第1个回答 2008-09-23
运动英语小典故:10个最常见的表达
英语中有许多惯用语 (idiom)都是源自各种运动术语。这些惯用语除了用做字面的意思之外,经常还含有隐喻(metaphor) 的意思。
[田径]track and field jump the gun:(字面)偷跑。田径比赛时,裁判还没有鸣枪,选手就抢先起跑了。(比喻)过早采取行动。如果用在合唱,某人提前唱出某音时,就是“放炮”。
[美式足球]American football Monday morning quarterback: (字面)周一早晨的四分卫。美国电视在足球季的每个星期天都会转播一场比赛。由于是现场节目,结果立刻分晓。等到第二天早晨看了报纸才发表‘真知灼见’,为时以晚矣!(比喻) 事后诸葛亮;放马后炮。
[拳击]boxing have a glass jaw: (字面)有个玻璃做的下颚。在拳击赛中,下颚像是玻璃做的,一被击中就不支倒地。(比喻) 不堪一击。
[马术]horseback riding get on one's high horse:(字面)骑上一匹高大的马。从前,马术师自以为骑马的人高高在上,所以比用脚走路的人优越。(比喻) 摆出傲慢的态度;摆高姿态。
[高尔夫]golf not up to par: (字面)没有达到标准杆数。高尔夫球戏中,每一洞依难度及远近有一标准杆数,例如第一洞的标准杆数是四杆。因此,杆数越低越好。若击出超过标准杆数,没有达到一般水平,就是 not up to par. (比喻)做事情没有达到应有的标准;也可以说是失常。注意:up to par 不用于肯定句。
[斗牛]bullfighting take the bull by the horns:(字面)斗牛比赛时,斗牛士常握着牛角以扳倒牛,这是一项艰难又危险的动作。(比喻)采取果敢的行动应付艰难的局面;面对困难采取行动。虽然字面的意思上像是中文里的‘执牛耳’,而‘执牛耳’的英文却可以用 rule the roost [roast] 来表达。
[游泳]swimming sink or swim: (字面)遇到河流时,沉到水底或游泳逃生。 (比喻)不成功便成仁。
[网球]tennis The ball is in your court.: (字面)该由你发球了。许多运动的场地以网隔开,并由双方轮流发球,像网球、排球、羽毛球等。(比喻)轮到该你负责了;轮到你采取行动了。
[赛马]horse racing neck and neck: (字面)赛马时两马颈部同时抵达终点,即以平手论。(比喻)并驾齐驱;不分胜负;不相上下;不分轩轾。
[篮球]basketball The game isn't over until the fat lady sings.: (字面)胖妇人未唱歌前,比赛不算结束。这是达拉斯小牛队前教练 Dick Motta 的一句名言,指一场比赛紧张激烈,不到结束时刻,仍然胜负未卜。在歌剧中,往往在结束前的高潮便是由一位身材丰满的女声乐家表演。胖妇人开始唱歌是比喻比赛将要结束。(比喻) 比赛不到最后一刻不知鹿死谁手。
第2个回答 2008-10-04
The Dog in the Manger出自《伊索寓言》(Aesop's Fables),有一篇狗站马槽的故事,说的是一头狗躺在堆满稻草的马槽里,狗是不吃草的动物,而当马或牛一走进稻草时,这头狗却朝着马,牛狂哮,不准食草动物享用。
因此,“狗站马槽”就成了一个家喻户晓的成语而进入英语中,常用来比喻a person who prevents others from enjoying sth that is useless to himself; a churlish fellow who will neither use a thing himself nor let others use it,讽刺那些占据说职位或某些物质却不做事的人。
The Dog in the Manger is a fable attributed to Aesop, concerning a dog who one afternoon lay down to sleep in the manger. On being awoken, he ferociously kept the cattle in the farm from eating the hay on which he chose to sleep, even though he was unable to eat it himself, leading an ox to mutter the moral of the fable:
People often begrudge others what they cannot enjoy themselves.
The phrase is proverbial, referring to people who prevent others from having something that they themselves have no use for. A typical example is the child who discards a toy — until a sibling tries to play with it. Then the first child becomes possessive about something they no longer wanted.
A twist on the story was used by Charles Schulz in a "Peanuts" strip, in which Lucy van Pelt acquires a baseball card of Charlie Brown's favorite player, and she refuses to give it to him. After he leaves disconsolately, she decides she doesn't really like the card that well, and throws it away.
In Spanish, the story is called El Perro del Hortelano, or The Vegetable Gardener's Dog.
The metaphor is also attributed to Jesus in The Gospel of Thomas by comparing the dog with the Pharisees.
第3个回答 2008-09-23
The Dog in the Manger出自《伊索寓言》(Aesop's Fables),
The Dog in the Manger is a fable attributed to Aesop, concerning a dog who one afternoon lay down to sleep in the manger. On being awoken, he ferociously kept the cattle in the farm from eating the hay on which he chose to sleep, even though he was unable to eat it himself, leading an ox to mutter the moral of the fable:
People often begrudge others what they cannot enjoy themselves.
狗站马槽的故事,说的是一头狗躺在堆满稻草的马槽里,狗是不吃草的动物,而当马或牛一走进稻草时,这头狗却朝着马,牛狂哮,不准食草动物享用。
因此,“狗站马槽”就成了一个家喻户晓的成语而进入英语中,常用来比喻a person who prevents others from enjoying sth that is useless to himself; a churlish fellow who will neither use a thing himself nor let others use it,讽刺那些占据说职位或某些物质却不做事的人。