时间:2019-01-07 作者:英语课 分类:美国习惯用语


英语课

flea 1 market


to clam 2 up


科学家们说,世界上有许多昆虫对人类是有益的,但是也有好多小虫子使人感到讨厌,特别是跳蚤,它虽小,但是咬起人来很利害,而且还可能会传染致命的病菌。可是,美国人倒是很喜欢跳蚤市场。跳蚤市场在英文里就是叫:flea market。


什么是flea market呢?Flea market实际上和跳蚤一点关系都没有。Flea market是一种往往在周末举行的非正式集市,flea market一般都是在户外,而且那儿有许多摊贩出售各种各样的东西,有不少都是用过的旧东西,新的东西也有,但是质量一般都比较差,价钱也很便宜。可是,要是你眼光敏锐的话,你能花很少的钱买到很有价值的古董和其他东西,就像下面这个人一样:


例句-1: I was lucky when I went to the flea market today. In the middle of all the worthless junk I found a carved jade 3 Chinese snuff bottle and bought it for five dollars: the seller didn't know what it was.


这个人说:"我今天去跳蚤市场,运气还真不错。在那些毫无用处的破玩意儿堆里,我找到一个中国鼻烟壶,是用玉做的,上面还有雕刻。我才花了五块钱。卖东西的人根本不知道那是什么东西。"


有的人很容易伤感,看到一些旧的东西就触景生情,钩起他们对以往的回忆。下面就是一个例子:


例句-2: For me a flea market is a sad place--all those memories of the past: stuff that used to be precious to people who have died or grown old or just moved away.


这人说:"在我看来,跳蚤市场是一个令人伤感的地方,市场上卖的东西过去对一些人来说都是很宝贵的,但是他们老的老了,死的死了,有的人也已经不知去向了。"


******


下面我们要给大家介绍的一个习惯用语也很有趣,有时也很有用:to clam up。Clam在中文里就是蛤蜊,当蛤蜊外面的壳关起来的时候,你要想把它打开是不容易的。因此,clam up的意思就是嘴巴闭得紧紧的。当然,在不同场合,它的意思也就有所不同。下面这个例子是一个人听他朋友讲话听得太腻味了,于是他对他的朋友说:


例句-3: Hey, clam up, will you! I've heard enough already about how hard you work in the office!


这个人说:"咳,你别说了,行不行!我已经听够了你在办公室工作多卖力的话了。"


下面这个例子的情况可完全不同了。这是要这个人说话,可是他偏不说:


例句-4: The cops found a man they know was a witness to the murder. But he has clammed 4 up and won't talk--he's afraid the killer's mob will come after him if he testifies in court.


这句话的意思是:"警察找到了一个人,他们知道他是一起谋杀案的目击者。可是,他嘴巴很紧,什么也不肯说,他怕要是他出庭作证,那个谋杀集团不会放过他。"



n.跳蚤
  • I'll put a flea in his ear if he bothers me once more.如果他再来打扰的话,我就要对他不客气了。
  • Hunter has an interest in prowling around a flea market.亨特对逛跳蚤市场很感兴趣。
n.蛤,蛤肉
  • Yup!I also like clam soup and sea cucumbers.对呀!我还喜欢蛤仔汤和海参。
  • The barnacle and the clam are two examples of filter feeders.藤壶和蛤类是滤过觅食者的两种例子。
n.玉石;碧玉;翡翠
  • The statue was carved out of jade.这座塑像是玉雕的。
  • He presented us with a couple of jade lions.他送给我们一对玉狮子。
v.(在沙滩上)挖蛤( clam的过去式和过去分词 )
  • He always clammed up when we asked him about his family. 我们一问到他的家庭时,他总是闭口不言。 来自辞典例句
  • The suspect clammed up and wouln't answer the police officer's questions. 嫌疑犯保持沉默,不回答警官的问题。 来自辞典例句
学英语单词
2'-phosphodiesterase
a cutie pie
abnormal focal length
aggregation of individual preferences
air inlet valve of dredger's deliving pipeline
air-guns
alcala de la selva
archeri
Ariquemes
assinie
Auberger blood group system
Banbayan Pt.
bar rack
be food for worms
between-class correlation
Brachypodium sylvaticum
calex
capon test
carbon steel
catch copy
Central I.
chantha
chromophobic
couchful
day disk
deformational stress
detonation point
deutscheland
drive out of
duramatral
echymose
Elephanta Island
expected yield
fadged
fermentation inhibitor
floating point unit
folded and grooved seam
go hard or go home
half titles
harker lines
hideosities
Higher bid
imperialls
insinuate
iris detachment
Jeans viscosity equation
lactocidin
lbgs
lead metasilicate
left atrium failure
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
lock cylinder
loi-cadre
M.H.R.
macromitrium ferriei
marie dolores eliza rosanna gilberts
membranogenesis
mesh side cutter
Minskian
nodes
nonitemized
normal congruence
observantially
order parameter
pachometers
papular pruritic gloves and socks syndrome
paroxysmal coliky pain
patent licence-agreement
Phulsāri
pioneering work
plain ashlar
plant ledger card
pork fillet
preconising
PSD (power spectral density)
ragtop
relish
residual valency
Santa Maria, I.
satish
scientific data processing
search and seizure
Seawater Quality Standards
sharpness of focusing
side-by-side
Simonart band
Sleepwell
smazes
spherochromatism
starch slurry
stop-and-direction-indicator-lamps
storage cathode ray tube
sweetkin
tabby-cats
teamkillers
tetracontagons
tip clearance area
Tossåsen
uppermost part
us sea
water ejection tube
you're a star