节目简介

“这就是我的一点小心意” 应该怎么用英语表达？英国人经常用 “a little something” 来形容 “给他人准备的小礼物”，也就是 “一点小心意”。不过，要注意，这个表达虽然用了 “little” 来形容礼物，但这并不一定是因为礼物非常小或非常便宜，只是一种低调的说法而已。听节目，跟主持人菲菲和 Phil 学习这个表达的用法。

文字稿

（关于台词的备注: 请注意这不是广播节目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能没有体现录制、编辑过程中对节目做出的改变。）

Feifei
Hello and welcome to Authentic Real English, where we explain phrases and expressions used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too. I'm Feifei.

Phil
And I'm Phil. Merry Christmas, Feifei! I got you a little something.

Feifei
Oh thanks! Wow, it is little – never mind.

Phil
It's just a gift card, but I just thought I'd get you something as we've spent another year explaining phrases and expressions used by fluent English speakers. We use 'a little something' to talk about small presents.

Feifei
Yes, it doesn't have to be a Christmas present. For example, we sometimes get people a little something for their birthday, or when they leave a job, and we can bring people a little something back from a trip abroad.

Phil
Sometimes a little something really is just a small present. However, in English, especially British English, we often like to make things sound less significant than they really are, and so sometimes what we call 'a little something', isn't that little.

Feifei
No, so sometimes people can feel embarrassed about giving or receiving a large present, so we might call it 'a little something' to make it feel less awkward.

Phil
Let's hear some examples of people talking about 'a little something'.

Examples
So, my friend has just had a baby, and she said to not bring any presents, but I took her a little something just because I thought "I'm not going to go and not take a present for the baby."

Hi, thanks for coming to my party! I've just got a little something over here in case you get a bit hungry.

My best friend said that he would give me a little something for my birthday, and I'm very excited about it.

Feifei
你正在收听的是 BBC 英语教学的 “地道英语” 节目。刚刚我们一起学习了表达 “a little something” 的用法。单词 “something” 通常用来指 “某样东西，某个事物”，而在 “a little something” 这个表达中，“something” 被用来指代 “一件礼物”。所以，“a little something” 的意思就是 “一点小心意”。

Phil
As we said before, sometimes 'a little something' doesn't actually mean something that little – we just want to make things less awkward. Linked to this is the fact that we often use the adverb 'just' with it – 'We just got you a little something.'

Feifei
Or 'It's just a little something, but we hope you like it.' 要注意，“a little something” 并不一定真的是 “一个非常小或者非常便宜的礼物”，它也可以是为了减轻尴尬或避免显得过于隆重的一种低调的说法。因此，人们经常会在 “a little something” 的前面加上 “just”，“it's just a little something” 来进一步强调 “这就是一点点小心意”。

Phil
That's it for this programme. Think of it as a little something from us to help your English.

Feifei
That's right. And we'll have another little something for you next time. See you then! Bye.

Phil
Bye.