时间:2019-02-18 作者:英语课 分类:实用英语


英语课

   I laid an egg in the quiz game.


  如果一位外籍女同事昨晚参加英文电视台办的有奖问答游戏节目,而今天早上对你说这句话,你猜到是什么意思吗?
  她怎会在节目进行中下蛋的呢?她不是母鸡,但明明听到她说laid an egg嘛,真教人丈八金刚,摸不着头脑。
  英美习语不可以望文生义,也往往不可以按字面上的意思去理解。
  这是学习英语的困难之处,但也是有趣的地方。
  学习(idiom)包括俚语(slang)、谚语(proverb)、口语(colloquialism)。上述的lay an egg就是口语表达法(colloquial expression)。
  比方你在课本中读到这一句:
  This hen lays beautiful brown eggs.
  这句自然可以理解为:这只母鸡下好看的棕色蛋。
  看到Fish lay eggs也自然明白解作:“鱼产卵”。
  然而,那位外籍女士说的I Iaid an egg却与下蛋产卵完全无关!
  句中laid an egg是口语(colloquialism)。意思是:一败涂地、彻底输了。典出英国早期用语lay a duck's egg(“得零分”的意思)。
  所以,她是说在电视问答游戏节目中输了。
  如果她对你说:Well, my husband, he's such a couch 1 potato,意思是什么呢?请先猜一猜,下期再研究。

n.睡椅,长沙发椅;vt.表达,隐含
  • Lie down on the couch if you're feeling ill.如果你感觉不舒服就躺到沙发上去。
  • The rabbIt'sprang from its grassy couch.兔子从草丛中跳出。
标签: 学习方法
学英语单词
a horse of another color
agricultural surplus
ako
all-girl
Almirante Brown Canyon
Annobón, I.de
apricot jam
Aprigliano
Ashton Irwin
AZS automatic zero set
back away from
Bar Hebraeus
benzoglycolisacid
bezoglioxaline
brass alloys
capillary refill
capital cover
centralized school
chance events
clinical symptoms
compact nebula
composite functor
current-balance relay
damnably
dry unit
eiusdem generis
electrostatic oscillograph
elix
endoliths
Eulamellibranchia
eupelmus tachardiae
exchange-correlation
extraction eluting resin
family typhlopidaes
flyspecks
free-agents
ghotbzadehs
GMSS
gonostomatid
grouped column
hemiketal
hydro-vac power brake
instinct with
internal external rotary pump
intra-industry
jahorina
job subsidies
junk collector
kronrod bit matrices
Lagrange Peak
laminar model
light loadline
live guy
live-work
logical calculus
master-of-ceremonies
neoglycoconjugates
non-ionic surface-active detergent
noncoherent combing loss
off-site backup
oil immersed self cooled transformer
oligotoma greeniana
paratextualities
pfl-activase
phosphoglucosamine mutase
pinnatella ambigua
pitches
pledged asset
post-nuptial molt
propellant handling
protein maintenance requirement
pulse repetition frequency jitter
purpura scorbutica
quercus ilexes
radionuclide kinetics
re-jigger
regenerative oscillation
regiones dorsalis manus
restructurer
shaded pole type
shrouds
signalised
slow-spiral drill
solution Thiersch's
spatial charging
successio ab intestato
Sungaigerong
switch tender
tally charge
terminal sinus
thermal stabilizer
trig function
tsering
turbidity transmitter
uniformly absolutely continuous
upper oil-header
vena gastrica-dextra
Venetian School
warrantying
waveform changes
win a lawsuit
Xiao Hong