A Rat Race

Tina：Every day, it's the same old thing.
蒂娜：每天老是一成不變。
Joanne：What do you mean?
瓊安：什麼意思？
Tina：Take the bus, go to work, punch in, punch out. What's the point?
蒂娜：搭公車、去工作、打卡上班、打卡下班。這樣到底有什麼意義？
Joanne：Well, you know, make money, do a good job. That sort of thing.
瓊安：這個嘛，你也知道，還不就是賺錢，把工作做好，像這樣的事。
Tina：Well, I'm just not interested in the rat race.
蒂娜：唉，我就是不喜歡這種你爭我奪、汲汲營營的生活。
Joanne：What would you rather be doing?
瓊安：不然妳想幹嘛？
Tina：I'd like to be making movies.
蒂娜：我想拍電影。
Joanne：Tina, you hardly ever watch movies. And when you do, you don't pay attention.
瓊安：蒂娜，妳根本不太看電影。妳就算看電影，也都心不在焉。
Tina：Well, if I made a movie, I would pay attention to it!
蒂娜：哎呀，如果我拍了電影，我就會專心看了啦！

rat指「大老鼠」，race表「賽跑」，所以本俚語字面上的意思就是「老鼠賽跑」。
例：Miranda decided to get out of the rat race and recharge her batteries with a trip abroad.（米蘭達決定離開汲汲營營的生活，出國旅行充電。）
另介紹一個與rat相關的用語：
pack rat 是產於北美的一種「林鼠」（或稱「蒐集鼠」），這種動物喜愛搬運與收集各式各樣的小東西，把它們當成寶貝藏在窩（nest）裡。
例：Larry's grandmother is a pack rat. She has difficulty throwing away useless stuff.（賴瑞的奶奶是個囤積狂，要她扔掉沒用的東西很難。）
例：What sort of skirts is Minnie fond of?（米妮喜歡哪種裙子？）
例：Cindy would rather sleep at home than go to the countdown party.（辛蒂寧可在家睡覺也不要去參加跨年派對。）

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