嬰兒用品琳瑯滿目
不過最基本的就是奶瓶、奶嘴、尿布
奶嘴的英文難道是 milk mouth 嗎?
來和小 V 一起一探究竟!
Bob 的高中好友 Paula 最近生了一個寶寶,她邀請 Bob 來家裡拜訪她和小寶寶。
Bob: Paula! I haven’t seen you in ages!
Bob:Paula!好久沒看到妳了!
Paula: Bob! It’s so nice to see you! (hugging Bob) Come on in! (Paula lets Bob into her house)
Paula:Bob,真開心見到妳!(擁抱 Bob) 進來吧!(讓 Bob 進到她家)
Bob: (seeing Paula’s baby) Hello, Anna! I’ve heard you a lot about you from your mom!
Bob:(看見 Paula 的寶寶) 哈囉,Anna!妳媽媽跟我說了妳好多事!
(Anna waves her arms excitedly)
(Anna 興奮地揮舞手臂)
Paula: Hahaha. She’s excited to see you.
Paula:哈哈,她見到妳很興奮。
Bob: So, how’s life been recently? I suppose taking care of an infant is not easy.
Bob:妳最近生活過得如何?我想照顧嬰兒一定不容易。
Paula: “Not easy” is an understatement. (Anna starts to cry) Oh, I think she wants her pacifier. (Giving it to Anna)
Paula:哎呀,不只是「不容易」… (Anna 開始哭) 噢,我想她想要她的奶嘴。(給 Anna 奶嘴)
Bob: She stopped crying!
Bob:她不哭了耶!
(Anna starts to crying again.)
(然後 Anna 又開始哭了。)
Bob: What happened? Anna, don’t you want your pacifier? (Anna throws away her pacifier.)
Bob:怎麼回事?Anna,妳不想要妳的奶嘴嗎?(Anna 把奶嘴丟掉。)
Paula: (looking at the clock) I almost forgot it’s her feeding time! Watch Anna for me, Bob, I’ll go fetch her feeding bottle.
Paula:(看向時鐘) 我幾乎忘了到她喝奶的時間了!Bob,幫我顧一下 Anna,我去拿奶瓶。
小寶寶 Anna 還不會說話,很難分辨她是想要奶嘴還是肚子餓了呢!
take care of (phr.) 照顧
take care of 在這裡意指「照顧」某人,近義詞為 look after。受詞除了接人之外,也可以接事情,表示「應付」某件事。
The babysitter takes care of the baby.
保姆照顧寶寶。My sister looked after my hamster while I was abroad.
我姐姐在我出國時照顧我的倉鼠。Look after my cellphone for me, I’ve got to go to the toilet.
幫我顧一下手機,我必須去趟洗手間。
另外 take care of business 是種用來表示「處理正事」一種幽默詼諧的說法,請見以下對話。
Bob: What are you up to today?
Bob: 你今天在幹嘛?Sam: TCBing, my man!
Sam: TCBing 啊老兄!Bob: What?
Bob: 什麼?Sam: Taking care of business!
Sam: 處理正事!Bob: So… sitting at home watching TV all day and eating popcorn?
Bob: 所以…整天坐在電視前面吃爆米花?Sam: That is correct.
Sam: 沒錯。
infant (n.) 嬰兒
infant 意指「嬰兒」,亦可當形容詞表示「幼兒的」。
The restaurant provides special seats for infants.
餐廳提供嬰兒用特殊座椅。My friend teaches infants.
我朋友是一名幼教老師。
pacifier (n.) 奶嘴
pacifier 意指「奶嘴」,衍生自動詞 pacify (安撫;平息)。在英國則稱之為 dummy。
Anna cries when her pacifier is not nearby.
只要奶嘴不在身邊,Anna 就會哭。Anna sucks her pacifier quietly.
Anna 安靜地吸她的奶嘴。Anna’s mother pacified her with a teddy bear.
Anna 的媽媽用泰迪熊安撫了她。The government was able to pacify the angry public with the new policy.
政府利用新政策平息了眾怒。
feeding bottle (n.) 奶瓶
feed 意指「餵食;餵」,feeding bottle 即是指「奶瓶」。小 V 猜想大家很可能直觀想到 milk bottle,不過 milk bottle 多半拿來泛指「裝牛奶的玻璃瓶子」。
Paula sanitized the feeding bottle after Anna finished drinking.
Anna 喝完之後,Paula 把奶瓶拿去消毒。My grandmother used to leave empty milk bottles at the door for the milkman to collect.
我奶奶從前會把用過的牛奶瓶留在門邊讓送奶人收走。
Paula 餵完 Anna 之後,Anna 終於不哭了,於是她和 Bob 開始聊天。
Bob: How do you know if she’s hungry or sleepy when she cries?
Bob:她哭的時候,妳怎麼知道她是餓了還是想睡覺?
Paula: I never know actually! I just guess! (laughing)
Paula:我其實從來都不知道!我就猜看看!(大笑)
Bob: Hahaha. It’s like a multiple choice question, and… (stops to smell) Hey, wait… do you smell that?
Bob:哈哈哈,好像選擇題,而且… (停下來聞一聞) 嘿,等等…你有聞到嗎?
Paula: What? Oh…
Paula:什麼?噢…
(Anna smiles.)
(Anna 微笑。)
Paula: Anna! You just pooped an hour ago and now you’ve pooped again! Sorry, Bob, I’ll need to change her diaper now.
Paula:Anna!你一小時前才大過,現在又大了!抱歉哦,Bob,我現在要先幫她換尿布。
Bob: No problem at all, go ahead.
Bob:沒事的,妳先忙。
Paula: (Taking out a bag of baby wipes) It smells like toxic waste when she poops. It’s as if I’ve been raising a poop machine.
Paula:(拿出一袋嬰兒濕紙巾) 她大便都很像毒氣,我好像在養一臺便便機器。
(After ten minutes)
(十分鐘後)
Paula: Okay, all done!
Paula:好啦,完成了!
(Anna seems very happy and begins to laugh and drool.)
(Anna 看起來很開心,開始大笑、流口水。)
Paula: Bob, can you fetch me her bib? It’s on the table next to you.
Paula:Bob,你可以幫我拿一下她的圍兜兜嗎?就在你隔壁的桌子上。
帶小孩真的一刻不得閒!一下便便、一下流口水,Paula 真的好忙。
我們也不能閒下來哦!來複習單字吧!
diaper (n.) 尿布
diaper 的意思是「尿布」,尿布可分為兩種:disposable diaper (拋棄式尿布) 和 reusable diaper (可重複使用的尿布),也就是近幾年比較流行的「環保尿布」。尿布在英國則稱之為 nappy。
Paula was angry with her husband because he refused to change Anna’s diaper.
Paula 在生他老公的氣,因為他不願意幫 Anna 換尿布。
baby wipe (n.) 嬰兒濕紙巾
wipe 除了可以當做動詞,表示「擦拭」,還可以當做名詞,意思是「濕紙巾」(或稱 wet wipe),baby wipe 指的則是嬰兒專用的「嬰兒濕紙巾」。
These baby wipes are unscented.
這包嬰兒濕紙巾無添加香氣。
drool (v.) 流口水
drool 在這邊意指「流口水」,也可以當做名詞,表示「口水」。補充片語:drool over sb./sth. (癡癡地看著…),字面意思其實就是「對著…流口水」。
Anna drooled all over her bib.
Anna 口水流得圍兜上都是。The little boy drooled over the huge lollipop in the candy shop.
這個小男孩癡癡地看著糖果店裡的巨型棒棒糖。
bib (n.) 圍兜兜
bib 的意思是「圍兜兜」,wear a bib 意思就是「圍圍兜兜」(小 V 發現這個中文說法好奇妙啊),要留意 wear 的過去式和過去分詞分別為 wore 和 worn。
The baby wore a bib in case he spilled his food.
這個寶寶脖子上圍了圍兜兜以防食物掉下來。
養小孩要忙的一定還不止餵奶和換尿布,辛苦各位爸媽了!
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文/ April Lu
審/ Eunice Lin
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