6/09/2008

英文小典故


1. to talk turkey (直率地說或談正經事) 
典故: 這一典故源自北美。相傳在北美殖民地時期,一天,一個白人和一個印第安黑人一起外出打獵,事先約定好了要平分所得獵物。然而他們的運氣不佳,一天下來,僅 打到一隻火雞(turkey)和一隻鷓鴣(partridge)。白人盯著火雞,想把它據為己有,但又不敢直接說。於是假裝大方地對印第安人說:「如果你 想要火雞,就拿去吧!鷓鴣雖小了些,味道卻很鮮美;如果你喜歡鷓鴣,我就拿火雞了。」印第安人早已看穿了他的心思,於是針鋒相對地說:「你一直在跟我講火 雞,那好現在讓我也對你講講火雞吧!」後來人們就用talk turkey這一成語指「直率地說;談正經事;打開窗戶說亮話;開誠佈公」。(From Yahoo) 
Ex: Let's stop being polite and talking around the problem. Let's start to talk turkey

2. pigheaded (任性,固執,我行我素) 
Ex: Adam is so pigheaded that he never listens to anyone. He always does what he wants. 

3. chicken (膽小鬼,懦夫) 
典故: 因為小雞遇到危險 只會躲在母雞後面 
Ex: Richard is too chicken to go up the ladder. 

4. a bookworm (喜愛讀書者;書呆子)
Ex:
Howard reads twelve books a week. He's a real bookworm

5. as quiet as a mouse (悄然無聲; 鴉雀無聲) 
典故: quiet是形容詞,表「安靜的」,be as quiet as a mouse字面上的意思是「像老鼠一樣安靜」。老鼠總是偷偷摸摸地在夜裡行動,因此英語就用「像老鼠一樣安靜」來比喻「靜悄悄的,安靜到一點聲音也沒有 
Ex: When the teacher walked in the room, each student was reading a book as quiet as a mouse

6. as blind as a bat (看不清楚;心境上的盲目) 
典故: 蝙蝠晝伏夜出,牠們在飛行的時候並不使用視力,而是發出高頻率的聲音(人耳聽不到),這些聲波發出去後碰到物體會反射回來,蝙蝠們以反射的時間來估測與身 邊週遭物體的距離,始能安全的飛行,所以蝙蝠們並不太需要用到視力,視力當然就退化啦,因此as blind as a bat是形容一個人視力不好或者當然也可以用譬喻法來形容心境上的盲目 
Ex: I'm as blind as a bat without my glasses. 

7. to smell a rat (事有悉翹; 懷疑某事不對頭)
典故:
這句話是從當老鼠還是家常害蟲和傳染病帶原體的時期的時候流傳下來的. 當時人們都用狗的嗅覺來找到老鼠抓起來, 所以當狗到處在聞來聞去的時候就是有可能有聞到老鼠了. 這個意思被轉移到來說一個再懷疑某事不對頭的人 
Ex: I cloud smell a rat. Someone wanted to sell me a gold watch for five dollars. 

8. to work like a dog (努力工作) 
Ex: Javier has two jobs and goes to college. He works like a dog because he wants a good education. 


--
Joseph Wang

My Blog: http://myengteacher.blogspot.com

~~Seize the Day
Live the Day~~成功屬於堅持到最後的人

.★ * ★ .
.*★ *. * ★
★ *
★ .'
'*..
'` -...祝您每天都 happy!!!!