1
法国有句谚语"L'heure entre chien et loup" 太阳下山,天色变暗的时候视觉也就变得模糊,分不清楚哪个是狗哪个是狼,哪个是朋友,哪个是敌人。
between dog and wolf
Between dusk and daylight.从早到晚
例子:What were you guys doing out between dog and wolf? You better not have been getting into trouble last night!
2.伊索寓言里有这样一个故事:
一只饥饿的狼四处寻觅食物。当他来到一家农舍时,突然听见小孩的哭声。一老太婆吓唬小孩说:“快别哭了,不然我马上把你丢出去喂狼。”狼听见了,信以为真,便站在门外等着。天渐渐地黑了,他又听见老太婆逗哄那小孩说:“好宝宝,如果有狼来,我就杀了他。”狼听了这话后,一边跑一边说:“这老太婆怎么说的是一套,做的又是另一套。”
如下的说法只取了故事前半段的意思。
throw someone to the dogs
throw someone to the wolves
Throw someone to the lions
舍人为己。为了保全自己而让别人承担责任。把别人送入虎口,当牺牲品。
例子
He served the evil empire well, but in the end, they threw him to the dogs.
Don't try to throw me to the wolves. I'll tell the truth about the whole affair!
The investigation was going to be rigorous and unpleasant, and I could see they were going to throw someone to the wolves.
同理,go to the dogs 就是毁坏、破坏、情况恶化
=Go to pot=go to hell
例子:
My whole life seems to be going to pot.
My lawn is going to pot. I had better weed it.
英语和汉语一样都有成语,都译成idiom,每个单词你都认识,但是合到一起的意思你不一定知道在讲什么。
除了用法、寓意,有的短语和谚语适合书面说法,有的只在口语中使用,有的涉及比喻,有的源自故事,有的是名人名言,有的英国人说,美国人不说,还有的不同的国家有不同的说法……
所以学短语和谚语是一件很有趣的事。希望你读我的系列文章不仅能够记住这些英文短语和谚语,而且能够从相关的故事中体会到异国文化,一些书本上没有,生活里必知的知识。
本文为原创,未经作者允许,不得转载,谢谢!