时间:2019-02-05 作者:英语课 分类:美国习惯用语


英语课

我们上次讲了几个来自扑克牌桌的习惯用语。今天我们还要讲几个。第一个是:pass the buck 1。 Buck原意是雄鹿,但是这里指刀柄是鹿角做成的猎刀。


在早年美国西部这种猎刀几乎人手一把。牌桌的规矩是轮流做庄发牌。打完一付牌就轮到坐在发牌人左边的那位发。为了不搞错,人们就在牌桌上传递一把猎刀帮助记忆。每人发完牌就把猎刀传给下一个发牌人。也就是pass the buck,意思是把发牌的责任交给他了。


如今习惯用语pass the buck意义有了发展,不再指牌桌规矩。我们听个例子来琢磨它的含义吧。这是个企业主管在为手下人工作不力而生气。


例句-1: When I asked my secretary Miss Brown why she hadn't mailed out these very important letters to customers, she passed the buck to our office boy for not having enough stamps ready.


他问秘书Brown小姐为什么还不把那些至关重要的信件寄给顾客,而秘书却怪办公室的勤杂员没备足邮票。


显然秘书是要把疏忽寄信的责任推到勤杂员身上。所以习惯用语pass the buck意思是“推卸责任。”


******


美国总统杜鲁门非常爱打扑克,他在白宫的办公桌上贴着这样一条标语:the buck stops here。刚才说过习惯用语pass the buck意思是推卸责任。换句话说就是把责任推到别人身上。从pass the buck我们可以推测习惯用语the buck stops here是什么意思。如果直译是:这把猎刀就留在我这儿不传给别人了。也就是说责任或罪责由我一人承当。


杜鲁门总统的这句警句广为流传成了习惯用语。我们听个例子。说话的人参选国会议员,这是他在竞选运动中的讲话。


例句-2: The difference between my opponent and me is that he's built his whole career on blaming others when things go wrong. I promise you, friends, that if you elect me the buck stops here!


他说:我跟对手间的不同在于他发迹靠的是出问题时把罪责全归究于他人。朋友们,如果你们选我,我向你们保证一定一人做事一人当。


习惯用语the buck stops here意思是自己承当一切责任甚至错误。


******


我们再学一个习惯用语:blue chip。 Chip可以指打牌用的筹码。打扑克的人都觉得用筹码代替现金下赌注或作输赢要方便得多。筹码一般有蓝、红、白三种颜色。每一个某种颜色的筹码代表大家说定的钱数,但是蓝筹码。也就是blue chip代表的价值总是最高。Blue chip这说法逐渐被广泛应用。


例如在证券交易市场上投资人说blue-chip stocks指长期以来价值一贯上升的股票。这当然是最好的股票了,而且这儿blue-chip是形容词,修饰名词stocks。Blue-chip还用在其它场合。它是什么意思呢?我们来听个例子。


例句-3: Bill, if you're looking for a good lawyer for that important case, you ought to talk to my cousin Bernie -- he's a partner in a real blue-chip law firm, one of the best in town.


他向Bill建议如果要找好律师来办这重要案件就得跟他表兄Bernie谈谈,因为Bernie是城里最好的一家律师事务所的合伙人。


他说这是一家blue-chip law firm,又说这家事务所是one of the best in town, 可见blue-chip意思就是“最好的。”


******


最后再学个习惯用语:close to the vest。 Vest是背心。过去人们常在衬衫外穿件背心。扑克老手是绝对不让别人有机会看到他手上牌的,所以他拿着的牌总是紧贴自己的前胸,在靠近背心的部位。也就是close to the vest。这样谁也没法偷看他手上掌握的秘密了。习惯用语close to the vest出典就在这儿。让我们听个例子来揣摩这个习惯用语的含义。


例句-4:Everybody is wondering who the president will appoint to the vacant chair on the supreme 2 court. But he's playing his cards close to his vest and nobody really knows who it will be.


他说:大家都在猜测总统会任命谁填补最高法院内的空缺,然而总统却严守机密,谁也无法探知他心目中的人选。


可见习惯用语close to the vest意思是“严守机密。”


 


 



n.雄鹿,雄兔;v.马离地跳跃
  • The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
  • The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的
  • It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
  • He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
学英语单词
accentuation
air liquifier
analysis of agricultural data
Asplenium montanum
atropine methobromide
automated grouping system
bay willows
biochemical evolution
block to polyspermy
bottom bolster
coal scuttle
colter
compatibilisation
compete for
computer code
conflict of forces
contour ridger
cooperation association
degree of whiteness
delphinin
detonate-tube
double null diverter
earth circling satellite
electronic gap impedance
epitaxial diffused method
eusebius
even bearing
fatted calf
financing method of lease accounting
fleoure
frechette
free on board port of shipment
furandione
George Percy Aldridge Grainger
gillless
give a glance at
gonyectyposis
green mold
Homer sometimes nods
Hurleyville
hydrostatic condition
interceptor fire control radar
investitive fact
Jewy
knot root
lateral inclination of tracks
lid on price
lindera hemsleyana (diels) allen
long arc positioning mode
loricate
magazan
man-made noise
metaindic acid
montage amplifier
nervo-secretory
New Braunfels
nickel disulfide
nitrenoid
noncommitments
nonuniversally
north-easterner
not included
nucleoglycoprotein
official foreign exchange intervention
offset nose cone
organic coast
ornithophobic
picture drift
planting beds
plastication mastication
Pneumovax
Poisson arrival distribution
quasi-one-dimensional
quaternaries
quebecoise
qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm
ramus dorsalis n. spin.
recopier
semi-basements
sexdecillions
spectracon
ssri
Stichopodidae
Streptosil
Symplocos racemosa
tailstock centre
Telegonus
telemetry and data processing for electrical power
tension correction
trachypodopsis crispatula (hook.)fleisch
two and two rib stitch
unshining
V/Ni
vehicle window
violence-prevention
volberding
wanted poster
weather radar display
weighted current D-A conveter
Wolff methods
Xylomelozolin
Yeongdeungpo-gu