

阿貝：沒有，我只是需要一些——唷——先做些伸展運動。

埃斯特：你還要稍微放慢些速度。事實上，我們已經麻煩纏身了。我們最不想的就是你的子女因為你的過失致死而起訴我們，而我們的法律問題仍然懸而未決。

阿貝：那一點點的傷痛怎么能讓老阿貝停止他的舞步呢。等等！你是說法律問題嗎？怎么回事？

埃斯特：哦，我認為那無非就是小題大做，但是我們早晨的廣場舞很明顯觸怒了一些人，所以有人報了警，稱我們正干擾他人的清靜。你能想象一些無助的老婦人在企圖打擾人們的生活嗎？他們以為我們是誰？難道他們沒意識到我們只是普通的老人，花點時間見見朋友、保持一下身材而已？

阿貝：盡管如此，我也能從另一個角度看這個問題。我們是退休老人，所以我們現在的目標是什么？

埃斯特：跟過去一樣，尋找幸福。

阿貝：你們這些女士為了追求幸福，每天早晨伴隨著鑼鼓喧天的音樂，擺動著你們那些美臀。

埃斯特：可以這么說。

阿貝：但是對于就在那邊的所有大學生宿舍來說會怎樣？或者那些就在公園旁邊的上班族的公寓會怎樣？人們住在那里需要清靜的早晨和安靜的夜晚，我不知道，休息、學習、寫作，或者任何他們必須要做的事情以獲得自己的那一片幸福。

埃斯特：我太老了，沒辦法從別人的角度去看待事物，我只想跳舞而已。

阿貝：你還不明白嗎？不是因為舞蹈，而是因為噪音。

Smart Sentences

① I could use a little eye candy this morning… 今天早上我就可以一飽眼福了……

eye candy： sth. that is intended to be pleasant to look at but has no real meaning（中看不中用的人或物，比喻某個人或物很養眼）。例如：

A lot of the coffee-table books are little more than eye candy： cute photos with one-line captions and that’s about all.

許多咖啡桌圖書都只不過是漂亮的擺設罷了，它們有好看的照片，幾個字的解釋，也就那樣了。

② That may be， but I’m far from a one-trick pony. 或許吧，但我不僅僅只有這一招。

one-trick pony： sb. who does one thing well， but has limited skills in other areas（只有一樣本事的人）。例如：

Amy is merely a one-trick phony. Besides English vocabulary， she does not know much about the language and can’t communicate with others.

艾米只不過是會一樣。除了英語詞匯，她對英語知道的并不多，也不能用英語跟別人溝通。

③ The last thing we need is your kids bringing a wrongful death suit against us， with our pending legal matters still up in the air. 我們最不想的就是你的子女因為你的過失致死而起訴我們，而我們的法律問題仍然懸而未決。

up in the air： sth. not settled， uncertain（懸而未決）。例如：

We don’t know whether we’ll go to Taiwan or Hong Kong during the Spring break—everything is still up in the air.

我們還不知道春假會去臺灣還是香港，一切仍是未知數。

④ Oh， I think it’s much ado about nothing， but our morning square dancing has apparently rubbed some people the wrong way， and so police were called and told that we were disturbing the peace. 哦，我認為那無非就是小題大做，但是我們早晨的廣場舞很明顯觸怒了一些人，所以有人報了警，稱我們正干擾他人的清靜。

much ado about nothing： a lot of trouble and excitement about sth. which is not important（小題大做，庸人自擾）。例如：

People have been getting very upset about the seating arrangements for the annual sales meeting， but as far as I’m concerned it’s all much ado about nothing.

人們在為年度銷售大會上的座位安排不滿，可在我看來，這都是小題大做。

rub sb. the wrong way： irritate or annoy sb.（惹怒某人，觸犯某人）。例如：

The mayor’s remarks about the air pollution rubbed a great many people the wrong way.市長關于空氣污染的言論把許多人惹火了。