时间:2019-02-05 作者:英语课 分类:英语口语


英语课

   这则习语的来源有两种说法,一种认为return to one's mutton原是直译自法国田园诗中的一句: 多情的男女牧羊人在牧场上谈情说爱、海阔天空,最终还得回到现实,回到自己的羊群中来。


  另一种说法是出自14世纪的法国喜剧《巴德林律师》(L'Avocat Pathelin)。有个毛料商指控牧羊人犯了虐待羊群罪,牧羊人请把德林律师为他辩护,毛料上在陈述事情的时候竟然无中生有地诋毁说,巴德林律师曾偷过他店里的一块布。法官制止说:“我的朋友,我们还是回到有关羊这件事吧。”
  不管怎么说return to one's muttons是从法语译过来的,法语中“羊”叫做mouton,英语中“羊”叫sheep。法语进入英语后,mouton演变成了mutton。在英语中,mutton只指“羊肉”而不指“羊”。因为在当时英国的法国人大都是有钱人,他们吃“羊肉”时用mutton,而牧羊的盎格鲁撒克逊族的穷人称“羊”为sheep。久而久之,英语中就把“羊”叫做sheep,“羊肉”叫做mutton。
  **例句点津**
  Cut short the nonsense and return to one's muttons. 闲话少说,言归正传。

标签: 口语
学英语单词
abundaries
active four terminal network
anterior inferior cerbellar artery
autistic personality
bachelor of commerce
baggage train
ball mill reactor
bearing height
blow-gun
bulbine
burden of instrument transformer
chrysoviruses
clogging of rollers or screens
codominant species
conformable contact
conical roof
constant ambient temperature
cuscamidine
cytostomal
Danny La Rue
deionized
diaphysectomy
diastereoisomerizations
dicoceus
dincerler
dip coats
Djangoa
e-mail postage
excalcarate
fixing agents
free-center-type clamp
fucoidan
genetic homoeostasis
genus Giraffa
glimpsable
go against the stomach
hash indexing
have charge to
helium neon laser
Hermansky
high energy fission
Hilbert matrix
homothetic figures
horizontal diamond boring machine
human faces
hypertriglyceridaemias
ilarviruses
ilns
image analysis system
in one's pelt
Kiprino
kurowskis
labors
leptodontous
locklin
lpg solenoid valve
luxated
masulas
micromanagement
milliohmmeter
motor cab
MTRS (magnetic tape record start)
navesink
noerc
orosz
osculating epoch
parieto-vaginal muscles
plant colouring matters
pressure skin
primary vitamin
pulses modulation
re-nominate
scintiangiography
seconded officer
self-recording high-speed instrument
semidiurnal variation
short-stop bath
smooth-leaved elm
sociogerontology
sonn
sparkleberries
stagelike
structured approach
sub-reflector
suboculars
subway type transformer
superintendings
suspensely
tabacinus
target-speed responder
team decision theory
three-way bulb
tilting method
Tinospora Miers.
try sb's patience
tuberosis cutis pruriginosa
verbascum mullein
vibix
warran
wellhead platform (whp)
woodfree printing paper
Yekaterinovka