作者：李景莉
61. Let sleeping dogs lie.
從字面上來看,Let sleeping dogs lie. 的意思就是"不要去惹正在睡覺的狗"。該習語的意思是"別多事;別惹麻煩;莫惹是生非"。該習語也可說成"Let a sleeping dog lie." 或"Don't wake a sleeping dog."下面是一個婦女在給她的朋友提出勸告:
If I were you, I would not tell Nellie you saw her husband having lunch with another woman. They might have been perfectly innocent, so you'd let sleeping dogs lie. 要是我是你的話,我就不會去告訴內利你看見她丈夫和另一個女人一起吃午飯的事。也許他們根本就沒有什么事,所以你還是別惹麻煩。
下面這個例子說明每個人在采取行動前都需要慎重考慮,要想到可能產生的后果:
Can you prove that your neighbor stole your lawnmower? If not and you call the cops, he could make real trouble for you. Better to let sleeping dogs lie! 你有證據證明你的鄰居偷了你的割草機嗎?要是你沒有證據,又去報了警,他可以給你制造好多麻煩的。你還是算了吧!
62. Every dog has his / its day.
Every dog has his / its day. 的意思是"凡人皆有得意時;每個人總會有實現自己愿望的一天"。比如,一個公司的職員很想被提升,但是,他的愿望沒有實現,而另一個同事卻被提升了。回到家里,他的妻子聽到這一消息后對他說:
Darling, I know how upset you are that you didn't get the promotion. But don't take it too hard-your turn will come. You know what they say-every dog has his day! 親愛的,我知道你因為沒有被提升而感到很不開心。你可別把這件事看得太重了。你以后會有機會的。就像他們說的:人人都有得意之時嘛。
下面的例子是一個作家因找不到出版商出版他的作品而感到煩惱,他的朋友勸他說:
Okay, so this publisher sent back your manuscript, there are plenty of other publishers. You'll find one who'll buy it-remember, every dog has his day! 行了,就算這個出版商把你的手稿退了回來,那還有好多出版商呢。你會找到一個愿意接受你作品的出版商的。別忘了,人人都會有機會的。
63. to put on the dog
美國人總是說:狗是人類最好的朋友。許多美國人對家里的狗就像對待家里的人一樣好。有錢人還往往會出幾千美元去買一只稀有品種的狗。 to put on the dog就是 "擺排場給別人看"。大概一百多年以前,一些有錢的人往往花很多錢去買一只稀有品種的小狗來顯示自己很有錢。一些闊太太們經常在接待客人的時候把一只小狗抱在腿上來炫耀自己的闊氣。當時耶魯大學的學生就使用to put on the dog這一說法來嘲笑那些暴發戶。請看下例:
Joe Doak is sure putting on the dog since his rich aunt died and left him 10 million dollars. He's bought the biggest house in town and a Mercedes-Benz 600, and talks about buying some riding horses. 喬?多克自從他那位富有的阿姨去世,留給他一千萬美元遺產以后,可真是擺闊氣。他買了城里最大的一棟房子,還有一輛奔馳600型號的汽車。他還說要買幾匹馬騎著玩呢。
但是有錢的人也不都是那樣揮霍的。下面就是一個例子:
I had this friend in the army who was the son of one of the richest men in the country. But what I like about him was that he never put on the dog to show off his money.我在部隊服役的時候有個朋友,他的爸爸是美國最有錢的人之一。我很喜歡這個朋友,因為他從來也不炫耀自己多么有錢。
