本栏目由李福兵原创编写，Eyre绘图。
我们经常遇到别人吊我们胃口的事儿。在英文中，有一个表达正与汉语表达中的“吊胃口”相对应，今天我们就来看一看。
Don’t leave Tommy hanging. Tell him what you’re thinking.
(译文：不要吊Tommy的胃口了，告诉他你正在想什么。)
片语leave someone/something hanging的意思就是我们常说的“吊某人胃口”或“某事没有了结局，让人猜疑，留有悬念。”Hang本意有“悬挂、悬吊”的意思，将某人(leave someone)悬吊起来，不就是暗指“吊某人胃口”吗？If you leave someone or something hanging, it means you don’t tell the truth, just for fun or other reasons.
在看下一个例子之前先学一个生词flock，它的意思是“成群结队而行”。
Last year, people around the world flocked to see the movie, the Lord of the Rings. But the end of the story left audiences hanging. The fans have been eagerly waiting for the next one in the series.
(译文：去年，全世界的人们都成群结队的去看电影：指环王。但结局却吊着观众的胃口，电影迷们殷切的期待着这个系列的续集。)
下面我们来介绍今天的第二个片语：stick up for our rights. 首先来看一个例句：
We won’t let our parents separate us from each other. We have decided to stick up for our rights.
(译文：我们不会让父母把我们彼此分开，我们决定维护自己的权利。)
stick up for someone/something的意思是“维护某人/某事，” stick up 原义是指“(树枝)竖起，立起，突起，”后演变成“为某人或某事辩护。”四川有句俗话叫“雄起”，是鼓励的意思。我想，这个片语有点类似吧! To stick up for someone means to defend someone who is being criticized, especially when no one else will defend them; to stick up for something means to try one’s best to protect it. Fox example:
Father was strict. When I did something wrong, he always criticized me sternly. In contrast, mother left no stone unturned to stick up for me.
(译文：父亲是严厉的。当我做错事时，他总是很严厉的批评我。相反母亲却千方百计的维护我。)
结束语: 第23讲我们曾经介绍了表达“维护某人利益”的片语，还记得吗，对了，是speak up for someone. 它与今天所介绍的stick up for someone有什么区别呢？ stick up for someone更强调通过辩论，争论而维护某人或某事。Speak up for someone 指为某人挺身而出，既可以指通过说话维护某人或某事，也可以指通过行动来维护某人或某事。路见不平，拔刀相助。作为朋友，有时会stick up for your rights但有时他们也会leave you hanging的。