作者：李景莉
58. crocodile tears
crocodile是"鱷魚",tears就是"眼淚"。 英文里的crocodile tears和中國人常說的"貓哭老鼠假慈悲"是一樣的意思。crocodile tears這個習語來自一個古老的神話,說是鱷魚往往發出一種哭的聲音來引誘那些它們要吃的動物,然后一邊吃一邊流眼淚。這當然不是事實,但是這個說法已經成為常用語。請看下面的例子:
The truth is that Peter never liked his rich Uncle John. But you should have seen his crocodile tears when the old man died and left him a million dollars!彼得從來都不喜歡他那有錢的叔叔約翰,這是事實。可是那老人去世的時候給他留了一百萬美元,你可真該看看彼得當時那假流淚的樣子。
下面這個例子說的是一位政客:
In his speeches the mayor always puts on a big show of crocodile tears for poor and homeless people, but I don't see him doing anything to help them. 這位市長在講話時總是裝得好像他對窮人和無家可歸的人非常同情。但是,我并沒有見到他做些什么來幫助他們。
59. sob story
sob是"哭泣"的意思,story就是"故事"。sob story的意思就是"某人編造一個令人傷心的故事來贏得別人的同情,甚至于讓人給錢來幫助他"。下面是一位女士在描述她聽了一個sob story以后是怎么受騙的:
Usually I don't give money to beggars. But this nice young man told me a sob story about needing money for a bus ticket to see his dying mother, so I gave him two dollars. 一般我是不給乞丐錢的。但是,這個看上去挺不錯的年輕人告訴我他需要錢坐公共汽車去看他那快要死的媽媽。他說得這么悲慘,我就給了他兩美元。
世界上好心人真是不少,下面這個例子又是一個人上了sob story的當:
On my way to work, a man stopped me and said he hadn't eaten for three days so I gave him a dollar. But on my way home I saw him get into a new car and drive off and I knew now he had told me a sob story. 在我去上班的路上一個人擋住了我,對我說,他已經三天沒吃東西了,所以我給了他一美元。可是,我在回家的路上看見他上了一輛新車后就開走了。我這才知道他說的事全是假的。
60. hot potato
美國人很喜歡吃土豆,特別是剛從烤箱里拿出來的一個個熱氣騰騰的土豆。hot 的意思是"熱"或"燙",potato就是"土豆"。熱的土豆固然好吃,但是它會燙你的手,你會想法兒馬上甩掉它。 hot potato作為習語,它的意思就是"難題;棘手的問題;難以應付的局面或人"例如:
The question of whether to raise taxes to cut the budget deficit is a real hot potato for a lot of politicians. 是否用增加稅收的方法來減少預算赤字的問題,對于許多政客來說是一個棘手的問題。
下面這個例子是一位律師在給另一位律師提供建議:
If I were you, I'd drop that client like a hot potato. He's always suing somebody for something, but he usually loses and he doesn't pay his lawyer's bills. 假如我是你的話,我就把那個難以應付的顧客馬上甩掉。他老是為了什么事去告別人,可是他總是輸給別人,還常常不付律師費。