John: Hello, you’re listening to Real English from BBC Learning English. I’m John.
Helen: And I’m Helen.
John: Here on Real English, you can learn words and phrases which you might not find in your dictionary.
Helen: That’s right. 希望您在今天的地道英语节目中能学到一些平时在字典里找不到的英语表达。So, what’s our phrase of the day, John?
John: Today we’re going to learn about the expression: taking something too far.
Helen: this is a long expression. What does it mean? 这个表达的意思是什么呢？
John: It means to overdo something, to do something in excess.
Helen: 做什么事情，做过头了，overdoing something.
John: For example, you might be on a diet to lose weight, and you decide to eat only three pieces of fruit every day for a month. That’s taking it a bit far. Because that’s not dieting, that’s bad for your health.
Helen: Ok, 什么事情如果是做过头了，那么反而会造成负面的影响。
John: have a listen to this example.
Example
A: You know Mary is obsessed with recycling?
B: Yeah, I know.
A: Well, she told me that she’s going to tell people off who are using plastic cups at work.
B: No way, that’s taking it too far. She can’t do that.
Helen: 为了环保，看来Mary 会得罪不少同事。
John: Mary may be taking it too far. Well, that’s our Real English phrase for the day, taking it too far.
Helen: 意思就是做什么事情做过头了， 所以反而造成了负面的影响。
John: That’s all from us. We hope you’ll join us for more Real English next time.
Helen: 别忘了你还可以在我们的网站上下载更多的地道英语。我们的网址是www.hxen.com
John: See you soon.
Helen: See you. Bye bye.
