Helen: Hello, welcome to Real English from BBC Learning English. I'm Helen.
Oliver: 嗨，我是Oliver。
Helen: Today we’re looking at words and phrases that you might not find in your dictionary.
Oliver: 地道英語和大家一起學習現(xiàn)代英式英語中經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)的流行詞匯和實用表達。那Helen,今天給我們帶來的新詞是什么呢？
Helen: Today we are going to concentrate on the phrase – the big cheese.
Oliver: That's interesting, the big cheese. Cheese 是干酪, 就我自己來講，我非常不喜歡 cheese 的味道，更不在意大大塊的奶酪了。
Helen: Good to know that you are not a fan of cheese. I love it. Here the phrase 'big cheese' means something quite different. It actually refers to people in business.
Oliver: 是和生意人有關的？那究竟什么樣的人會被叫做大奶酪呢？
Helen: To be the big cheese of a company, you are at the very top of the company, you are very important and you have the power to make things happen in the company.
Oliver: I see, 就像董事級的人物，非常有權力的商場人物。
Helen: That's right, big bosses sometimes are called 'the big cheese'.
Oliver: 讓我們聽一個例子。
Insert
A: Please make sure you come early tomorrow.
B: Why?
A: Because JP is going to be here tomorrow.
B: Who is JP?
A: Oh, you know, John Parkins, he's the big cheese from head office.
Oliver: Helen, 用這個短語的時候有什么需要注意的地方嗎？
Helen: Well, it's an informal phrase. And best not to say it directly to your big boss.
Oliver: 這是個不太正式的用法，不要當著你的老板的面用，也不要直接叫他 – the big cheese.
Helen: Definitely don't say to your boss, "Hello, how are you today, big cheese?". You might get fired for that.
Oliver: 好了，我們今天學到的是 the big cheese,意思就是公司內(nèi)部非常重要或有實權的人物，這是個非正式的表達。
Helen: You've been listening to Real English from BBC Learning English. See you next time.
Oliver: 我們下次節(jié)目再會。
