时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:美国习惯用语


英语课

今天我们要讲的两个习惯用语,一个跟手腕有关。另一个跟鞋子有关。我们先来讲第一个。A slap on the wrist. Slap就是打一下,比如说,a slap on the face就是打耳光。Wrist就是手腕。A slap on the wrist就是在手腕上打一下。在手腕上打一下并不怎么痛。


要是一个孩子伸手去拿他不该拿的东西,为了阻止他,他妈妈就很可能会在他手腕上打一下。作为习惯用语,a slap on the wrist就是轻微的惩罚,而且往往是指某人得到的惩罚要比他应该得到的惩罚要轻。


我们来举一个例子。一个喝醉了酒的人在开车的时候把别人的车撞坏了。双方都被招到法庭作证。被撞的人对法庭的裁决非常不满意。他说:


例句-1: I hoped the judge would send this guy to jail. But all he gave him was a slap on the wrist - he fined him two hundred dollars and suspended his driver's license 1 for 30 days.


这个人很不满地说:我本来希望法官会把这家伙送进监狱。可是,他仅仅让他罚款两百美元,吊销他的驾驶执照一个月。这真是清描淡写的惩罚。


在美国,酗酒的人开车是一个大问题。每年都有不少因为喝醉了酒开车而造成的车祸,有的导致受害者终身丧失正常生活的能力,还有的因此而丧生,给受害者的家庭和孩子带来莫大的悲剧。美国政府对酗酒驾车的人有各种不同的惩罚。


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A slap on the wrist这个习惯用语不仅能用在司法方面,而且它在日常生活中也是很普遍的。下面是一个公司的雇员在埋怨他的老板对他不公平。他对他的同事说:


例句2: Last time when I had a minor 2 mistake in a report, Mr. Johnson gave me a severe warning and even threatened to fire me. Now, Lisa has made a really serious blunder, but I'm sure he'll give her a slap on the wrist.


这个雇员说:上次我在一份报告中出了一点小差错。约翰逊先生给了我一个严重的警告,还威胁要解雇我。现在,丽萨出了一个真是非常严重的错误。不过,我肯定他也只会轻描淡写地惩罚她一下。


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我们要讲的第二个习惯用语是跟鞋子这个字有关的。这个习惯用语就是:To wait for the other shoe to drop. To wait就是等待,the other shoe就是另一只鞋,to drop就是掉下来。这个习惯用语来自很早以前造的旅馆。那时,旅馆的墙壁都很薄,这个房间里的客人可以听到隔壁房间里的声音。要是一个刚上床准备睡觉的旅客,听到隔壁房间的门开了,隔壁旅客坐上床时弹簧发出的声音,接着就是一只鞋子掉在地上的声音。然后却是一片寂静。可是,这位想睡觉的旅客不能入睡了,他得等另外一只鞋掉下来后才能睡觉。这就是to wait for the other shoe to drop的来源。


我们来举一个例子。这是一个人被提名出任官职,但是在等待参议院的批准。下面是一个人在谈论这件事。


例句3: At the hearings they haven't dug yet into this man's personal background. But there are rumors 3 he has some shady things in his past, so everybody's waiting for the other shoe to drop.


这人说:在这些听证会上,他们到目前为止还没有去追究这人以往生活方面的情况。但是,有传说讲他过去有些不光彩的事,所以每个人都在等待最后的结局。


从这个例子我们可以知道,to wait for the other shoe to drop就是在做一件事的过程中等待能够最后结束这个过程的事。


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下面是一个人在气头上把自己的朋友臭骂一顿,事后后悔莫及。最后,他决定写一封信给他朋友表示道歉,希望他朋友能原谅他。这是他在跟他的妻子说话。


例句4: Honey, I feel really bad for giving a piece of my mind to Henry. The more I think about it, the worse I feel. I've written him a letter to apologize and hope he'll forgive me. Now I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.


这个人说:亲爱的,我把亨利大骂了一顿。这实在使我感到非常难受。我越想越难受。我已经给他写了一封信,向他道歉,希望他能原谅我。现在,我就在等待他的回音。

 



n.执照,许可证,特许;v.许可,特许
  • The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
  • The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。
adj.较小(少)的,较次要的;n.辅修学科;vi.辅修
  • The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
  • I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。
n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 );[古]名誉;咕哝;[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 );[古]名誉;咕哝;[古]喧嚷
  • Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》
学英语单词
abacinating
accuracy control
angiotensins
apical placentations
batidaceaes
Baygora
bell-curve
bellite
birdlore
blood tankage
butterbird
cable strand
caravanseraiss
card No. of the user
casenote
child record
clothes don't make the man
CMHCsA
compound mode of sprinkler arrangement
Coryphaenidae
course of fermentation
crispening current
cryptocercids
cuvier c.
Czaplinek
deaken
deformation limit
desordre
determination test
diffusion stasis
disaster-preparedness
double word boundary
earp
eczema stasis
effective lens aperture
enter the scene
equivalent input offset voltage
Ershui Township
establishing-clause
federative database
figure-8 configuration
fire-gilding
foreign body in nose
fresh surface
fucosan
G-tolerance
gets going
gosh darn
heartbond
heterotypical
hierarchical menus
high-strength wire
higher cognitive process
Hluhluwe
hydraw
initial photo interpretation report
interhuman
intradural abscess
Karlsena, Mys
Karman constant
link, digital microwave
lot-tree
luneburg
Mad as a badger
Marquis de Lafayette
molecular tie
momentum principle
mureinlipoprotein
nineteenth century
no better than
non-belief
not do things by halves
Parabrachylaema
penninoes
pirouette
plain stem
play a lone hand
preprint
puccinia caricis-baccantis
pyth
radio-noise burst
rag-roll
rapid access storage
re-sized
saint-cloud
schottky source/drain
schusky
Stroh violin
suppressing agent
swell-shrink characteristics
treasurer's department
turning rule
Uber Micro
unfaiths
unwound core
Vaas
vaginal process of peritoneum
village fair trade
writing pencil
yellow fat cell
Yondon
zaleski