时间:2019-02-18 作者:英语课 分类:美国习惯用语


英语课

今天我们继续学几个流行在美国政界的习惯用语。先讲的两个常被政坛人士用来攻击政敌。第一个是:blow smoke。 Blow smoke从字面解释就是喷吐烟雾。这个习惯用语来自军界。军队有时会放烟幕弹来掩护自己的行动,不让敌军察觉。有时军舰也会以烟雾来掩护自己,使敌舰的炮火难以射中他们。


Blow smoke这个习惯用语被很多政界人士借用。他们这样说的含义是什么呢?我们听个例子来琢磨。这是一个候选人在向选民发表攻击政敌的谈话。我们来听听他怎么说。请特别注意里面用到的习惯用语blow smoke:


例句-1:My opponent keeps talking about cutting our taxes by 20 percent. But, my friends, he's just blowing smoke at you; he knows as well as I do that Congress will never ever approve it.


他说:我的对手老说要削减百分之二十的税,但是,朋友们,他这是在说蒙混你们的空话,其实他和我心里都明白,这在国会是绝对通不过的。


他指出他的对手既然心里明白国会不会同意减税,却老提出要减。这分明是故意说空话来取悦选民。可见blow smoke含义是说空话蒙混他人。


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我们再学个也是政界人士常用来攻击政敌的习惯用语:mudslinging。我们都知道mud是泥巴,而sling是投掷的意思,所以mudslinging可不就是扔泥巴吗?这个习惯用语的含义似乎不用多说就猜得到。往人身上扔泥巴,或者给人脸上抹黑,不就是污蔑那人吗?政客时而会在选民中说污损政敌信誉形像的话,而遭到攻击的那方也会针锋相对,指控那些话是mudslinging, 也就是无中生有的诬陷不实之词。


好,我们来听个例子,说话的人受到了对方攻击,正在为自己辩解。请注意他是怎么使用mudslinging这个词的。


例句-2:Folks, these nasty lies the other side keeps telling about my past life are nothing but mudslinging -- they just show how desperate they're getting because they're so far behind us.


他说:各位,对方反反复复地在讲有关我过去生活的一些可恶的谎话。这些话纯粹是恶言中伤。它们只能说明那些人处于绝境而不择手段了,因为他们已经大大落后于我们。


这里的mudslinging意思是恶言中伤的话或者污蔑不实之词。


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接下要再学个政坛选举中常用的习惯用语:homestretch。 选举在大选年的十一月举行,而过了十月中旬,人们常会说竞选运动已经处于homestretch,也就是最后阶段。 Homestretch这个说法来自赛马运动。人们习惯把赛程上末了一个拐弯和终点线之间的那段距离称为homestretch。政坛人物借用这个说法,来指最后阶段的竞选工作,尤其是临投票前一两星期里的竞选运动。


我们来听个例子。这是个广播电台记者在谈论一次竞选运动已经开展多长时间了。


例句-3:The campaign started over a year ago when candidates warmed up for the early primaries. But folks, now we're in the homestretch -- only a couple of weeks until it's all over.


他说:竞选运动早在一年多前就开始了,最初是候选人为早期的初选在作准备。但是,各位,如今我们已经处于竞选的最后阶段,只有一两个星期就一切都过去了。


这里的homestretch指最后阶段的竞选工作。

 



学英语单词
ahemeral days
arbitrary-function generator
beam intensity distribution
beginning of conversation
calorie small
can you feel my world
carboxylic acrylonitrile butadiene rubber latex
cargo winch
champenize
chlorvinyldichloroarsine
chrome-manganese-silicon alloy steel
chromospheric eruption
cioteronel
coaminopherase
compilation order
computer main frequency
corporate group
corsse
cross-section ionization detector
cube farm
decade band
decentralised
deep trades
deformable raft
denounc't
diphthongise
do what one is capable of
dynamic geomorphology
electronic specific heat
emiss
feather picker
financial supervision
fire resistant paint
genus pezizas
get a patent on
get robbed
go with
Gran Colombia
grenade throwers
gyro-TWT
hanson
harebin
have one's bread buttered for life
highly-academic
insulinization
interference inversion
It's a small world.
large rock mass
lethrinus variegatus
linguistic description
lowest normal low water
Malvastrum coromandelianum
mangan-Rockbridgeite
manzanar
medium-intensity approach light system
mendigo
metranemia
Moorhusen
nag screens
oceanite
patholinguistics
patripassianism
persuing
phenanthrine
photopolymerization system
phototroller
project into
proofreadings
public decision making
pulse-power breakdown
pump power input
pyruric
Rami nasales anteriores laterales
range of mountains
rated revolutions
rheticus
risic acid
Réclère
self-blinded
separated layer fertilization
sexual chemistry
shrieved
shrinking and thinning
siphonuli
smallness of cornea
sokoloff
Spinoolivary
star cross
stowing machine
subclavial
tabp
temperature anomaly
tethery
time working day
time-life
transmitter frequency tolerance
u-verse
usuals
walking bosses
water discipline
wow us
Zhanay