“All that jazz”原来和爵士乐没关系丨BBC听英语

Neil 在介绍自己的摇滚乐队时用到了“all that jazz”这个表达，它的意思和“jazz 爵士乐”有关吗？本集《地道英语》介绍一个在列举清单时常用的时尚地道表达。

课文内容

Feifei

大家好，欢迎收听BBC 英语教学的《地道英语》节目。我是冯菲菲。

Neil

And I’m Neil.

Feifei

Neil，本集节目中我们要给大家介绍的这个表达和“音乐”有关。Do you like rock music?

Neil

Rock. Yeah, I love it.

Feifei

Really?

Neil

When I was younger I was in a rock band, we had it all: long hair, loud guitars, even louder drums, leather… all that jazz!

Feifei

Jazz 爵士乐？Hang on, was it a jazz or a rock band?!

Neil

Aha - very funny – ‘all that jazz’ is our phrase. And it has nothing to do with jazz. 

Feifei

是的，all that jazz 这个表达其实和爵士乐没有任何关系，它的实际意思是“诸如此类的事情”。

Neil

You often use it after listing things. For example: I love Christmas dinner – you’ve got turkey, Brussels sprouts, roast potatoes, gravy, all that jazz. It’s just great.

Feifei

You’re not wrong. I love all that jazz too. And now you’ve made my mouth water, so let’s take a break and listen to these examples.

Examples:

I had a super lazy weekend. I woke up late, got some coffee, went for a walk, watched a couple of movies, all that jazz. It was great.

I don’t read celebrity gossip. You know: who’s going out with who, who got plastic surgery, all that jazz. I’m just not interested!

Neil

It’s often used in a list of unpleasant or boring things.

Feifei

For example: This morning I cleaned the whole house – washing, scrubbing, vacuuming, all that jazz!

Neil

Yes, by using ‘jazz’ to describe dull things, it’s ironic and brings some humour.

Feifei

It does, Neil. 在列举一系列无聊的事情时候，我们用 all that jazz 这个说法来增加一点幽默，让大家感到轻松、不那么沉闷。Especially when we compare it with the phrase ‘to jazz up’. 就像我们用 jazz something up 来表示使物体更加有趣，更吸引人。比如：You can ‘jazz up an outfit’ or ‘jazz up a meal’。

Neil

Before we go, we should of course mention the phrase is also the name of a song from the 1975 Broadway musical, Chicago.

Feifei

Fancy singing it for us, Neil?

Neil

I really couldn’t. After all, I was in a rock band. Not a jazz band! What about you, Feifei?

Feifei

Maybe next time. I can’t remember the words!

Neil

Excuses, excuses! Bye for now.

Feifei

Bye.

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