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:breathe down someone's neck. Breathe是呼吸的意思;neck是脖子的意思。Breathe down someone's neck 连在一起,是对某人盯得特别紧的意思。


  前不久,我朋友Jenny跟她老公Jeff大吵了一架。Jenny说,她的公公和婆婆星期天要来吃饭,所以她让Jeff去收拾一下院子。过了一会,她去看看Jeff干得怎么样了。但是Jeff却说,Jenny is breathing down his neck, 他觉得Jenny盯他盯的太紧了。嗨,这算什么?他要真想知道被人盯的滋味,就应该去听听下面这个汽车修理工是怎么说的。
  例句-1:I have this one customer who constantly watches me while I'm repairing his car. Finally, I told him that if he continues to breathe down my neck, he's going to have to find another mechanic. I can't concentrate on my work with him around all the time.
  这位汽车修理工说:有一个顾客,修车的时候一直站在我旁边。最后我急了,告诉他,你要是再这么盯着我,就另请高明吧。他这样盯着我,我实在没办法专心工作。
  我还记得小时候,爸爸妈妈去上班,下午放学就是姐姐看着我和弟弟做作业。她每隔几分钟,就要检查我们是不是在偷懒,简直就是在breathe down our necks!
  ******
  美国历史上有一对著名的雌雄大盗邦妮和克莱德,他们一度横行各地,抢劫银行,成为耸动一时的社会新闻。我们来听听下面这个历史学家是怎么说的。
  例句-2:During the 1920s and early 30s, Bonnie and Clyde committed several robberies and murders as they traveled across several states. But law authorities were never far behind them. They kept breathe down their necks before finally trapping the gangsters 1, who died in a gunfight.
  他说:在二十年代和三十年代初,邦妮和克莱德横穿数州,抢劫杀人。不过警察一直紧追不舍,死死地盯住他们不放,最后终于堵住了邦妮和克莱德,并在枪战中把他们击毙。
  我看过由他们的故事改编的电影,拍得特别棒。除了警察以外,还有什么人会breathe down someone's neck?  给你个暗示,凡是会紧紧盯住别人的人都可以算在其中。没错,可以有家长、老师、还有上司。

1 gangsters
匪徒,歹徒( gangster的名词复数 )
  • The gangsters offered him a sum equivalent to a whole year's earnings. 歹徒提出要给他一笔相当于他一年收入的钱。
  • One of the gangsters was caught by the police. 歹徒之一被警察逮捕。
标签: 美国习惯用语
学英语单词
AAPPP
ability to ball
adsorber
amoebic appendicitis
armored scoutcar
bambarra
bearing (pressurized) water system
benincasa hispida (thunb.) cogn.
Bhādas
buzzer frequency meter
capacitors
caudolaterally
chemical actinometry
clinical signs
colo(u)rity
contract item
coppr magnet alloy
cross baffle
daimonians
days-old
declared thrust
delicatessen
DFDI
Diji (Sp8)
dunkelsteiner wald
eastern indigo snake
electrocarbothermic reduction assembly
especie
excess-air
expert problem slover
faberge
fixed eluant
four-flushers
frame pallet
from cellar to garret
gatel
Geiselbach
glomerular hemorrhage
glycyrrhiza glabra l. var. violacea boiss.
goallessly
granulomatous nocardiosis
hampston
Hapamune
happy hour
hard shelled
hardware default font
heraldship
hiropon
Hoban-ri
Hottentot figs
incombustible
indistinct
information era
invaluably
katapleure
Kautsky, Karl Johann
Kell antibody
knock someone off his feet
Knollers
Kronau
kynge
laid-on moulding
laite
Lobularia maritima
lowimpact
maiello
major number
medium rate of exchange
Mister Bigs
mud maar
nonspectral
offend against
ombudswomen
oxyuris obvelata
pancreatic juice
pass out of mind
Phyllograptus
Pilea sinofasciata
portfires
power tail stock
program timer
prompt reactor
put in a good word
santra
scolopidium
sing-songs
smoke formation
SPECT
spectral flash lamp
static pressure flying head
station interrogation
store and forward switching
suckauhock
Tissemsilt, Wilaya d'
tracery window
tresanil
undercrown
underseasoned
v.v.
weak summation
Weirten
windows of active workbook