Clean up your act 改邪歸正

內容簡介

菲菲為什麼一直在埋頭打掃衛生？是不是因為她犯瞭什麼錯，被老板批評瞭？同事Rob又向她伸出瞭援助之手。聽節目，學習一個和“自我改進”有關的表達。

文字稿

（關於臺詞的備註: 請註意這不是廣播節目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能沒有體現錄制、編輯過程中對節目做出的改變。）

Rob
Hello welcome to Authentic Real English from AYYBLOG Learning English. I’m Rob.

Feifei
Oh hello，大傢好。我是馮菲菲。

Rob
Err Feifei, what are you doing?

Feifei
Cleaning… this place is so dirty… in fact Rob, have you got any soap I could borrow?

Rob
Feifei, this isn’t like you. You don’t normally take cleaning so seriously.

Feifei
哎呀，我也是沒辦法。老板說讓打掃衛生 clean up my act，我隻能埋頭苦幹瞭。

Rob
Oh Feifei, you can put down that cloth – he didn’t literally mean do the cleaning. He wants you to improve your behaviour or your performance. Have you not been working very hard?

Helen
Who me? I always work hard… although I have had a lot of things to do at home… and I did make a few mistakes last week… and when I get stressed I start to shout at people…

Rob
Oh yes, I did hear you. Well I’m sure I can help you clean up your act – if you’re sure you know what that means?

Feifei
Yes. 原來在英語中，to clean up your act 這個表達和打掃衛生並沒有關系，它其實要表達的意思是讓某人開始遵守規定或改掉壞習慣，改邪歸正。咱們來聽幾個例句。

Examples
I used to drink a lot of alcohol but when I got ill, I decided to clean up my act and now I only drink cola!

He turned up late for work every day looking a real mess, so they told him to clean up his act or face losing his job.

Feifei
那麼也就是說我老板讓我 clean up my act 並沒有讓我打掃衛生或者表演節目。

Rob
No – acting here means behaviour – although your acting on this programme is excellent! So come on then, when are you going to start cleaning up your act?

Feifei
Right now. 我從現在開始就全身心投入工作，認認真真的，爭取一個錯誤都不犯。
Would you mind checking this script for Authentic Real English?

Rob
Sure. Let’s have a look… perfect! You can tell the boss you’ve started with a clean slate.

Feifei
A clean slate 一塊幹凈的石板 – what does that mean?

Rob
I’ll tell you another time. Ooops, I’ve knocked my coffee over…

Feifei
Oh dear Rob. It looks like you’ve got to clean up the studio. Do you need this cloth?

Rob
Thanks!