时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:美国习惯用语


英语课

   今天我们要讲的美国习惯用语是:by the book。By是根据的意思,book是书本的意思。By the book这个习惯用语的意思是循规蹈矩,照章办事。我的朋友有一对双胞胎女儿,但是两个孩子的行事风格截然不同。


  姐姐Jessica做事总喜欢找捷径,钻空子;而妹妹Rebecca却永远是循规蹈矩,by the book。什么职业的人做事应该循规蹈矩呢?我们听听下面这个例子。
  例句-1:If you are looking for someone to do some creative accounting 1 - you know, think up ways to avoid paying what you are supposed to - then I'm not the guy. I do everything by the book. Sorry.
  没错,上面这个人是个会计。他跟一个客户说: 如果你要找人做帐,想办法帮你逃税,那你找错人了。我从来都是照章办事。对不起。
  其实,美国的税法很复杂,也存在不少漏洞,很多做会计的都会想方设法,帮自己的客户少交税,而且在很多情况下,他们的做法也完全合法。这在很大程度上取决于会计对税法的研究到底有多深。
  ******
  By the book这个习惯用语里的book最初指的是圣经。十九世纪早期,在英国法庭上,大家都要以圣经的名义发誓讲实话,或者说是swear by the book. By the book后来就延伸为遵守规矩、照章办事的意思了。让我们听听下面这个人是如何描述他年迈父亲的转变的。
  例句-21:I remember how clever my father used to be at getting around rules and regulations.  He always found ways to disobey our City Council.  But, he is a changed man since he immigrated 2 to the United States.  Now, he does everything by the book!
  他说:我还记得我父亲当年是如何巧妙地躲避规章制度的。他总能想出办法来违抗市议会的规定。可是移民美国后,他却好像彻底变了一个人。如今,他凡事都会一丝不苟地按规定办。
  上面这个人说的简直就是我妈。她老人家移民美国后,不仅自己遵纪守法,还时刻不忘督促我们。我女儿让她管得象个小大人儿。
  不过, by the book也要分职业。有些职业,比如会计、警察、士兵、护士,做事需要by the book, 但是如果艺术家和科学家凡事也循规蹈矩的话,恐怕我们今天还住山洞,裹兽皮,用小树杈在岩石上画画儿呢!
  在我们日常生活中,也应该加以区分。有时候应该充分发挥创造力,有时候做事则要by the book. 比如说,我们在学习语言的时候,最好能够by the book, 不要自己随意发挥。这里的book, 不言而喻,指的就是我们手边的字典。

1 accounting
n.会计,会计学,借贷对照表
  • A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
  • There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。
2 immigrated
v.移入( immigrate的过去式和过去分词 );移民
  • He immigrated from Ulster in 1848. 他1848年从阿尔斯特移民到这里。 来自辞典例句
  • Many Pakistanis have immigrated to Britain. 许多巴基斯坦人移居到了英国。 来自辞典例句
标签: 美国习惯用语
学英语单词
3-carboxyantipyrine
accident costs
aetosaurs
analytically unramified semilocal ring
angstrom's scale
Ban Pa Daeng
batons sinister
beltway/ Beltway bandit
bilardoes
blind thrust fault
bloody vomit
Bolocephalus saussureoides
Bom Sucesso, Ribeirāo
boundary scan test
clastoderma debaryanum
claw foot
climbing maidenhair fern
color gradients
combat day of supply
consolidated income tax system
constructable
contrail formation
deseasonalizes
DIBOA
Didymocarpus stenocarpus
elephant-hide pahoehoe
emphasis
enterprise registration
entwicklung
epigrammatism
extraordinary disbursement
flopsand
franciso
Gamvik
gardyn
gas-solid reaction
generic flow control
guaiac
gut course
Habenaria humidicola
heavenware
hollow tube
hydrochemicogeography
ince burun
information bandwidth
injection-moulded
Innocent III
intercentral articulation
intermining
ion-exchange process
ionic valve
job classification analyst
Klamath R.
koseki
Kronotskiy Poluostrov
logicizes
lung tumor
machine reel
mathewsons
maximum-modulus theorem
misbefalls
montastrea curta
Naka-umi
on-line aerophotogrammetric triangulation
paraffin oils
phaeo-
plurivalent chromosome
porvoos
pregreasing pump
prewrap
pricing entire product package
pyrotechnic gas generator
radioisotope transmission gage
Rally for the Republic
rami utriculi
schlimazel
Selimiye
semi-strong linear element
sequelitis
sir john rosses
slag-hammer
sodium butylate
St-Jean-du-Gard
standing field
suiboku
temperature hyperbola
terminal switching
thawing water irrigation
theoretical geodesy
throws up
townleys
Tremelleae
trichloro-phenomalic acid
unexploded
United Nations Administrative Tribunal
upper breast
wheedles
with-it
wollard
yellow coneflower
zigzag chain
zoolater