A Letter to Girlfriend One day a young man was writing a letter to his girl friend that lived just a few miles away in a nearby town. Among other things, he was telling her how much he loved her and how wonderful he thought she was. The more he wrote the more poetic he became. Finally, he said that in order to be with her he would suffer the greatest difficulties, he would face the greatest dangers that anyone could imagine. In fact, to spend only one minute with her, he would climb the highest mountain in the world, he would swim across the widest river, he would enter the deepest forest and with his bare hands fight against the fiercest animals. He finished the letter, signed his name, and then suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to mention something quite important. So, in a postscript below his name, he added: “By the way I’ll be over to see you on Wednesday night—if it doesn’t rain.” Are you laughing your socks off ?! English is a language rich with phrases that are both strange and wonderful and that people use in everyday speech. Yes, it’s great to know all the technical vocabulary about the economy (经济), for example, but in an everyday situation it’s more likely that the people you communicate with will be using a different kind of language. As an English teacher, I like to see the students’ reactions to some of the idioms the British use, and even like to hear them using these phrases themselves! Let’s look at a few examples. 1. It’s a piece of cake! This phrase does not mean you are going to eat a piece of cake, unfortunately! It actually means that something is really easy to do or achieve! 2. To laugh your socks off. It means that you find something really funny, so you are laughing a lot! 3. To have a knees-up. Again, this phrase isn’t really to do with the action of your knees but actually refers to having a party or a get-together with friends and family! So you can see from these examples that English idioms can be a bit misleading at first sight. But you will hear native speakers saying many things like this, so why not have a look on the Internet to see if you can find some more examples to add to your knowledge! All this leads us to British humour. The British are known for their sharp (尖锐的) sense of humour which is often lost in translation. There are lots of British TV series and comedies that are great to watch. Remember not to worry if you don’t understand too much first time — perhaps try and watch one or two a few times to see if you can understand the jokes. Also, try not to take the jokes too seriously or personally — British humour can be quite ironic (有讽刺意味的) but it’s all in the name of comedy! I think both of these things bring you closer to the language and to the culture you are studying. Australian humour Australian humour has a long history. This sense of humour is recognised (although maybe not always understood) the world over as being Australian. Here are some styles of humo ... ...
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