时间:2019-02-06 作者:英语课 分类:美国习惯用语


英语课

  今天我们来讲几个由clock这个词发展而来的习惯用语。大家一定熟悉clock这个词,它是钟。我们要学的第一个习惯用语已经流传了很久了。它是: like clockwork。 Clockwork是钟表的机件装置。钟表能精确无误地运转,分秒不差,靠的就是clockwork。

人们用like clockwork来比喻什么样的人呢?我们听个例子来体会。说话的人每天一早上班顺道去一家咖啡店吃早点。这时他就会看到每天都在同一时刻来咖啡店的一位老人。我们听听这老先生有什么特点。

例句-1:He comes in at 7:30 like clockwork. He always gets coffee and a jelly 1 doughnut, then sits and reads his paper. Right at 8:30, he leaves - you can set your watch by him!

他说:他七点三十分准时进来,老是买咖啡和一个果冻面饼圈吃,然后坐着看报,到准八点三十分一定离开。你可以根据他的行动来对表。

这位老人的生活规律一板一眼,精确无误,所以说他like clockwork,是形容他的生活有精确无误的规律。

******

Like clockwork说人生活一板一眼地有规律,含义还是好的,但是下一个习惯用语就不同了: clean someone's clock。 Clean someone's clock意思是狠狠地揍某人或者把某人打得落花流水。

这个习惯用语五十来年前首先出现在军队内,意思是狠狠揍打某人,或者是用拳头击败某人。有些语言学家认为clean someone's clock来自意思是打垮某人的一个俚语clean up on someone,而在clean someone's clock这个习惯用语里clock是指人的脸,因为在英文里钟面就是face。要是你碰巧在街上看到打群架,你很可能会听到这种恐吓的话: Watch out or I'll clean your clock! 这句话里的clean your clock当然是“把你揍扁了!”

但是如今这个习惯用语却多半用在运动比赛方面。我们听个例子,说话的人在跟他的好朋友Phil争论哈佛大学和耶鲁大学每年一度的橄榄球大赛。他是哈佛学生,而他的朋友却在耶鲁求学。

例句-2:Sure, Phil, I know Yale has won six years in a row. But we have a great team at Harvard this year. I tell you, we're going to clean your clock Saturday afternoon!

他说:当然,Phil,我知道耶鲁已经一连赢了六年了,但是今年我们哈佛有个了不起的球队。告诉你吧,星期六下午我们会把你们打得一败涂地的。

这里的clean your clock,意思是彻底打垮你们。

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最后再学个带有clock这个词的习惯用语: biological clock。 Biological解释为“生物的,” biological clock这个说法是五十年代产生的。原先用来指人体内的某种系统,专门调节像入睡、苏醒这些基本活动的节奏和时间。这也是习惯用语biological clock在一般字典上的解释。

然而如今要是在日常交谈中说biological clock,通常是指妇女一生中育龄期的始末。 Biological clock对急于要孩子的夫妇说来至关重要,当代妇女出外工作的人数比以往任何时代都多,所以你很可能会在办公室听到诸如此类的交谈。我们来听一位急与当爸爸的怎么跟同事商谈。

例句-3:Mollie and I have been married 2 over 25 years and her biological clock is ticking fast. We're not getting younger, so she'll take some time off her job so we can have a baby.

他说:Mollie和我结婚有二十五年多了。她的育龄期正在飞快流逝。我们可不会返老还童,所以她准备请一段时间的假。这样我们就可能有个孩子。

这里的biological clock指妇女的育龄期。



n.冻,果子冻,胶状物
  • We had toast and jelly at breakfast.我们早餐吃的是烤面包和果冻。
  • The medicine was a clear jelly.这种药是透明的胶状物。
adj.已婚的;与…结婚的
  • I heard John got married.我听说约翰结婚了。
  • They got married last autumn.他们在去年秋季结婚。
学英语单词
A Chorus Line
academic requirements
anorectal stenosis
Art Institute of Chicago
aster rugulosus maxim.
autocapacity coupling
autocrimes
Avnyugskiy
azerbaidjans
be separated
blttle neck effect
carrying charge on investment
cobalt ferrite
commercial community
common collector amplifier
conditional short-circuit current
constant current transformator
continuous recirculation
coolant gas loss make-up
corticopinum cum zinco
cug (abbreviation)
dark currentvoltage curve
depleted uraniumDU
digastric branch
direct surface runoff
drive ratio
dyo-
equip
erythrol
Etionizin
Facebook Timeline
granulated fertilizers
graphicrecording
Gugu Yimidhirr
have a suck of
hilyer
homoplasy
hydrogen refrigerated
independent probability
indian madders
industrial and provident societies
intake canal
Iridoviridae
Japan current
kolong
late-acting
lift strut
limited-area prediction
load-carrying ability
Lonicera gynochlamydea
made a martyr of myself
main undercarriage assembly
maximum traverse of boring spindle
mechanician
medical case
minute hands
more-competitive
neomorph
new high key
Nu-iron process
ocean-basin
one-dimensionalities
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overtanned
OWV
partition equilibrium
peices
Pemalang, Ujung
perspiratory
PES
polysiphonia kampsaxii
potential strength
publicity-shy
rare earth fluoride
reach out to somebody
Romerolagus
saffron glucoside
sagbs
scared into
scheduled reactor outage (period)
scrotumed
searchers
shock line
silvisar
smoke wave
square reticle
SSSC
subsurface pump
sweet wormwood
target routine
task driver
thermal compensation
thermoelectric actinograph
thermoplastic phenolic resin
thiopeptide
torsion module
tubenose
tuna-melt
tylee
typika
Virchow-Hassall bodies
xo gonadal dysgenesis