时间:2019-02-06 作者:英语课 分类:美国习惯用语


英语课

我们今天要讲的习惯用语有一个共同的词: top。大家一定早知道这个词。它解释顶端。一般说来高高在上的总比压在底层的来得优越。这正反映在我们先学的两个习惯用语里: top gun. Gun是枪。Top gun来自美国西部刚开拓的年代。当年枪手你死我活地血战拚杀,就为了争个top gun的称号,意思是头号枪手。


Top gun这个短语沿用至今,但是如今它所表示的人物可比杀气腾腾的枪手显得温和,而且可以用来指和刀枪根本沾不上边的各界人物。我们来听个例子,说的是一个体育明星被控杀妻案件的审判。


例句-1:The football star hired several of the top guns among defense 1 lawyers all over America. They managed to convince the jury that he was not guilty.


他说:那位足球明星网罗了美国辩护律师中几名高手。这些人设法使陪审团相信被告无罪。


被控谋杀妻子是有可能被判死刑的重案。而那些辩护律师却能说服陪审团作出被告无罪的裁决,可见他们手段高超,辩才出众。


所以这里的top gun指的是某领域内的高手。


******


刚才说的那些高明的律师也可以这样称呼: top drawer。 Drawer是抽屉,top drawer从字面意思来看是顶上抽屉。人们通常把最宝贵的物件,像首饰之类,放在五斗橱的顶格抽屉里。这也许就是用top drawer来指“高手”的出典,但是top drawer和top gun不同;top drawer不仅指人也可以用来说珍贵的东西。例如在下面的这段话里。这是一个时装首饰推销员在向顾客推荐商品。


例句-2:Sure, our main competitor is cheaper, but their goods look cheap: I wouldn't want my daughter to wear them. But we make only top drawer merchandise that any woman is proud to wear.


他说:我们的主要对手开价确实比我们低,但是他们的货看来质量差。我可不要我女儿去戴这种货色。然而我们制作的全是第一流的高档商品,谁戴上都觉得自豪。


这里的top drawer意思是“高档。”


******


我们接著要学的习惯用语意义完全不同。第一个是: off the top of one's head。 Off the top of one's head从字面意思看来就是在头脑外。换句话说是没经过大脑。我们听个例子来揣摩它的含义吧。这是个参议员在答复另一名参议员。后者要求他对一项提案投赞成票。


例句-3:Senator, off the top of my head, I think I can vote for your bill. But before I decide, I want to talk to my staff and some voters back home to see how they feel about it.


他说:参议员,在未经思考的情况下我觉得我可以投票赞成你的提案。但是我在决定前还必须跟手下人和选民商谈,看看他们对该提案的反应。


思考问题得通过头脑里的大脑,所以off the top of my head意思是“尚未经过思考的。”


******


最后再学个习惯用语: blow one's top。 Blow解释吹气。这个习惯用语出典是这样:当年以煤炭作燃料的轮船不时得把烟灰通过船顶的烟囱排放出去。烟灰冲上烟囱时响声震耳欲聋。于是人们就把这比作气得七窍生烟、大发雷霆的人了。我们来听个例子。这是哥哥在跟成绩报告单很糟的弟弟说话。


例句-4:Dad is certainly going to blow his top when he sees this! You're failing in both English and Math and barely passing most of your other courses.


他说:爸爸看到这张成绩单一定会大发脾气。你英文、数学都不及格,其它科目也多半勉强及格。


所以blow one's top意思是大大发火。

 



n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩
  • The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
  • The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。
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Abdel
acceleration of ripening
additional advance
anecdotically
antiriot ammunition
apical bud
arecaceaes
augelli
average repair
Bankia spengler
bankruptcy administrator
basic lead sulphate
bilge logs
booster inoculation
bored shitless
boringly
chain and sprocket drive
Chalkedon
checking off symbol
CLMW
course-stability
cross rod
Curley
damper segment
declaratory judgments
deflection calculation
delivered free to destination
dietary-supplement
dress in
dust crops with an insecticide
emince
enterouterine anus
equitangential
faralatrioside
farbs
finely divided scale
folia vermis
heavy work
helius (helius) minusculus
Hose Connectors
hyperhomocysteinemic
intermolecular respiration
lava column
lead number
lends out
lenticel(le)
lywallzyme
macnee
magnitude spectrum
master screw
max sth out
mellower
memory error report analysis
movable appendage
naked-flame mine
nickel-vanadium steel
nominal ocular hazard area
oculometry
one pack
ordinary wheel
organizational climate index
over-grateful
over-indulged
overtowered
pattern representation
phenoxathin
phenylphosphine
pick-up attachment
pilot flame burner
pipeline stopcock
plash
pot-holder
preservative substance
pressure admission chamber
pressure of blast
Prohepes
pseudodiploidy
r.d
ramming up
rankine thermometric scale
riborg
righi-leduc effect
roricon
sclenchyma
self-illuminating sight
selfcontradictory
sniper
sousant
Subhanallah
sukhooei
Swap Curve
tahsildars
thermo anelasticity
three stages fluidized-bed dryer
toner concentration
unkissing
unvote
upright drill
visual agnosia
Wiener schnitzel
with a swing in it
worldless