美国人幽默的电话留言美国家庭中的电话机一般都有留言提示功能,也就是当外人打入电话时,如果主人不在家,电话没人接,电话机会自动播送一段提示,内容通常是:抱歉,家里没人,请您听到"嘟"的一声之后,将您的姓名与电话号码留下来,我回家之后,马上给您回电话.由于这样的提示过于平淡,许多美国人都使用自己编写的提示.刚才我在搜狐英语学习论坛上,看到一个帖子,介绍了一些很有趣的提示,我从中挑选了三个文字比较浅显的,请您看一看.通过这些提示,我们可以发现美国人的民族性格中幽默的一面.
Hi. I am probably home. I'm just avoiding someone I don't like. Leave me a message, and if I don't call back, it's you. 嗨,我可能在家里,但我不想给我讨厌的人回电话.请留言吧.如果我没有给您回电话,那么您就是我讨厌的那个人.
Please leave a message. However, you have the right to remain silent. If you give up the right, everything you say will be recorded and will be used by us. 请您留言.当然,您有权保持沉默.如果您放弃这个权利,那么您说的每句话都将被记录在案,并且将被我们所利用.
Hello, you've reached Jim and Sara. We can't pick up the phone right now, because we're doing something we really enjoy. Sara likes doing it up and down, and I like doing it left to right. So leave a message, and when we're done brushing our teeth, we'll get back to you. 嗨,这里是Jim和Sara的家.我们现在不能接电话,因为我们正在干一件我们非常喜欢干的事情.Sara喜欢一上一下地干,而我却喜欢一左一右地干.好吧,请留言吧,等我们刷完牙,我们将给您回电话.
写到这里,我突发奇想:干脆也给我自己的电话机编写一段幽默提示吧.于是我仿照我的美国朋友Brian家中的提示,编写了下面这段话,您看看怎么样
Thank you for calling us. If you wish to speak to Mike, push 1, to Cathie, push 2, to Alex, push 3, to Doggie, push 4. All of this button pushing doesn't do anything, but it makes you feel like we have a big time phone system. 谢谢您给我们打电话.如果您想找Mike(我本人),请按1,找Cathie(我老婆),请按2,找Alex(我儿子),请按3,找Doggie(我家小狗),请按4.其实不管您按哪个钮,结果都一样(我们家只有一部电话,并没有分机),但这会让您感觉,我们家里好象有一台很大的电话交换机.