 | | | Faffing about could cost you valuable time |
Neil: Hello, welcome to Real English from BBC Learning English, I’m Neil. Lily: 大家好，我是杨莉。 Neil: In Real English we look at words and phrases that you might not find in your dictionary. Lily: 在我们的 Real English《地道英语》节目中 我们要来学习一些书本以外的新词和说法。So, what’s today’s expression? Neil: To faff about. Lily: To faff about. Neil: That’s right, to faff about. Lily: What does it mean? Neil: Well, to faff about, means to spend a lot of time doing unimportant things when really you should be doing something more important. Lily: Oh I see. To faff about 就是把时间都花在区区小事上，而忽略了更为重要的大事。说白了，就是耽误时间，瞎忙活的意思。 Neil: For example, perhaps you are a student with an important deadline for your coursework. Lily: Oh, so you’d better do your work. Neil: Yes, but instead of doing the work, you read a book, you phone your friend, you play some computer games… Lily: Oh, I see, you waste time. Neil: Yep. You faff about. You waste valuable time doing unimportant things. Lily: 如果你喧宾夺主地浪费了宝贵时间，那么你就是在 faff about。 Insert A: Come on, hurry up, we’re going to miss our train! B: Just a sec, I’m can’t decide what scarf to wear. A: Stop faffing about! We need to leave now or we’ll have to wait two hours for the next train! Neil: To faff about is the verb, but if you want to talk about the activity, we say faffing about. Lily: To faff about 是个动词短语，它的名词形式就是 faffing about。 Neil: If she doesn’t stop faffing around they’ll have to wait two hours to get the next train. Lily: You said faffing around. Neil: Yes you can say faff about or faff around. Both are possible. Lily: Faff around 和 faff about 表达的是同一个意思，耽误时间，瞎忙活。 Neil: Join us again soon for some more Real English, from BBC Learning English. Goodbye! Lily: See you. | 
