jealousy
這個字大家應該相當熟悉了吧,是名詞「忌妒心」的意思,影片的標題用到了 jealousy bites 這個說法,字面上是忌妒心咬人了,其實意思就是「忌妒心作祟」,這是一個很生動有趣的用法,來看個例子:
Anthony has been whining that he should be promoted like Ashley was. Jealousy bites, I guess.(Anthony 一直吵說他也應該要像 Ashley 一樣被升遷。我猜他只是忌妒心在作祟。)
那類似的表達還有 jealousy takes hold of someone,字面上是忌妒心控制了某人,意思就是「感到忌妒不已」,這也是比較生動的說法喔,舉個例子:
I apologize for the nasty things I said to you earlier. Jealousy was taking hold of me, and I couldn’t think straight.(我為我先前說的那些惡毒的話道歉。我真的是太忌妒了,沒辦法好好思考。)
我們也常常會看到這個字的形容詞 jealous,意思就是「忌妒的」,要表示「忌妒某人或某事」時可以說 be jealous of...,來看個例子吧:
Why are you so jealous of Michael’s success? You’ve seen how hard he worked, right?(為什麼你這麼忌妒 Michael 的成功?你有看到他多麼努力工作吧?)
grudge
這個字當動詞時,意思是「忌妒、認為某人不配得到某事」,也可以寫成 begrudge,用法為:grudge someone something,舉個例子:
I do not grudge you your happiness. I truly believe you deserve it!(我不會忌妒你的幸福。我真心相信這是你應得的!)
那麼 grudge 當名詞時,則是「怨恨、嫌隙」的意思,要傳達長期下來對於朋友、同事的不滿時,用這個字就對啦!常見的搭配有 have / hold / bear a grudge against someone 表示「對...不滿、不爽、怨恨」,舉個例子:
Some people just have a grudge against the whole world.(有些人就是不爽這整個世界。)
I feel like Amy’s bearing a grudge against her new colleague. What a poor kid!(我覺得 Amy 好像很不爽她的新同事。可憐的孩子啊!)
resent
當你極度不爽某人時,你的不爽可能會進化成「憎恨、厭惡」,這時除了用 hate 這種基礎單字外,你還可以用更進階的 resent 來表達你強烈的不滿,舉個例子:
Alex resents every woman who doesn’t love him back. Don’t get involved with him! (Alex 厭惡每個不愛他的女生。你最好離他遠一點!)
那這個字的形容詞則是 resentful「感到憤恨的、厭惡的」,舉個例子:
Miles felt resentful about not being employed by his dream companies.(沒有被他嚮往的公司雇用,Miles 感到忿忿不平。)
a chip on someone’s shoulder
最後我們來學一個有趣的片語,a chip on someone’s shoulder,意思是「忿忿不平、忌妒不滿」,舉個例子:
He's got a chip on his shoulder about not being born into a wealthy family, but what can he do about it?(他很不滿自己沒有生在有錢的家庭,但他又能怎麼辦呢?)
在這個經濟、人際壓力大的時代,大家想必都有滿腔的不滿,學會這些英文單字好好發洩一下吧!
延伸閱讀
3.【卡卡英文聊天室】salty 表示『很鹹』,He's so salty. 就是『他很鹹。』嗎?
(本文刊載於希平方-線上學英文 〈【厭世英文】『不爽某人、忌妒某人』英文怎麼說?〉,未經授權,不得轉載。)