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为牲口准备冬天的饲料是农民夏天的一项重要工作。他们收割已经长高了的草,把它们铺开晒乾,然后再把它们捆起来入库作为牲畜冬天的饲料。及时完成这项工作是很重要的,因为乾草要是淋了雨,它们就会发霉。美国有这样一句成语:to make hay while the sun shines。这句成语的原意是:乘有太阳的时候,赶快把饲料准备好。美国人经常把这一说法缩短成为:to make hay。To make hay在用作俗语的时候,它 的意思就和准备饲料没有什么太大关系了。它的意思就是:看到赚钱的机会就尽量从中获利。我们来举一个例子吧。这个说话的人因为汽油涨价而感到很生气。

例句-1: "If you ask me, some oil companies are really making hay out of the Gulf crisis. They keep raising the price of a gallon of gas, even though the experts say there"s enough gas to go around if people don"t get greedy."

这个人说:“要是你问我啊,我告诉你,有些石油公司乘着海湾危机而大发其财。他们不断抬高每加伦汽油的价钱,尽管那些专家们说,只要人们不太贪心,汽油供应是足够的。”

我们再给大家举一个 to may hay的例子。这是一个人认为一个新的电脑公司的股票会使他赚很多钱,他正在劝他的朋友买这个股票。

例句-2: "I tell you, the smart thing is to buy as much stock as you can afford. You want to make hay before everybody hears about it and the stock doubles in price."

他说:“我告诉你,尽你的能力买,这是聪明的做法。你要在别人还没有听说这个股票之前就赚一大笔钱。等到人家都知道了,股票的价格就会加倍。”

美国的农民一般都是用一根细的铁丝把乾草一捆捆地捆起来。这种捆乾草的铁丝在英文里叫做:haywire。每当一个农民要喂牲口的时候,他就用斧头把铁丝砍断。可是,要是他不小心的话,铁丝可能会弹起来,铁丝的尖端还会刮破他的皮肤和衣服。铁丝这种四处乱弹乱跳的现象就形成了美国人常用的一个俗语,也就是:to go haywire。

To go haywire的意思就是:一个人非常生气,以致于无法控制自己。有些人平时看来脾气很好,从来也不会发火。可是,每个人都有个限度,超过了限度,谁都会发火。下面说话的这个人的哥哥就是这样。

例句-3: "Usually my brother is the calmest man I know. But when he saw this kid trying to steal his new car, he really went haywire. He chased the kid down the street, tackled him and sat on him until the police showed up. He"s lucky the kid didn"t have a knife!"

这人说:“我哥哥一般来说是我认识的人当中最沈着镇静的一个。但是当他看到那孩子想偷他那辆新车的时候,他真是火冒三丈。他一直追到街那头才抓到那孩子,然后就骑在他身上,一直等到丨警丨察来才罢休。算他运气,那孩子身上没带刀子。”

美国人很喜欢养狗。狗虽然可爱,但有时也会给你带来麻烦。下面是一个人回到家发现他的狗把家俱啃坏了。他对一个朋友说:

例句-4: " I tell you I was so mad when I saw what the dog had done. I"m afraid I went haywire: I rolled up a newspaper to swat him with and chased him all over the house."

这个人说:“我告诉你,当我看到我那条狗干了什么的时候,我真是火极了,当时我恐怕已经控制不住自己了。我把报纸卷起来,满屋子追着打它。”

上面这个例句里用了一个大家恐怕不太熟悉的字:swat。Swat就是用力打的意思。

今天我们给大家介绍了两个和hay这个字有关的习惯用语。 一个是:to make hay while the sun shines,简短的说法就是 to make hay;另一个习惯用语是 to go haywire。

To make hay while the sun shines 或者 to make hay,意思就是:尽量利用有利可图的时机来赚钱。To go haywire就是一个人非常生气,以致难以控制自己。

日期:2007-10-31 9:53:59

流行美语第121课

今天Larry和李华花了大半天时间在购物中心里,采购圣诞礼物。今天李华会学到两个常用语:to be beat和to O.D. on something.

LL: The mall was so crowded! I"m totally beat from fighting the crowds all day long.

LH: 就是啊!我从来没有看过这么多人一块儿逛街。哎,Larry,你刚才说I"m beat,是不是说我们挤在人群里的时候,有人打你啊?

LL: No, nobody hit me. The expression "I"m beat" means, "I"m exhausted."

LH: 噢,原来I"m beat,不是打的意思,而是累坏了。其实,我也好累。你想想我们在这儿花了6个小时耶,怎么可能不累。

LL: It would only have taken two hours at most if we didn"t have to spend so much time waiting in line to pay for things. I bet the sales people are really beat by the end of the day.

LH: 你说的没错,光是付钱,我们就花了很多时间排队。我看那些售货员一天下来肯定累坏了。

LL: Well, I"m glad I don"t work in a store. I"m so beat that I think I"m going to go to bed very early tonight. What about you?

LH: 我也累死了,今晚可能也得早点睡。嘿!Larry, 如果我逛街逛累了,是不是能说shopping beat me?

LL: No, you can only say, "I"m beat from shopping."

LH: 噢,这么说,下星期我要准备期末考试,我应该说:Next week, I"ll be beat from studying for my final exams.

LL: Please, don"t mention exams. I"m beat just thinking about studying for them.

LH: 哎,Larry,你也别这么想嘛!准备的时候是很累,可是考试考的得好,不也是很高兴的事嘛!

LL: That"s true. I hope my family members appreciate the effort I put into finding their Christmas presents.

LH: 你花了那么大功夫买来的礼物,你家人一定会喜欢的。唉!我们俩都累了,还是回家吧。明天见咯!

******

LH: 嘿, Larry, 你好一点了吗?还是你仍然觉得累呢?

LL: I"m afraid I"m not feeling much better. I caught a cold and then I O.D.ed on cold medicine. Now, I feel really tired and spacey.

LH: 什么,你感冒啦?你还说你O.D.了一些感冒药。那是什么意思?严不严重啊?

LL: "To O.D. on something" is short for "to overdose on something."

LH: O.D.就是服药过量啊?那不是很危险吗?你是不是该去医院检查一下啊?

LL: No, don"t worry. Usually, O.D.ing on medicine or drugs is very serious, but I probably took a little bit too much cold medicine, not enough to hurt me.

LH: Oh, 那就好!你刚才真把我吓一跳。其实我也不太舒服。我看了好几个小时的书,现在头好疼呢!

LL: Hey, please don"t mention exams and studying. I don"t even want to think about exams now that I have a cold!

LH: 好啦!我不再提念书和考试了嘛!Larry, 也许你应该少吃些感冒药,多多睡觉。这样或许会感觉好一些。

LL: I think O.D.ing on some more sleep is a good advice, it"s probably the only way I"m going to get through exams with a cold.

LH: 那好,如果你想多睡觉多休息,我可要多叫点比萨来吃,我快饿坏了!

LL: I wouldn"t mind having some pizza, too. Order enough for both of us.

LH: Larry, 如果你还能感觉肚子饿,那你肯定没有病的太严重啦!

今天李华学到两个常用语,第一个是to be beat,意思是因为做某件事而累坏了,就是to be beat from something。第二个常用语是to O.D. on something,意思是对某个东西服用过量。

日期:2007-11-1 9:17:26

「美国习惯用语」第一百二十二讲

the last straw

to sow one"s wild oats

我们曾经在[美国习惯用语]节目中讲过由hay这个字组成的常用语,今天我们要给大家介绍两个和straw这个字有关的俗语。 Hay和straw都可以解释为草。但是,它们之间是有区别的。Hay是专门为做饲料而种的草,而straw就是一般的稻草。美国农民有时也用稻草喂牲口,但是总比不上饲料那末好。

大家都知道,骆驼是非常强壮的动物,一般来说,一只骆驼可以驮五百公斤重的东西。但是,要是你不断往它背上加东西的话,这只骆驼到了一定程度就会达到它所能承受的饱和点,那怕再多加一根稻草也会使它承受不了而垮台。这就是我们今天要给大家介绍的第一个俗语:the straw that breaks the camel"s back。The straw that breaks the camel"s back,意思就是:那根压断了骆驼背的稻草。现在,人们经常把它简化为:the last straw。我们来举一个例子。这是一个非常生气的妻子在对她的丈夫说话:

例句-1: "All these years I"ve tried to be a good wife, even though you"re lazy, you drink too much and half of the time don"t even have a steady job. But when I find out you are spending money on another woman, that"s the last straw! I want you out of my house right now and I never want to see you again."

这位太太说:“这些年来,尽管你很懒,喝酒过度,还经常没有固定的工作,但我一 直尽力做一个贤惠的妻子。可是,当我发现你把钱化在另一个女人身上的时候,这就使我无法忍受了。你给我马上出去,我永远也不要再见到你了。”

有的人听了这句话可能会对这位太太说:“你早该如此啦!可是,在美国,妇女承担养家活口重担的事并不少见。

让人无法忍受的事情有大有小。下面是一个学生在说为什么他把和他同屋住的同学赶了出去。

例句-2: "I put up with a lot from this guy. He borrowed my clothes, he borrowed my money, he borrowed my tennis racket. But when I caught him using my toothbrush that was the last straw, so I kicked him out!"

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