英语习语趣谈【63】难以抗拒 Live up to & Make someone an offer he/she can’t refuse

本栏目由李福兵原创编写,Eyre绘图。

西班牙皇家马德里足球俱乐部成功买进贝克汉姆,这下俱乐部可谓群星璀璨了。六个大牌球员转会费超过二个亿,我想他们应该不会辜负俱乐部夺冠的希望吧。看看下面的句子是如何说的:

These famous football players will try their best to live up to the goals of taking championship.
(译文:这些著名的球员将尽力达到夺冠的目标。)

这里live up to的意思是 “不辜负(某人要求),达到(某人期望)”。 If something or someone lives up to a particular standard or promise, they do as well as they were expected to, do what they promised etc,especially, it means to finish something well after trying hard. For example:

There is no way I can live up to your expectations. I’m not perfect.
(译文:我没有办法不辜负你的期待。我并不完美。)

很多人都不理解贝克汉姆,为什么好好的曼联队长不当,偏要到“皇马”?可能是那一份优厚的待遇让他难以拒绝吧!就像当年的篮球明星奥尼尔与洛杉矶湖人队签订了为期七年的合约一样。

In July 1996, the Los Angeles Lakers made Shaquille O’Neal an offer he couldn’t refuse. He signed a seven-years $120 million contract with them.
(译文:洛杉矶湖人队在1996年7月给奥尼尔一纸他难以拒绝的优厚条件,跟他签下了薪资1.2亿美元的七年合约。)

在这个句子中片语make someone an offer he/she can’t refuse的意思是“提供给某人难以拒绝的优厚条件”。If you make someone an offer he/she can’t refuse, especially, you offer them a great number of money so that they can’t refuse to do what you want them to do. 再看一个例子:

Tom made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He asked me to trade his computer for my old cell phone. He must be crazy!
(译文:Tom给我提供了一个我难以拒绝的条件,他要我用我的旧手机交换他的电脑。他一定是疯了!)

结束语:今天讲了两个片语。一个是live up to 指“达到期望,不辜负”的意思,注意在“不辜负”中,已经包含有否定的意思,所以句子不需要再用否定形式来表达否定概念了。第二个片语是make someone an offer he/she can’t refuse意思是“提供某人难以拒绝的优厚条件”。现在社会竞争很激烈,不过只要有真正的本领,很多公司都会给你提供一个你难以拒绝的优厚条件!所以从今天起就奋发图强吧!

发表回复

您的电子邮箱地址不会被公开。 必填项已用*标注