<a href='http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7600' target='_blank'>http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7600</a><br /><!--QuoteBegin-&quot;www.usingenglish.com&quot;+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(&quot;www.usingenglish.com&quot;)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->sucks, slang to be objectionable or inadequate. <br /><br />&quot;It sucks&quot; means &quot;It is not good. &quot;You suck&quot; means that &quot;you&quot; are not good. Source <br /><br />Etymology <br />suck, Old English sucan, corresponding to Latine sugere &quot;to suck.&quot; It&#39;s of imitative origin. Meaning &quot;do fellatio&quot; is first recorded 1928. Slang sense of &quot;be contemptible&quot; first attested 1971 (the underlying notion is of fellatio). Source <br /><br />Note from Casiopea: For those who know the origin of &quot;sucks&quot; (i.e., that is stems from the act of fellatio, notably women who did the act), the use of slang &quot;sucks&quot; is objectionable because its meaning houses a history); however, for those who do not know its origin, &quot;sucks&quot; is not considered objectionable.&amp;nbsp; Note also, using &quot;sucks&quot; to refer to a person can be taken two ways: 1) The teacher sucks (S/he is a boring/a bad teacher) or 2) The teacher sucks (S/he performs a contemptible act--look to its origin).&amp;nbsp; <br /><br />Humor <br />When Electroluux first marketed their vacuum cleaners in the U.S., their slogan was, &quot;<span style='color:blue'>Nothing sucks like an Electrolux</span>&#33;&quot; Apparently, the Swedish-speaking people who created that slogan didn&#39;t know that in American slang, &quot;suck&quot; also means &quot;to be bad&quot;. <br /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

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Michael和李华已经从华盛顿返回纽约。今天是星期六，他们一起到纽约的Meadowlands去看冰球。Michael和李华这两个大学生，一个讲英文，一个讲中文，旁边的人听起来很奇怪，可是他们自己已经习惯了这种方式。今天他们在谈话中会用两个常用语：keep cool和screw up。<br /><br />　　L：Michael，谢谢你带我到Meadowlands来看冰球，Meadowlands可是有名的地方呐！而且我从来还没有看过冰球呢！<br /><br />　　(Starting buzzer) <br /><br />　　M：Sometimes these games get really rough&#33; <br /><br />　　L：我也听说了，他们说冰球比赛有时很粗暴，经常会打架。<br /><br />　　M：Wow, look at them&#33; It&#39;s only five minutes into the game and they are already pushing and shoving. <br /><br />　　L：是啊，他们已经开始推推攘攘，真的打起来了。人们都说冰球比赛有时会很粗暴，但是才开始五分钟就打架，这可是不多见。<br /><br />　　M：Yeah, they really need to keep cool out there. <br /><br />　　L：Michael,这是冰球，在冰上打球，当时是冷的咯，你在说什么呀？<br /><br />　　M：Li Hua, that&#39;s not what I meant. Keep cool means to calm down。Keep, means to hold and cool, meaning cold. <br /><br />　　L：噢，keep cool就是要冷静一点,你是说这些球员不要火气那么大，需要保持冷静。对，他们要是老打架，最好的球员就会被禁止打球的。<br /><br />　　M：Yeah. Another example, remember last week when you got into an argument with the professor over your mid-term grade? <br /><br />　　L：我才不会忘记上星期的事呐。那个教授给我期中考试打那么低的分数，我当然要跟他争嘛。<br /><br />　　M：Right now Li Hua, you need to keep cool. <br /><br />　　L：是，一说起这件事，我就会生气。得了，得了，不谈这个了吧！<br /><br />　　M：I can&#39;t believe how poorly they are playing. <br /><br />　　L：你说他们打得不好呀？说实话，我根本看不懂。我只知道当地的球队输了三分，这就输了很多啦！<br /><br />　　M：Yeah, they have really managed to screw up this game. <br /><br />　　L：&quot;Screw up&quot;?我不懂，这是什么意思？<br /><br />　　M：&quot;Screw up&quot; means not to play well. The home team is certainly messing up. <br /><br />　　L：噢，&quot;Screw up&quot;就是打得不好。<br /><br />　　M：&quot;Screw up,&quot; it means to mess up. <br /><br />　　L：是不是只能说打球时，或参加运动比赛时犯了错误？<br /><br />　　M：No, it can be used to describe a lot of things. For example, I screw up on tests all the time. <br /><br />　　L：噢，你考试老考糟也能用screw up来表示呀！这么说，&quot;screw up&quot;可以用的范围很广。要是说一个人工作没有做好呢？<br /><br />　　M：He screwed up at work. <br /><br />　　L：你老是和别人的关系搞不好，也能说是screw up吧？<br /><br />　　M：Yes, that&#39;s why I don&#39;t date anymore. Because I screw up all the time. <br /><br />　　L：原来是因为老跟别人搞不好关系，所以你就不交女朋友了。Michael，你也别跟自己太过不去了。<br /><br />　　M：I do screw up a lot; I make mistakes all the time. <br /><br />　　L：我们都犯错误的，谁能不犯错误啊！我来给你介绍个女朋友吧！<br /><br />　　M：Look, they are playing like that&#33; What is wrong with these players. <br /><br />　　L：嗨，这些球员真的很糟糕，你看，他们已经输了四分啦！<br /><br />　　M：I hate this&#33; They can&#39;t manage not to screw up tonight. <br /><br />　　L：Michael,尽管他们screw up，我们还是要keep cool&#33;也许还有希望扭转局势。<br /><br />　　李华今天从Michael那儿学到了两个常用语，一个是：keep cool，意思是：冷静一些，别太激动；另一个常用语是：screw up，意思是把事情弄糟了。 <br />