大家知道,世界上的人是各式各样的,有的人特别会说别人爱听的话,可是有的人特别善于吹毛求疵,挑别人的毛病。在这次节目里,我们就要给大家介绍两个形容这两种人的习惯用语。大多数人都说,人都是爱听好话的。既然如此,我们就先来讲一个善于说好话的习惯用语。To butter up someone. Butter这个字可能大家都早已知道,就是西方人经常吃的黄油。但是,在 to butter up someone这个习惯用语里,butter这个字是用做动词。To butter up someone并不是真的在某人身上涂黄油。作为俗语,to butter up someone是指对人不寻常地客气,过份地奉承,目的是在于赢得此人的好感,或者是要他给你一种特别的好处。To butter up someone这个习惯用语的形成可能是因为面包上涂了黄油味道就好多了,或者是因为黄油很滑溜,就像那些奉承别人的话听起来很顺耳那样。下面是一个公司的雇员在说一个会拍马的同事。
例句-1: Harry is working hard to butter up the boss to get that promotion. The funny thing is if he worked as hard at his job as he does at buttering up people, he'd have a better chance to get what he's after.
例句2: I believe some people are simply born with the talent of buttering up people. Don't you think I haven't tried. I did, but I felt so awkward about flattering people. So I've given up a long time ago.
例句3: I hate to sound like a nitpicker, but I found a comma missing in your third paragraph and another comma missing down in the tenth paragraph. Let's try to be more careful from now on.
例句4: My baby sister Carol said that most of her classmates like her taste and compliment her every time she wears a new dress. The nitpicker who criticizes her is her best friend Laura. My sister thinks that Laura is simply jealous of her.