时间:2019-02-04 作者:英语课 分类:美国习惯用语


英语课

  学一种外语难上加难的地方可能得数习惯用语了,因为即使一个习惯用语里的每一个词你都知道得一清二楚,但是你还是会茫然不知这个习惯用语究竟是什么意思。 我们来听个相当说明问题的例子。这段话来自杂志上的一篇文章,描述人们怎样面对持械抢劫的暴徒:

例句-1:When the chips are down these people didn't turn tail and knuckle 1 under. Instead, when the fat was in the fire, they stepped up to the plate and cut the mustard.

他在说些什么呀? 这短短的几句话也许会把许多学了不少年英文的人弄得晕头转向,原因是仅仅两句话里习惯用语却有六个之多。我们今天要学的第一个习惯用语是:when the chips are down。 Chip是赌博时用来代替钱计算输赢的筹码。 When the chips are down来自打扑克。打牌的人把筹码放到赌台上。这是表示他们为这场输赢押上了多少钱的赌注,紧接下来他们就得翻牌看谁胜谁负。

所以筹码 放到赌台上下注的时候显然是个关键时刻。当然when the chips are down这个习惯用语很快被转用到赌博以外的各方各面。我们听个例子来体会它的含义。这段话在说高尔夫球大将Tiger Wood参加的一次竞争激烈的比赛。特别注意其中的习惯用语the chips are down:

例句-2:After five days of play three players were tied at the last hole. The chips were down and Tiger had to sink a very long putt to win the tournament.

他说:经过五天的比赛三名选手在最后一穴不分胜负。这是到了决一雌雄的关键时刻了;Tiger必须远距离击球入穴才能赢得这次比赛。

在这段话里的三名选手在最后一穴打成平局。最后一球显然是决定胜负的关键,所以习惯用语the chips were down意思就是在决定性的关键时刻。

******

刚才那篇杂志文章里用到的第二个习惯用语是:turn tail。 这个习惯用语已经年代久远了。它的出典是一只受惊的动物转过身子逃之夭夭,当然这时候你看到的只是它的尾巴。这个形象生动的说法很快被转用来说人。我们听个例子。说话的人要告诉我们他和弟有一次走出麦当劳快餐时发生的事情:

例句-3:We saw this rough-looking guy bending over the window of our car trying to break in. We yelled at him; he looked around, then turned tail and ran away as fast as he could.

他说:我们看到个模样粗野的人弯身伏在我们的车窗上,试图撬锁进车。于是我们向他大声喊叫。他回头一看,转身就飞快地溜跑了。

这里的turned tail生动地表现了掉过头来溜之大吉的场面。

******

今天要学的第三个习惯用语是: knuckle under. Knuckle原来指手指关节。 根据古代的风俗,认输投降的人得下跪,并双手下垂,手指关节触碰地面,这就是knuckle under这个习惯用语的出典。注意这里的knuckle用作动词。我们来听个例子。说话的人在抱怨他的领导老是把那些棘手的活儿都堆在他的身上,却从没想到给他晋升的机会。我们听他怎么说,特别注意里面的习惯用语knuckle under:

例句-4:But I'm not going to knuckle under to this guy any more. I'm going in and tell him how bad he's treated me, yell I quit, then walk out and slam the door on him.

他说:我再也不能对那人忍气吞声了,我打算走进他的办公室大声告诉他:你对待我实在太不象话!我不干了!然后转身就走,并且冲着他把门重重关上。

这里的knuckle under意思是逆来顺受,注意对某人逆来顺受或者忍气吞声的英文是knuckle under to somebody。我们已经学了杂志上那段话里头三个习惯用语。我们再听听看:

例句-5:When the chips were down, these people didn't turn tail and knuckle under.

这话是说:在这紧急关头,这些人既不退却也没屈服。



n.指节;vi.开始努力工作;屈服,认输
  • They refused to knuckle under to any pressure.他们拒不屈从任何压力。
  • You'll really have to knuckle down if you want to pass the examination.如果想通过考试,你确实应专心学习。
学英语单词
Adelphan-Esidrex
ahaptoglobinemia
Alfarelos
alice walkers
antiferromagnetically-coupled media
Ban Klang Dong
black-greiest
blue beeches
cellular-phone
colour inheritance
commuter train
composite shipbuilder
coral reefs
costocoracoid
curvilinear style
cyanalcohol
Daarlerveen
disposingly
Disse's spaces
drainage-tube
ectotrophic symbiosis
el carmen (carmen)
erasble optical disk
excitoreflex
fairgoers
familial histiocytic reticulosis
farrowing fever
follow my nose
for certainty
Full Packaged Product
gelicolous
graphic voltmeter
health insurance unit
high-viscosity pump
hitting people
huelga
importance(of a flare)
indexed sequential data set
indisciplined
inella verrucosa
keeper current
Kjeldahl analysis
klopemania
leprose
lobuli corticales (renis)
Millridge
Moroline
moulting liquid
mountainview
multiengined airplane
multiple-tariff meter
Mycobacterium friedmannii
myeloarchitectural
myiasis muscosa
mylar film
Neanderthaloid
obstructive glaucoma
odium
over-pot
pannor
pappuses
paraproteinaemia
pasan
pauselessly
phyllostomids
piesmatids
pocket accumulator
pressure distillation
price convention
programming theory
Raja batis
rubber bowl
Salching
sallusts
Sandy Plains
sessilinasis
ship shock
Snihurivka
soum
spiric
split-second collet tube
Staurograptus
string parsing
swap, pin
synonym ring
tape preamplifier
tetrasymmetric face
the lie of the land
Truro
two-sheave block
Ulmipollenites
ultralite
underdry
Urausu
vasopressinergic
vegetable drug
verification of forecast
Vincent's infection of tonsil
von Gierke
walk point
wave traps
Yongpyong-dong