Its a joke

　　簡(jiǎn)直是個(gè)玩笑

　　Helen: 歡迎收聽(tīng) BBC 地道英語(yǔ)節(jié)目， 我是 Helen, 可是我的搭檔 Neil 看起來(lái)非常無(wú)奈。 Neil, what are you doing to that mobile phone?

　　Neil: Argh, I cant get it to make a phone call. It does everything else: it takes photos, it connects to the internet, it even irons shirts but it wont make a call!

　　Helen: Your mobile irons your shirts?

　　Neil: No, not really, but honestly it does everything apart from the one thing I want it to do make a phone call. Its a joke!

　　Helen: A joke? 一個(gè)玩笑。 But youre not laughing. It cant be a very funny joke.可是我看不到你臉上有任何笑容，這個(gè)玩笑肯定不好笑。

　　Neil: Well if you saysomething is a joke in English it can also mean that its not very good or not worthy of respect .

　　Helen: 當(dāng)我們說(shuō)某件事情是一個(gè)玩笑時(shí)，實(shí)際是想表達(dá)這件事處理非常不當(dāng)。請(qǐng)聽(tīng)以下幾個(gè)例子。

　　The investigation into police corruption was a complete joke. Everyone knows the officers were taking money but they were let off.

　　The weather forecast was a total joke. It said it would be warm and sunny but its freezing and raining.

　　Helen: 就象我們剛才聽(tīng)到的，有人形容對(duì)警察貪污案件的調(diào)查就是一個(gè) joke. 這并不是說(shuō)這件事情很好笑，實(shí)際意思是沒(méi)人在徹底調(diào)查，根本就不起作用。另外天氣預(yù)報(bào)根本就不準(zhǔn)，所以被形容為 a joke.

　　Neil: Notice that you can add words before joke to make the meaning even stronger.

　　Helen: 我們可以在 joke 這個(gè)單詞的前面加其他的詞來(lái)加重語(yǔ)氣。

　　Neil: Its a complete joke.

　　Helen: A complete joke. 簡(jiǎn)直不可思議的玩笑。

　　Neil: Its a total joke.

　　Helen: A total joke. 意思一樣，完全是個(gè)玩笑。

　　Neil: Its an absolute joke.

　　Helen: 和剛才的幾個(gè)一樣，an absolute joke. Anyway Neil, why dont you just read the instructions for your new mobile phone? Then youll probably be able to work out how to make a call. 看看用戶(hù)手冊(cè)，我想你就能知道怎么打電話(huà)了。

　　Neil: I looked at the instructions but theyre an absolute joke.

　　Helen: Oh really?

　　Neil: Well for a start they are in about 17 languages apart from English.

　　Helen: What a joke!

　　Neil: Yeah I know.

　　Helen: 我們今天聽(tīng)到了不少的玩笑，但是沒(méi)有什么笑聲。

　　Neil: Argh, what a useless piece of

　　Helen: 希望 Neil 能搞清楚怎么用他的手機(jī)。

　　Neil: Argh, this is beyond a joke, it really is

　　Its a joke

　　簡(jiǎn)直是個(gè)玩笑

　　Helen: 歡迎收聽(tīng) BBC 地道英語(yǔ)節(jié)目， 我是 Helen, 可是我的搭檔 Neil 看起來(lái)非常無(wú)奈。 Neil, what are you doing to that mobile phone?

　　Neil: Argh, I cant get it to make a phone call. It does everything else: it takes photos, it connects to the internet, it even irons shirts but it wont make a call!

　　Helen: Your mobile irons your shirts?

　　Neil: No, not really, but honestly it does everything apart from the one thing I want it to do make a phone call. Its a joke!

　　Helen: A joke? 一個(gè)玩笑。 But youre not laughing. It cant be a very funny joke.可是我看不到你臉上有任何笑容，這個(gè)玩笑肯定不好笑。

　　Neil: Well if you saysomething is a joke in English it can also mean that its not very good or not worthy of respect .

　　Helen: 當(dāng)我們說(shuō)某件事情是一個(gè)玩笑時(shí)，實(shí)際是想表達(dá)這件事處理非常不當(dāng)。請(qǐng)聽(tīng)以下幾個(gè)例子。

　　The investigation into police corruption was a complete joke. Everyone knows the officers were taking money but they were let off.

　　The weather forecast was a total joke. It said it would be warm and sunny but its freezing and raining.

　　Helen: 就象我們剛才聽(tīng)到的，有人形容對(duì)警察貪污案件的調(diào)查就是一個(gè) joke. 這并不是說(shuō)這件事情很好笑，實(shí)際意思是沒(méi)人在徹底調(diào)查，根本就不起作用。另外天氣預(yù)報(bào)根本就不準(zhǔn)，所以被形容為 a joke.

　　Neil: Notice that you can add words before joke to make the meaning even stronger.

　　Helen: 我們可以在 joke 這個(gè)單詞的前面加其他的詞來(lái)加重語(yǔ)氣。

　　Neil: Its a complete joke.

　　Helen: A complete joke. 簡(jiǎn)直不可思議的玩笑。

　　Neil: Its a total joke.

　　Helen: A total joke. 意思一樣，完全是個(gè)玩笑。

　　Neil: Its an absolute joke.

　　Helen: 和剛才的幾個(gè)一樣，an absolute joke. Anyway Neil, why dont you just read the instructions for your new mobile phone? Then youll probably be able to work out how to make a call. 看看用戶(hù)手冊(cè)，我想你就能知道怎么打電話(huà)了。

　　Neil: I looked at the instructions but theyre an absolute joke.

　　Helen: Oh really?

　　Neil: Well for a start they are in about 17 languages apart from English.

　　Helen: What a joke!

　　Neil: Yeah I know.

　　Helen: 我們今天聽(tīng)到了不少的玩笑，但是沒(méi)有什么笑聲。

　　Neil: Argh, what a useless piece of

　　Helen: 希望 Neil 能搞清楚怎么用他的手機(jī)。

　　Neil: Argh, this is beyond a joke, it really is