名人教英文：争先恐后
to fall over oneself 争先恐后
shumi: have you heard about the young footballer who's just started playing for rovers?
舒米﹕你有没有听到最近才效力流浪的那个年轻足球员？
walid: you must mean jimmy belos.
瓦利德﹕你一定是说吉米．别洛斯。
shumi: that's the one. he's amazing. he's scored two goals in every match he's played in so far.
舒米﹕就是他。他真了不起，至今每次出赛，都踢进两球。
walid: i know. he's much too good for rovers. it's only a small football club.
瓦利德﹕是啊。他在流浪，未免太过委屈。那只是个小球会。
shumi: well he won't be playing for them for much longer because all the top football teams are falling over themselves to sign him up.
舒米﹕嗯，他不会为流浪效力多久了。顶尖的足球队都争先恐后要和他签雇用合同。
walid: rovers will be sorry to lose him. on the other hand they will be glad to get the transfer fee for him. it's bound to be huge.
瓦利德﹕流浪没有了他，会感到可惜。不过，他们会高兴获得他的转会费。数目一定很可观。
to fall over oneself (to do something) 是「（做某事）唯恐不及」的意思；假如是大家争先恐后做某件事，则可说to fall over themselves或to fall over each other，取「忙乱之中跌倒（fall over）」的意思，例如﹕(1) she fell all over herself to please her boss（她努力讨好老板）。(2) they fell over themselves / each other trying to get his autograph（他们争先恐后要他亲笔签名）。to fall all over oneself是加强语气的说法。
to sign up是「（使）签名立约（做某事）」，其后可用with带出跟谁立约，或用for带出签名答应参加什么活动，例如﹕(1) tottenham hotspur has signed up a new player / a new player has signed up with tottenham hotspur（一个新球员和热刺签了雇用合同）。(2) i signed up for a course in chinese history（我报名修习一中国历史课程）。
留意you must mean jimmy belos这一句。要表示猜想，英文会用must来说「看来一定如此」；但是，要说「看来一定不是如此」，一般却不会用must not，而会用cannot，例如﹕(1) stephen is given to exaggeration. what he has just told us can't be one hundred percent true（史蒂芬说话向来夸张。他刚才告诉我们的事，不可能百分之百真实）。(2) mary is an honest person. what she has just told us must be true（玛丽为人诚实，她刚才告诉我们的事，一定不假）。