British People Are Secretly Rude · Eat Sleep Dream English
揭秘英国人‘quite good’的用法，了解他们说‘相当好’其实是‘不太行’。适合练习英语语调和文化差异理解。
Can I tell you a secret?
我可以告诉你一个秘密吗？
British people are secretly rude and we're doing it right in front of you.
英国人其实很粗鲁，而且我们就在你们面前明目张胆地表现这种粗鲁行为。
I know, it's not okay.
我知道，这样做是不对的。
Now let me give you a little example.
现在让我举一个小例子来说明。
So the two words quite good.
这两个词用得相当不错。
When a British person stresses quite, they actually mean it's not good.
当一个英国人非常强烈地表达某种观点时，他们的意思其实是：这种情况并不好（或者说，这种做法是不可取的）。
So for example, you show them a piece of work, maybe a presentation or something like that and they go like,
比如说，你向他们展示了一项工作成果（可能是某个演示文稿之类的），然后他们就会表示：“……
that's quite good.
那相当不错。
What are you here?
你来这里干什么？
You here?
你在这里吗？
That's quite good, right?
这相当不错，对吧？
There's a positive, not at all.
其实也有积极的一面，一点都没有。
When we stress the quite, we're actually saying it's not good.
当我们强调“安静”时，其实是在表示“安静”这种状态并不好（或者说“安静”并不是我们想要的结果）。
It's quite good.
它相当不错。
What do you think of the wine?
你觉得这葡萄酒怎么样？
It's quite good.
相当不错。
Can you hear that?
你能听到那个声音吗？
Right, if we switch the stress to the adjective good, suddenly it's a different game.
没错，如果我们把重音移到形容词“good”上，情况就完全不同了。
That's quite good, actually.
其实，这相当不错。
Yeah.
是的。
Oh, the presentation, it's quite good.
哦，这个演示文稿做得相当不错。
Yeah, pretty good.
是的，相当不错。
Now they love it.
现在他们非常喜欢它。
They think it's the best thing they've seen in a while, right?
他们觉得这是他们最近见过的最棒的东西，对吧？
All from switching the stress.
这一切都是因为改变了压力的来源（或者说：通过改变应对压力的方式而实现的）。
Stress on the quite, it's not good.
对安静环境施加压力（或干扰）是不好的行为。
They don't like it.
他们不喜欢这样。
Stress on the adjective, excellent job.
重点应该放在形容词上——“干得太棒了！
So you guys, if you really like something, you say, I thought it was quite good.
所以，各位朋友们，如果你们真的喜欢某样东西，就应该说：“我觉得它相当不错。
And to me, that is really rude because in England, you say, yeah, it was quite good, which means it was trash.
对我来说，这种行为真的很无礼；因为在英国，当你说“嗯，还挺不错的”时，其实意味着那东西很糟糕（或者说质量很差）。
Like it was, you hated it.
你曾经非常讨厌它……
How does that translate as bad?
这句话怎么会被理解为“不好的”呢？
It's quite good.
它相当不错。
Quite good.
相当不错。
Oh, quite means not quite there.
哦，其实意思是“还没有完全达到目标”或“还差一点”。
It's quite good, you know.
其实挺不错的，你知道的。
The thing is, how are you supposed to know which one's positive or which one's negative?
问题在于：你怎么才能分辨出哪个是正数、哪个是负数呢？
British people can be so hard to decode, which is why I've released this book, a really British guy to modern English.
英国人的行为和思维方式往往很难被理解（或者说，很难被“解读”）。正因为如此，我才写了这本书——它将一个典型的英国人的言行用现代英语表达出来，帮助读者更好地理解英国人的行为模式和思维方式。
It's full of the words, idioms, expressions, and phrases that we use all the time.
这本书里充满了我们日常生活中经常使用的各种词汇、习语、表达方式以及短语。
And there's a section called what British say versus what they really mean.
其中有一个板块，名为“英国人所说的与他们真正想表达的意思之间的差异”。