Friends英语赏析【43】施压 lean on somebody

本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写!

第四十三篇

Phoebe的新男友Gary是个警察,这天他答应带上Ross, Chandler和Joey一起去开车巡逻办案。

Ross: (to Gary) That was so cool man, the way you leaned on that guy.
Chandler: It is starting to get dark out there.
Ross: (to Gary) He told you everything! I mean you totally cracked him!
Gary: Yeah well, being that he was the victim, they’re usually pretty talkative.
Chandler: (laughing) Okay. (Deadpan) But it is officially nighttime.

【世博视角】

当警察免不了会质问嫌疑犯,碰上不合作的有时候还不得不威胁一下,Gary刚才就这么做了,这让在旁边看着的Ross对他大为欣赏,他夸Gary 说:That was so cool man, the way you leaned on that guy. 动词lean本身可以解释为“倾斜”或是“依赖”等,后面常常跟上介词on 或者against, 例如:

He was leaning on the bridge, watching the boats go by.
A huge mirror was leaning against the wall.

但在Ross所说的这句话中,lean on 显然不是“倾斜”或是“依赖”的意思,在口语中,lean on 可以用来表示对某人施压,或是威胁某人,例:

They won’t pay unless you lean on them.
The boss is leaning on us to meet the deadline.

你别说有时候lean on somebody这种方法还真是有效,Gary所质问的那个人马上就全招了,就像Ross所说的:He told you everything! I mean you totally cracked him! crack是“挤压”, “使…破裂”的意思,但它经常非正式地用来表示成功地解决了什么问题,如果是对人的话就表示压倒某人,如:

Detectives finally cracked the murder case.
His political enemies have never managed to crack him.

*本篇所讲到的表达法:

lean on somebody
crack

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