时间:2019-01-04 作者:英语课 分类:美国习惯用语


英语课

To take candy from a baby


A piece of cake


一般人在做任何事情的时候总是想找捷径,越容易越好,这似乎是人的本性。因此,在英语里有不少成语和俗语是形容办事很容易的。其中之一就是:To take candy from a baby。Candy就是吃的糖,baby在中文里就是小孩。To take candy from a baby的意思就是:某件事情很容易办成,就像把孩子手里的糖拿来一样。请听下面这个例子:


例句-1: "Getting grandmother to loan 1 me the money was as easy as taking candy from a baby."


这个人说:"要我祖母借我那笔钱那简直是太容易了。"


我们再来举一个例子吧。这是一个被关在监狱里的犯人在和牢房里另一个犯人说话:


例句-2: "Louey told us that robbing 2 this bank would be as easy as taking candy from a baby. But somebody told the police and they were waiting for us. We had no choice but to throw down our guns and surrender 3."


这个犯人说:"洛伊对我们说,要抢那个银行简直太容易了。可是,不知谁去报告了警察。到我们去抢银行时,警察在那里等着我们。我们没办法,只好放下枪投降。"


To take candy from a baby,欺负小孩,从小孩手里拿糖,在想象当中是很容易的。但是,实际情况恐怕并不见得如此。发明这个成语的人也许从来也没有设法把婴儿的小拳头扒开,然后把那小手里的糖拿来。任何做过父母的人都会告诉你孩子一般都会紧握着手里的糖不放,要是你硬是要拿,他就会大声哭叫。可是,尽管如此,to take candy from a baby已经成为美国人经常用来形容办事容易的词汇了。


另外一个形容事情很容易办的俗语也是和食品有联系的,这就是:A piece of cake。Piece 是指一片,或一块;cake就是蛋糕。A piece of cake的意思当然可以是指一块蛋糕。可是,作为俗语,它的意思就成了:这件事太容易了。例如,一个工作人员,犹豫了好久,最后终于鼓足了勇气去和老板提出增加工资的要求。他原来以为要和老板进行一番争论。可是,出乎他的意料,老板马上同意了,还说,他确实应该增加工资了。这样,他喜笑颜开地回到家里对太太说:


例句-3: "Honey, I finally asked Old Man Jones for my raise. And it was a piece of cake!"


他说:"亲爱的,我终于对老琼斯提了要求增加工资的事。我没有费吹灰之力他一口答应了。"


首先使用 A piece of cake 这个俗语的是二次世界大战期间联军的飞行员。那时,他们往往是这样说的:


例句-4: "At the briefing before we took off to bomb the Germans, our commander told us it would probably be a tough flight. But it turned out to be a piece of cake: no anti-aircraft fire and no enemy fighters."


这句话的意思是:"在我们起飞去轰炸德国人之前举行的情况介绍会上,我们的司令官告诉我们这次飞行任务可能很艰巨。但是,结果倒是非常容易,既没有高射炮射击,也没有敌机来干扰。"


上面我们讲了两个形容事情很容易办的俗语。一个是To take candy from a baby;第二个俗语是A piece of cake。「美国习惯用语」第二十三讲就到里。欢迎下次再一起来学习美国习惯用语。再见。



n.贷款;借出的东西;借;vt.借出;贷予
  • I asked the bank to help me with a loan.我请银行给我一笔贷款。
  • Has the bank okayed your request for a loan?银行批准你的贷款要求了吗?
n.回采[回收]矿柱v.抢夺( rob的现在分词 );抢劫;掠夺;使丧失
  • He abetted the thief in robbing the bank. 他教唆贼去抢劫银行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Robbing graves is grisly. 盗墓是可怕的。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
v.投降,自首;屈服;交出,放弃
  • He preferred to die rather than surrender to the enemy.他宁死也不愿向敌人投降。
  • Liu Hulan would rather die than surrender before the enemy.刘胡兰在敌人面前宁死不屈。
学英语单词
able rating
absolute measurement method
amphiprion perideraion
application for admission
approximate market
aquifar test
attachment site
back-basket store
backswimming
bin system
bituminic
Boolean operators
bother oneself with
Brummagems
Caledon River
chronic heat exhaustion
coddler
common base current gain
concurrent negligences
conduit connection
cyclic ignorable coordinate
dark-sided
deacetylranaconitine
deratization certificate
double resonance
Dänischenhagen
effused-reflexed
equal aquals
equiblast cupola
extra-quranic
fixed points method of calibration
free storage period
frost fog
gas show
green colour
greenlit
Gris-PEG
hamlock
heart-leaved aster
horizontal resolution bars
hot-mix plant
humitas
hypothec bands
income tax on joint venture
indirect analog
individualized manpower training
inquisitivenesses
integrated software line
Interdev
ipropethidine
levy en masse
logistic regression
machine-element
MacS.
make a poor appearance
medical-devices
milli-webers
Moorewood
moorstone
nanobe
neocolonialisms
neutron fluxes
newricall
numerical subroutine library
Orchis kunihikoana
origin of the atmosphere
pale-golds
para-pentyloxy-phenol
payment in arrears
peroxybenzoic acid
pharyngeal opening of eustachian tube
poisonou
propargylchloride
rotary cup atomizing oil burner
rouke
round-necked
sack lunches
sailwing wind generator
sand-castles
self-incompatibillity
sideyways
simple chancre
slow sticking
spanghewed
structural var (svar)
swell-shrink characteristics
tannin idioblast
taran
tedd
tensile stressed skin
third-generation phototypesetter
three-part harmony
transitivity of equivalence relation
ultrahigh voltage transformer oil
uniformly placed
use bit
vicka
vidas
weed control chemicals
wishful thinking
Yerkish