Dan:That's the last time I go on anything that John organizes.
丹:我以後都不會再參加約翰籌辦的任何活動。
Ally:What happened?
阿利:為甚麼?
Dan:He arranged a trip to the races for a group of his friends.
丹:他安排了一群朋友去看賽馬。
Ally:So?
阿利:那又怎樣?
Dan:The coach had a puncture, so we arrived an hour late, our tickets were for the wrong day and the picnic food was terrible.
丹:我們乘坐的客運汽車在路上爆胎,於是遲到了一小時,而我們入場券的日期原來不是那一天。帶去野餐的食物也難吃極了。
Ally:Not an ideal day out.
阿利:這可不是很理想的一日遊。
Dan:It was a snafu from beginning to end.
丹:簡直自始至終都一團糟。
約翰籌辦活動,弄得一團糟。他的朋友說:It was a snafu。Snafu本是第二次大戰時美軍俚語,指「一團糟」或「弄糟了的事」。這個字其實是個頭字詞(acronym),即取幾個字的第一個字母而成:Situation Normal: All Fouled Up(情況正常:一切亂七八糟)。以「亂七八糟」為「正常」,當然有戲謔意味。Foul(弄髒)up是髒話fuck up的替代說法,聽起來「文雅」一點,和snafu一樣,可作動詞,例如:(1)Look, you have fouled up / snafued everything (瞧,你把什麼都弄糟了!)(2)Our plan was fouled up / snafued by his clumsiness(我們的計劃,因他處事笨拙而失敗了)。
Snafu、foul-up還可作名詞,例如:(1)You have made a foul-up / snafu of the election campaign(你把競選活動弄得一團糟)。(2)The government’s educational reforms turned out to be a big political foul-up / snafu(政府的教育改革,成為政治上一大敗筆)。
留意今天那段對話
阿利說的So?字。So作連接詞,常用來帶出一段話的下文,例如:So, I missed the plane (就這樣,我趕不上搭飛機了)。叫人家把故事說下去,也常用這個字,例如:"I was late for school this morning." "So?"(「我今早上學遲到了。」「那又怎樣?」)