月度归档： 2022年8月

本栏目由李福兵原创编写，Eyre绘图。

中国有句俗语叫勤俭持家。记得小时候，父亲每次看我碗里剩下一粒饭也会不厌其烦的告诉我“浪费就是最大的犯罪，从小就应养成省吃俭用的好习惯。”今天我们就来看看与之相关的表达──“省吃俭用”用英文该怎么说。之前先看一个句子:

Our colleges have tightened their belts and are giving fewer scholarships than before because of the fewer student resources.
(译文：因为生源不足，我们学校已经缩减开支，给的奖学金比以前少多了。)

在这个句子中，Tighten one’s belt意思就是“缩减开支，勒紧腰带度日，节衣缩食，省吃俭用。”Tighten 是个动词，相当于become tighter or firmer or make something tighter. Belt大家都知道是”带子，带状物”的意思，所以Tighten one’s belt从字面上看就是指“勒紧腰带”，引申为“勤俭过日。” To tighten one’s belt means to begin to exercise thrift and frugality, that is to say trying to spend less money than someone used to. Fox example:

My father lost his job. Since now we have to tighten our belts，But our families will not lower our head to fate. We’ll pull up our socks.
(译文：父亲失去了工作，从现在起我们必须要勒紧腰带度日了，但家人不会向命运低头，我们会奋发图强。)

在上面的例句中我们又看到一个新的片语：Pull up one’s socks. 从小老师不就教导我们要为中华之崛起而读书，要不屈不挠，奋发图强吗？这个片语的意思正是“奋发图强”。来看看下面这个例句：

Gred decided to pull up his socks. He would never gamble again.
(译文：Gred决定奋发图强不再赌博了。)

pull up socks 本意是“把袜子拉起来，”引申为“多加把劲，努力改进，奋发图强”的意思。If you pull up your socks or pull your socks up, then you make an effort to improve your behavior or your work. 其实每当人伤心失落的时候最没有斗志的，每当这时你就应该打起精神，不要沉沦下去，凡事看看有利的一面。看看下面这句话是怎样说的：

Rose has broken up with Jim, but Jim doesn’t abandon. He pulls up his socks and works hard at his job.
(译文：Rose 和Jim分手了，但Jim 并没有放弃，他奋发图强，努力的工作。)

结束语：俗话说创业难，人人创业时总是勒紧腰带度日的(tighten one’s belt)，父母也是tighten their belts才把我们拉扯大的，所以我们要勤奋学习(pull up our socks to study)。注意这里的socks一般使用的是复数，因为袜子一般是成对的。

本栏目由李福兵原创编写，Eyre绘图。

在古装武侠小说中，那种为朋友两肋插刀的英雄豪杰很令人佩服，而英语中也有类似的表达。今天我们就向大家介绍一个：Give someone the shirt off one’s back.
片语give someone the shirt off one’s back意思是“竭尽所能的帮助某人。”你看，把自己的衬衫都给了别人，衣服都脱完，背都露出来了，是不是算得上竭尽所能了？If you give someone the shirt off your back, you must try your best to help him or her when he or her is in trouble. 如：

Gord is a kind and generous man. He’d like to give people the shirt off his back. Once a co-worker got really sick, Gord gave a lot of money to him.
(译文：Gord是个心地善良且慷慨的人，他会竭尽所能的帮助别人的。他的一个同事曾经病得很重，他就给了许多钱给那个同事。)

朋友们可能有这样的感慨，朋友很多，但真心的没有几个。真正的朋友是能在你最需要他的时候出现的朋友，看看下面这个句子是怎样说的：

A true friend is someone who’ll give you the shirt off his back when you are in all kind of serious troubles.
(译文：一个真正的朋友是会在你遇到各种困难的时候竭尽所能的帮助你的。)

所谓患难真情(a friend in need is a friend indeed)只有在你需要的时候才看得出来。有时朋友还会为你奉献完他的全部财产，赔上了一切包括自己的生命(lose his shirt)。这里lose one’s shirt正是今天我们要向朋友们介绍的第二个片语。

先看一个例句：

Tim got a great success in his business and earned more money. But money burned a hole in his pocket. Not long ago, he began gambling at card games. Now he has lost his shirt.
(译文：Tim在生意上取得了很大的成功，但钱在口袋里留不住。不久前他开始赌扑克牌，现在已经分文不剩了。)

To lose one’s shirt means to lose all his money and property for some reasons. 让我们再发挥一下我们的想象力吧(let our imagination run wild)! 如果一个人连shirt都没有(lose)了，你说他穷不穷呢？

现在让我们再看另一个例子：之前先复习一下burn a hole in one’s pocket这个片语，在前面几讲我们介绍过的，它的意思是“钱在口袋里留不住。”

Bart was sentenced to five years in jail for accounting cheats. And he has lost his shirt now. He is deeply repentant of it. 
 (译文：Bart因财务欺诈而被判入狱五年，一切都完了，他非常后悔。)

结束语：人都会犯错误的，关键是要知过悔改。这不，Bart入狱后，他的父母并没有放弃对他的关心，鼓励他重新做人。他也决定奋发图强，出狱后，勒紧腰带重新创业。在下一讲里我们就要介绍“奋发图强”和“勒紧腰带”在英文中该怎么说。

本栏目由李福兵原创编写，Eyre绘图。

今天我们要介绍的第一个片语是keep something under one’s hat. 它的意思是keep something secret，即隐瞒某事。我们可以从字面上理解这个片语：朋友们想想，如果我们把某物放在帽子里，或把某物放在帽子下使之被遮住，不正是“隐瞒“的意思吗？

Greg leaked information about his company to a competitor for getting more pay. Although he tried to keep it under his hat, finally, his boss found out and called the police.
(译文：Greg 为了获得许多钱，泄露了他们公司的信息给竞争者，虽然他尽力隐瞒，但最后他的老板还是发现了并报了警。)

结婚纪念日就要来临了，如果你邀请你的朋友共同为你的爱人准备了一个特别的礼物，这时你就可以用上下面这句话了：

Please keep the news under your hat. I’ll give my dear a surprise.
(译文：请保守这个消息，我将给爱人一个惊喜。)

也许朋友们有这样的经历：在淅淅沥沥的小雨中，偶然邂逅一位温柔的女孩，于是思念便潮水般涌来，没有心思学习，没有心思工作。多年后的现在，你才觉得从开始的那一刻起压根就不应该让自己陷入那种相思之中。对了，片语start something off on the wrong foot正好表达这个意思，指 “某事一开始就错了”。看看下面这个句子。

Rose and Jim have been dating for a year, but Rose’s parents don’t think Jim is the right guy for their daughter. So Rose doesn’t want to start their marriage off on the wrong foot by displeasing her parents.
(译文：罗斯和吉米已经交往了一年，但罗斯父母认为吉米不适合他们的女儿。所以罗斯并不想惹父母不高兴而使他们的婚姻没有好的开始。)

start something off on the wrong foot相当于to begin in the wrong way. 可以译为“一开始就错了”或“没有好的开始”。 这个片语是从“舞蹈领域”中得来的──如果两个人刚开始跳舞时都使用左脚或右脚，不就脚碰脚了吗？一开始就错了!下面这段话是对这个片语的解释，让我们来看看：

In social dancing, the man usually starts on the left foot, while the woman starts on the right foot. If one of them doesn’t do this, then they may end up stepping on each other’s feet. So they are in trouble from the very beginning. So to start something off on the wrong foot means to start something by already doing something wrong at the very beginning. This puts you in a bad position or at disadvantage. It makes what you are doing even harder than it might happen if you started it off on the right foot.

再看一个句子：

Today is the first day I go to work. I don’t want to be late and start my new job off on the wrong foot.
(译文：今天是我上班的第一天，我不想迟到，从而使自己一参加工作就没有好的开始。)

结束语：朋友写了首诗寄给了我：尘封往事，历历在目，提起笔，却无从写起…轻轻推窗而望，夜深人静，唯有晚风摇动一树相思…从认识她的那一天开始，我的世界便开始了漫长的等待，为一种没有结束的等待而等待。也许这一开始就是一个错误(I start my feeling about you off on the wrong foot!)。我这样回信：朋友，天涯何处无芳草，勇敢的面对人生，坦诚的面对自己，不要试图隐瞒(keep something under one’s hat)心中的那团爱的烈火，希望能早日找到属于你的伴侣!