时间:2018-12-08 作者:英语课 分类:Modern English 洋话连篇


英语课

  Turn the table

  一位亲戚和妻子失和到了要离婚的地步。几天前接到亲戚电话,说他们在走进律师楼之前,先去求助于心理和婚姻问题专家。夫妇俩心平气和地坐下来谈了好多次,互相之间多了一份理解,少了一份猜疑、埋怨,结果化干戈为玉帛。说简单也简单,就这么拯救了这场婚姻。

  我打心眼里为他们高兴,把这一消息告诉了同样也认识他们的一位美国朋友。这位朋友挺激动的,连连说着"感谢上帝,感谢上帝",她还补充了一句"He turned the table"。

  这话让我心里很不舒服,她是指我亲戚动粗吗?我打抱不平说:"不会,不会,他很斯文,很有绅士风度,不会以粗鲁的举动压制对方,不会以高压让对方屈从。"

  结果,越说谁也听不懂谁。看着我那一脸不快的表情,朋友突然茅塞頓开了,以另一种方法向我解释。终于让我明白,她是说我亲戚"扭转了局面",那"table"和我想到的"桌子"根本无关。

  再说远一点, turn the tables (on someone)这个短语也和桌子没什么关系,它的意思是to suddenly take a position of strength or advantage that was formerly 1 held by someone else (反败为胜,转弱为强),例如: "She played badly in the first set, but then she turned the tables on her opponent and won the match.


1 formerly
adv.从前,以前
  • We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
  • This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。
学英语单词
accosta
after arrival of goods draft
aliwals
apparent rediometric magnitude
automatic titrator
basal mental age
be nothing to do with
begannest
bias off
binary experiment
Bogodukhov
broadcasts
bulbotuber
busy period distribution
capacities
chelsis
cockcrow
cold-charged ingot
common American shad
container gantry crane
content window
Cotrefon
Cyperus flavidus
defect sporadic
delorean
dense chain
desoxidation
detergent for household use
dickfests
discrimination reaction
Distributed COM
dividing strip for terrazzo
early ectoblastic cavity
Ecodipin
elimination tournaments
error of account
escaped species
evaluation technique
fog proof insulator
frightener
fuundament
Glen Massey
guanidium
have a problem
hiccough nuts
hoswell
in someone's debt
innocent blood
intratribal
larielle
lay a finger on sb
Lenard tubes
lump-sum method
malifolius
mattice
methyl ricinoleate
methylscopolamine
Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge
microglitch
mine run ore
monodramatic
multicapacity process
Nailwort
neotraditionalism
non-nuclear effect
nonrepayable
off-white
pages out
pankow
Parkertown
peccants
phase, two
pre-straining
private tap
qam (quadrature amplitude modulation )
quadratureaxis
rated thrust
regulatory enzyme
Rhus coriaria
romanoscope
runner's diarrhea
self-standings
short-term
site intensity
soda-pop wine
soft pedals
spans
steeped labyrinth seal
stoplessly
sump lubrication
tantalum condenser
tetanurans
the goats
titrigraph
to the uttermost of one's power
tuning handle
Tysday
ultrared heating
Urotrate
vegetable albumin
yellowish sweating
zarqas