“rug rat”是什么意思？可千万别翻译成“地毯老鼠”

对话原文：

I found the coasters. They were in the last box I looked in.

我找到杯垫了 在我最后找的那个箱子里

Sheila and Leo were just telling me about the neighborhood.

希拉和利奥跟我介绍了周边邻里 

You are gonna love the supermarket.

你一定会喜欢这里的超市 

It's five blocks away and it's got everything.

五个街区远 一切应有尽有 

I can't wait.

我迫不及待了 

I have so much shopping to do.

我有好多东西要买 

And the schools here are excellent. You guys got kids?

而且这里的学校棒极了 你们有孩子吗 

No.

没有 

Well, we have four little rug rats.

我们有四个小家伙 

At some point, they are gonna break something that you own.

早晚有一天 他们会弄坏你们的东西 

Not to worry. We will pay for it.

别担心 我们会赔偿的 

We make up for being bad parents

我们通过做好邻居 

by being good neighbors.

来弥补做坏父母的不足

所以rug rat的意思其实是指小孩子，尤其是指还不会走路的小孩子。试想一下小baby只能在地毯上乱爬的样子，rug rat是不是也很形象了呢？

其他重点：

杯垫：coaster。这个词也是“航海者”的意思。coast是“海岸”的意思

街区：block。几个街区远：数字+block（s）+away。这个词还有“阻止”的意思，sunblock，防晒霜

在某时：at some point

补偿：make up for

（来源：沪江英语）