Down boy, down

蹲下，狗兒，蹲下 

蘋果日報 2005.11.18

Jonah: Is he aggressive? Will he try to bite? 
約拿：牠性情兇猛嗎？會咬人嗎？ 

Gwyneth: Oh no, not at all. Just the opposite, he jumps all over people when they come into the house to welcome them. 
格溫內絲：不是，完全不是。剛剛相反，一有人進門，喬利就會撲到他們身上，以示歡迎。 

Jonah: Is that him barking now? 
約拿：現在吠起來的就是牠嗎？ 

Gwyneth: It sure is. I'll open the door, but brace yourself. Here we go. 
格溫內絲：當然是牠。我現在開門，你準備好，來吧。 

Jonah: Wow, you're not kidding. OK, OK, steady boy, steady! 
約拿：哦，你說得一點不假。好啦，好啦，安靜點，喬利，安靜點。 

Gwyneth: Down boy, down! Gosh, he's so excited. Look, I'll grab his collar while you take your coat off. Mom! Mom! 
格溫內絲：蹲下，喬利，蹲下！哎呀，牠興奮得很。來，我抓住牠的項圈，你脫去外衣吧。媽媽，媽媽！ 

多學一點點 牧羊場上的假期約拿去見女朋友的父母，說I'm really looking forward to meeting your folks for the first time。

Folk一字有幾個意思。指「人們」，說folk或folks都可以。複數形式的folks，俗語常用來指家人，特別是父母；也可用來直接稱呼一群人，帶親熱意味，例如：(1) Don't imagine that country folk / folks are ignorant（你不要以為鄉下人無知）。(2) It is a long time since I last saw my folks（我上一次和父母見面至今，已經很久了）。(3) What are you folks doing?（你們在幹甚麼？）

格溫內絲說家裡的狗很熱情，開門時叫約拿小心：Brace yourself. Here we go, Brace作動詞，有「使穩固」的意思，例如：I tried to brace the legs of the rickety table（我嘗試把桌子的四條腿弄得穩固一點，以免搖搖晃晃）。Rickety即「搖搖晃晃」。

Brace oneself是「振起精神準備迎接打擊、困難等」，例如：I could not bring my car to an immediate stop, and braced myself for a head-on collision（我無法把汽車立即停下來，只有咬緊牙關準備迎頭相撞）。

Here we go。是口頭用語，意思是「現在開始做某事」。假如不如意事一再發生，你可以說Here we go again，例如：(1) "Here we go," said the head surgeon as the operation began（手術開始時，首席外科醫生說：「好，動手。」）(2) "Oh, here we go again," she sighed when she learned that her husband had lost his job（她聽到丈夫失了業，歎口氣說：「唉，這樣的事又來了。」）