以前教過jamming session、jam歌,指「即興演奏」,jam也可指「果醬」,今天的課程教另外一句話:I'm in a jam(我處於困境中),這裡的jam解釋為「困境」,或者也可用:I'm stuck(我被難住/卡住) 。
Brian:Buddy you've got to help me out.
布萊恩:朋友,你得幫幫忙。
Marcus:What's the problem?
馬克斯:什麼事?
Brian:I'm in a jam. I'm dating two girls and they both just walked in looking for me.
布萊恩:我有麻煩,我約了兩個女生,她們一同來找我。
Marcus:Sure, I can help you out of this sticky situation. Leave it to me. (Marcus goes over to both girls , chats and leaves with his arms around them) (Shouts) Problem solved my friend.
馬克斯:沒問題,我可以幫你解決這個難題,交給我去辦 (馬克斯走向她們傾談,然後張開雙臂抱著女伴) 朋友,問題解決了吧。
布萊恩對馬克斯說:Buddy, you've got to help me out. I'm in a jam.(老兄,你得幫幫忙,我有困難)。Buddy由Brother(兄弟)一字演變而成,一般只用於口頭,可用來稱呼熟朋友或不相識的人,等於中文的「老兄」,也可解作「朋友」,例如:(1) Take care how you drive, buddy.(開車小心啊,老兄)。(2) Tom is a great buddy of mine.(湯姆是我的好朋友)。
Help somone out本是「幫助某人走出」的意思,例如:He helped the one-legged old man out of the car.(他幫助獨腳老人從汽車裡走出來)。引伸其義,幫助人家解決困難,也可稱為help out。Help out和單獨的help一字意思沒有甚麼分別,但語氣比較隨便,例如:Could you help (me) out with the housework?(=Could you help (me) with the housework?你可幫忙做些家務嗎?)
Jam是車輛等的擁塞,所以俚語以in a jam解作「處於困境」,例如:He was in a jam with the internal revenue service, which suspected him of tax evasion.(他惹上了稅務麻煩,當局懷疑他逃稅)。幫助人家走出困境,可用help out二字:I helped her out of the jam by offering her money.(我給她錢,幫她解決了困難)。
說「處於困境」的英文說法還有很多,常見的包括in the soup(在羹湯裡)、in a pickle(在醃汁裡)、in hot water(在熱水裡)、in a fix(進退維谷)、in deep shit(在糞堆裡)等,例如:He was in hot water with the internal revenue service。