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2020/11/23第372期 |  訂閱/退訂  |  看歷史報份  |  LiveABC 官網
 
本周強推:

什麼?這些動物諺語是錯的!

 
延伸學習:

不要本末倒置。

 
英文充電站: 每日一句
 
活動快遞: 歡慶雙11購物節
 
You CAN Teach an Old Dog New Tricks
and Other Incorrect Sayings

Have you ever described something as “the bee’s knees”? It’s a common saying which means something is great or amazing. It also makes zero sense. Bees don’t even have knees, let alone great ones! In truth, the phrase was coined during the 1920s, when many similarly silly animal sayings like “the cat’s pajamas” were popular. But it’s not just our honey-making friends that we talk nonsense about.
Imagine playing soccer on a hot day. You’re dripping with sweat. One might say you’re “sweating like a pig.” But pigs don’t sweat like people. They can’t because they don’t have working sweat glands. The saying actually comes from iron smelting. A smelter would know that a piece of “pig iron,” a crude type of iron, was ready to move when it started to “sweat,” that is, water beads would form on its surface.
Another strange saying is “cute as a bug’s ear.” Bugs don’t really have ears that we can see, and what we can see certainly isn’t cute. This saying came about in the seventeenth century when “cute” meant “o hear well” which is without a doubt a more suitable term for sharp-eared bugs!

 
什麼?這些動物諺語是錯的!

你曾經將某事物描述為「蜜蜂的膝蓋」嗎?這是一句常見的諺語,意思是傑出或令人稱奇的事物。這一點也不合理。蜜蜂甚至沒有膝蓋,更不用說是傑出的膝蓋了!事實上,這個片語是在一九二○年代創造的,當時許多類似「貓的睡衣」(編注:指「極受尊敬或了不起的人或事物」)之類可笑的動物諺語很流行。但我們胡言亂語的諺語不只我們這些釀蜜的朋友。
想像一下在炎熱的天氣下踢足球。你滿身大汗。有人可能會說你「像豬一樣在流汗」。但豬並不會像人一樣流汗。牠們沒辦法,因為牠們沒有有作用的汗腺。這句諺語其實是來自煉鐵。冶煉工人知道當「生鐵」(一種粗鐵)開始「出汗」,也就是水珠在表面形成時,就可以準備移開了。
另一個奇怪的諺語是「像蟲的耳朵一樣可愛」。蟲的確沒有我們能看到的耳朵,而且我們看得到的絕對不可愛。這個說法出現在十七世紀,當時cute意思是「聽得很清楚」,這對於耳朵敏銳的蟲來說無疑是比較適合的詞彙!

《 詳細內文請翻閱NO.235 11月號Live互動英語雜誌 》
 
 
 

Don't put the cart before the horse.
不要本末倒置。

cart在此指以前運貨馬車中的車子,照理說拉車的馬是在車子前面,但把車子放到馬前面(put the cart before the horse)就違反了常規,用來指以錯誤的方式來做事或放錯重點。Don't put the cart before the horse. 這句話就常用於提醒人做事不要本末倒置。


提醒別人「按部就班」或是「不要操之過急」,英文則可以這樣說:

You have to walk before you can run.
你必須按部就班,一步一步來。
Don't get ahead of yourself.
不要操之過急,做你能力不及的事情。

========================================
A: I really want to quit my job.
我真的很想辭職。
B: Do you have another job lined up?
你有安排好別的工作了嗎?
A: No, but I can sort that out later.
沒有,但我可以之後再來處理這個問題。
B: Don’t put the cart before the horse. Find a new job first, then quit.
不要本末倒置。先找到新的工作再辭職。


 
2020/11/23 (一)

Try to breathe. I'll call the police. Maybe they can send an officer to check if there's anyone suspicious nearby.
試著深呼吸。我來報警。也許他們能派一名警員來查看附近是否有可疑的人。


2020/11/24 (二)

Let's go celebrate. Pick any restaurant you want. It's my treat!
我們去慶祝吧。挑任何一間妳想去的餐廳。我請客!


2020/11/25 (三)

Bees don't even have knees, let alone great ones!
蜜蜂甚至沒有膝蓋,更不用說是傑出的膝蓋了!


2020/11/26 (四)

If you find it difficult to read this sentence, some might say that you are blind as a bat, but they'd be wrong.
如果你覺得要閱讀這句話有困難,有人可能會說你跟蝙蝠一樣瞎,但他們錯了。


2020/11/27 (五)

When you're in a rush to make dinner, there's nothing more convenient than a frozen meal.
當你匆忙著要做晚餐時,沒有什麼比冷凍餐更方便的了。

 
 
 

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