时间:2019-02-18 作者:英语课 分类:美国习惯用语


英语课

  我们要学习两个新的习惯用语,都同自然界里的动物有关。第一个同百兽之王狮子有关:lion's share。这个习惯用语的第一部分是名词的所有格,就是名词加上撇号和s。 Lion's, 意思呢,是“狮子的。”这个习惯用语的另一部分是单词:share。 Share在这个词组中作名词,意思是一份、份额。它作动词时的意思是分享。把这个习惯用语直译,就是:狮子的那份儿。

这个习惯用语的使用至少有两百年的历史,但是如果追根寻源的话,可以追溯到两千年前的古希腊寓言。这个故事说,一只狮子和其它一些野兽一起猎取食物,后来终于捕到了一只鹿。在商量如何分食物的时候,狮子提出,它要得到它的那一份儿,也就是一整只鹿。同百兽之王狮子一块分东西,其它野兽还有什么话说呢?只好听之任之。你们猜到这个习惯用语的意思了吗?对了,意思是:最大、最好的那份儿、甚至完全独吞,而不管这样做对其它有关的人是否公平。

下面我们听一段话,进一步理解这个短语的用法。

例句-1:The angry old man changed his will. And his family was shocked to discover he had left the lion's share of all his money to a distant cousin most of them had never even heard of.

愤怒的老人修改了他的遗嘱。他的家人发现,老人把他大部分钱财都留给了他的一个远亲,而他的家人中几乎没人听说过他还有这么一位亲戚。老人的所有家人对此目瞪口呆。

这个用语除了可以形容钱财和物品之外,还可以形容功劳等抽象的概念。我们再听一段话。这段话讲的是一家汽车公司的总裁。他坚决反对生产一种新型跑车,但是董事会否决了他的反对意见,决定把新型跑车投入生产。结果怎么样了呢?请听众朋友仔细听听这段话:

例句-2:Well, to his surprise the car was a great success. And although he'd been opposed, he tried to take the lion's share of the credit by claiming it was his own idea all long.

公司总裁惊奇地发现,这种汽车取得了巨大的成功。虽然他过去一直持反对意见,但是现在却试图贪天功为己有,宣称这始终是他自己的主意。

******

今天学的第一个习惯用语是用狮子做比喻。接下来我们要学的第二个习惯用语是用老虎打比方:have a tiger by the tail。 这个短语的字面意思是:抓住老虎的尾巴。这是非常危险的局面,如果松开手,肯定对付不了凶猛的老虎。但是抓住老虎尾巴不放,看来也是凶多吉少,因为实际上本来也没有任何制服老虎的可能。中文所说的“骑虎难下”其实同这个短语的意思非常接近。不过,英文里也有用“骑在老虎背上”的说法。下面听一段例句。

例句-3:Once you start using heroin 1, you'll have a tiger by the tail. If you get hooked, you'll need more and more, it'll cost you more money, and you might have to steal to support the habit.

你一旦开始用海洛音,就很难找到退路。上瘾之后,需要量越来越大,需要更多的钱,甚至还要为了满足毒瘾去偷窃。

毒品是老虎尾巴,说话不算话也可以是老虎尾巴。乔治.布什在竞选美国总统成功以后就有这样的教训。他1988年竞选的时候许诺说,当选后绝不增加征收联邦税。但是他登上总统宝座之后怎么样了呢?请听下面这段话:

例句-4:He found he had a tiger by the tail. Despite his promise he had to raise taxes to cope with the deficit 2. And this helped Bill Clinton beat him in his try for re-election in 1992.

布什打破自己的许诺,增加征税,结果最终在连任竞选中被克林顿击败。也许老虎尾巴还是不抓为好。



n.海洛因
  • Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
  • Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。
n.亏空,亏损;赤字,逆差
  • The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
  • We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。
学英语单词
2'-phosphodiesterase
a cutie pie
abnormal focal length
aggregation of individual preferences
air inlet valve of dredger's deliving pipeline
air-guns
alcala de la selva
archeri
Ariquemes
assinie
Auberger blood group system
Banbayan Pt.
bar rack
be food for worms
between-class correlation
Brachypodium sylvaticum
calex
capon test
carbon steel
catch copy
Central I.
chantha
chromophobic
couchful
day disk
deformational stress
detonation point
deutscheland
drive out of
duramatral
echymose
Elephanta Island
expected yield
fadged
fermentation inhibitor
floating point unit
folded and grooved seam
go hard or go home
half titles
harker lines
hideosities
Higher bid
imperialls
insinuate
iris detachment
Jeans viscosity equation
lactocidin
lbgs
lead metasilicate
left atrium failure
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
lock cylinder
loi-cadre
M.H.R.
macromitrium ferriei
marie dolores eliza rosanna gilberts
membranogenesis
mesh side cutter
Minskian
nodes
nonitemized
normal congruence
observantially
order parameter
pachometers
papular pruritic gloves and socks syndrome
paroxysmal coliky pain
patent licence-agreement
Phulsāri
pioneering work
plain ashlar
plant ledger card
pork fillet
preconising
PSD (power spectral density)
ragtop
relish
residual valency
Santa Maria, I.
satish
scientific data processing
search and seizure
Seawater Quality Standards
sharpness of focusing
side-by-side
Simonart band
Sleepwell
smazes
spherochromatism
starch slurry
stop-and-direction-indicator-lamps
storage cathode ray tube
sweetkin
tabby-cats
teamkillers
tetracontagons
tip clearance area
Tossåsen
uppermost part
us sea
water ejection tube
you're a star