时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:美国习惯用语


英语课

Up in arms


At arm's length


在美国人讲话时,或从书刊报纸上,你经常可以听到或见到一些由手臂,就是英文里的arms这个字组成的成语或俗语。有些习惯用语从字面上就可以很明显地了解它的意思,不需要解释。With open arms 就是一个很好的例子。当你听到一个朋友说: "My family received me with open arms when I came back from my trip to California 1." 很明显,这是说当你的朋友去加利福尼亚州后回家的时候,他家里的人都非常欢迎他。可是,有些习惯用语就不像with open arms这样容易理解了。比如说,什么是:Up in arms?这儿的arms不是指手臂了,而是指武器,如枪、炮、箭等。Up in arms的意思是起来进行武装斗争,或者非常愤怒,准备打架。我们来举个例子:


例句-1: "All us students are up in arms at the news the school is raising our tuition 2 ten percent."


这句话的意思是:"当我们学生听到学校要提高百分之十的学费时,我们都火冒三丈。"


下面我们要举的例子是一个国会议员在和一个同事谈论新的税收提案:


例句-2: "No way am I going to vote for a bill to raise income tax again. The voters back home are already up in arms about how much the government takes out of their pay already and I have to run for re-election this fall."


这位议员说:"我绝不会投票支持再次增加所得税的提案。我们州的选民对政府现在从他们工资里扣除的税的数量已经非常恼火了。而我今年还要竞选连任。"


下面我们要讲的另一个由arms这个字组成的习惯用语是:At arm's length。Length在中文里的意思就是长短。At arm's length就是指和某人保持一定距离。下面这个例子是一个大学生在和他同宿舍的同学说话,请大家注意at arm's length 这个习惯用语在句子里是怎么用的:


例句-3: "I keep trying to get friendly with that lovely blonde who sits next to me in biology class. But she keeps me at arm's length."


他说:"我一直设法和那个生物课坐在我旁边的金发姑娘接近。可是,她老是和我保持一定距离。"


在用at arm's length作为和谁保持一定距离的时候,一般都是这么说的:to keep someone at arm's length。


下面我们再来举一个例子。这是一个人在警告一个朋友不要和某人接近:


例句-4: "Let me warn 3 you about this Smith fellow. He seems like a nice, friendly guy. But it's wise to keep him at arm's length. You get too friendly with him, and the first thing he'll do is ask to borrow money from you."


这个人说:"我要警告你关于那个叫Smith的家伙。他看起来似乎很友好。但是,你最好还是和他保持一定距离。一旦你和他过于接近,他马上就会问你借钱。"


今天我们介绍了两个和arms 有关的习惯用语。第一个是:Up in arms,这是指起来进行武装斗争,或者非常愤怒,准备打架。另一个是:At arm's length 或者To keep someone at arm's length,这是和某人保持一定距离的意思。「美国习惯用语」第二十讲就到里。欢迎下次再一起来学习美国习惯用语。再见。




n.加利福尼亚(美国)
  • He was elected governor of the state of California.他当选为加州州长。
  • We were driving on a California freeway.我们正沿着加利福尼亚的一条快车道驾车行驶。
n.(某一学科的)教学,讲授,指导,学费
  • Students can apply for individual tuition.学生可以申请个别指导。
  • Is this money enough for the tuition fee?这些钱交学费够吗?
vt.警告,注意,远离;vi.提醒
  • I must warn you that my patience is almost at an end.我必须警告你我已经没有耐心了。
  • If you warn me in advance,I will have your order ready for you.你若预先通知我,我就能给您准备好了。
学英语单词
acid annealing
aleurone cells of endosperm
anoxic pore water
antenna long-wire
Arleux
augmental off-gas system
authorized data list
brought to the table
buffer plate
buried drain
calonectris leucomelas
canister-shot
capacity resistence time constant
chronosequence
coal cassification
coherent processing system parameter
coloured vase
composite depreciation method
constaff
constant current potentiometry
convenien
coroner's court
crushing force
deposition of radioactive dust
dinicotinoylornithine
EFR
Environmental Study Conference
fan-brake
free-thinning
gamma ray dosimeter
H. & S.
haloform
hanged around
haptically
Hartley, Marsden
headiness
hearthwares
hinchcliff
hogling
immunity resistant
insect bar
interspousal
ipsm
Julian Alps
Kven
lead totanate ceramics
Macewen's operation
mental arithmetic
misspender
muldaur
multienzyme complex
narchinol
national defence economics
national-savings
neighborhood parks
neosurrealists
newton's friction law
North Plains
obad
operation elements
optimal rate of mark up
Oterben
output of systems analysis and design
Pediapred
peer acceptance
pestalotia aucubae hara
potassium carbonate peroxyhydrate
preoptive control
product-mixes
promurit
puristical
pyridoxine hydrochloride
residual-ore deposit
resoundable
revives
room mining
San Salvador
Savona
Sechuana
sederunt
shed the blood of someone
single sweep
soil stratigraphy
soil test
SSI (secondary side inspection)
substrate orientation
sweettalks
take breath away
thyroidism
ticker-tape
toogh
town-hall
trachelomonas pseudobulla
trouble-free
two-byte conversion
vacuum bypass
valley shape factor
vertical slit arc-chute
wagon wheel grain
water-tight regulations
woolner
Yucatan Current