Jo: You're listening to Real English from BBC Learning¹ English. I'm Jo.

Lily: And I'm Lily. 两分钟的地道英语专门为大家介绍一些英语课堂上学不到的新词新语，那 Jo，我们今天要学什么呢?

Jo: It's cheeky C.H.E.E.K.Y. cheeky.

Lily: Cheeky? 听着像个形容词，什么意思呢？

Jo: Well this word is really used in two ways. The first way is in a quite serious manner to mean someone is being rude or disrespectful.

Lily: 这个词有两个含义。其中第一个意思是冒失无礼的，语气上很严肃。

Jo: And it's usually used when an adult is talking about a child. He was so cheeky to me, meaning he was quite rude to me.

Lily: 啊，也就是说大人们常用这个词来形容那些缺乏教养，不懂礼貌的孩子们的冒失行为。

Example

A: You look a bit angry…

B: I am! A group of young girls were throwing things in my garden and I told them to stop. But they didn't! They were just really cheeky to me!

Lily: 这段情景对话展示了 cheeky 这个词的第一个用法。那 Jo, cheeky 的另一个意思是甚么呢?

Jo: Well the second way is much more playful, because British people have quite a sarcastic² or ironic³ sense of humour.

Lily: 是的，我早就体会到了英国人喜欢嘲讽和挖苦式幽默的特点了。 那具体说，怎么把 cheeky 用于开玩笑的场合呢?

Jo: So for example, I might say I haven't done much work today Lily.

Lily: 如果我想用英国式的幽默，那我就可以说，这有什么新鲜的，你不从来都是这样的嘛! What's new – you never do your work!

Jo: My reply would be – cheeky! But I don't mean it seriously – you are being rude but in a fun way.

Lily: 嗯，这时你会说，cheeky，意思是，你这顽皮的家伙，含义是我知道你在挖苦我，所以并不当真!

Jo: That's all for today. Bye for now.

Lily: 下次节目再会!