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
A fool's bolt is soon shot .
actual mixing cycle
Akula
allocation of agriculture
Amidozon
ampere-turns
arsenic ulcer
ataraxias
Bain circuit
baths
bells the cat
benzotriazole
cabalize
chromatin body
Chulmleigh
circular point at infinity
CMTMDS
collecting tubules
compensating market
contestations
creped paper
cut to a point
cyclomation
data reading system
decoupling era
diffusion speed
direct ascent weapon
doliops similis
dump skip
equatorial coordinates
euler microtime scale
ex-ante efficiency analysis
facsimiled
fibre grease
first-aid
food demand
formamide process
frondosely
fuck-me
full-year loss
glason
grammole
hand power crane
heating pattern
Heichelheim's tests
high speed paper cutting machine
highly internationalized operation
Hitzig tests
hornblendite
immedial sky blue
international reference group
inverse of multiplication
jayakody
Kanigogouma
keeps guard
keneret
lapsed sales discounts
ligamentous ankylosis
like fury
litas
logp
Michiganensians
milking pipeline
modelbuilding
neptunic rocks
not put a foot wrong
official position
one upper
organizational change
paralyses
perihysteric
physiology of protozoa
pneumatic linkage
poetica
preeclampsia
prosinesses
reauthorising
red prussiate of potash
residual competence
road-blocking
root-mean-square simulation error
Schwegenheim
shadflies
Shell sort
short rainbow
side-strain
sidescraper
sing low
slash with
sowles
stress-timeds
subtriplicated
sweep along
tethered unit
their majesties
treating waste water
tuco-tuco
vettura
wallabas
wavefront curvature
wely
when to charge