本栏目由李福兵原创编写，Eyre绘图。
兩淅淅沥沥的下着，油纸伞下漂亮的女孩转身而逝，只留下茫然的男主角望着她远去的背影…多感伤的分手!这是我们在电视剧里常见的分手镜头。对了你知道在英文中“分手”怎么说吗？
在英文中人们常用 break up with someone来表达“分手”的意思。Break 意思很多，主要指“打破、破裂或停止”，即stop，put an end to. Break up 本身也是一个片语，用的很普遍，指finish, stop happening. 从字面意义上一看，与某人的关系破裂了，意思就是指分手了。If you break up with someone, then you end a relationship with him or her, especial, when you are head over heels in love. 注意这里的介词用的是with!下面我们将看一个例子:
I never said a word about my decision to break up with her.
(译文：我从没有说过决定要和她分手的话。)
爱情是浪漫的，但婚姻却是现实的，看看下面这段话是如何描述的，之前，先介绍一个生词mortal blow，它的意思是“致命的打击”。
Rose and Jim have been dating for five years. There is a serious obstacle on the path to marriage though they like each other so much. As a painter, Jim has no big house and furniture. All in all, he has no money. He is afraid that Rose will break up with him, which can be a mortal blow.
(译文：罗斯和吉米交往了五年，他们彼此都喜欢对方，但在结婚的路上有一个严重的障碍，作为一名画家，吉米没有大的房子和家具，总之没有钱，他想罗斯会与他分手的，那将是一个致命的打击。)
在第十三讲中，我们曾学过一个与 break相关的片语：break one’s word, 它的意思是“失言，不守信”。这里顺便复习一下。
下面我们来学习这一讲的第二个片语：cut the apron strings.
Apron指围在腰上的围裙，如果你每天做饭洗碗就不会对它陌生。从字面上讲，整个片语的意思是“切断围裙带，”这究竟是什么意思呢？大家知道，一个人想独立了，就不会再让别人为他们洗衣做饭。这正是这个片语意思的来源，我们可以翻译为“切断父母的影响，”即独立起来，不再依赖。看看英文解释：
An apron is something one wears in the kitchen in order to keep their clothes clean. A piece of cloth hangs in the front. Two strings are attached to the cloth and are tied around the body at the waist. Being tied to one’s mother’s apron strings means that you have not grown up or have not become independent of your mother. Therefore, to cut the apron strings means to become independent of one’s mother.
还是看看例句吧!
Our parents have much more knowledge and experience than we have, so we should respect their advice when deciding important things instead of cutting the apron strings.
(译文：父母有比我们更多的知识和经验，所以当作重大决定时我们应该听取他们的意见，而不是置之不理。)
注意，在这个翻译中我们用的是“置之不理”，而不是“切断父母的影响”，主要是文章翻译时作的修改，这样更符合汉语的习惯，其意思是相同的。
After Sam going abroad, he couldn’t deal with all things very well, and always called her mother every day. He couldn’t cut the apron strings.
(译文：Sam出国后，许多事情都不能处理，总是每天打电话给母亲，他不能切断父母的影响。)
结束语：今天我们学习了两个片语。Break up with someone意思是“分手。” cut the apron strings意思是“切断父母的。”响俗话说恋母情结的男人惹人烦，所以要独立起来，做一个自主的男人吧!