
本栏目由李福兵原创编写,Eyre绘图。
在第三十三讲的结束语中,我曾给朋友们分享了那天和女友逛街买鞋子的事儿。女友叫我第二天陪她继续逛街买鞋子,我不能平静的接受(take something well), 所以告诉她我不能陪她了。没想到,话音一落,她就生气的走了。一会儿,她就从超市里买回来好多零食(junk food),一个人狼吞虎咽的吃起来(make a pig of herself)。最后,我对她说:
I can’t believe you ate all that junk food. You really made a pig of yourself!
(译文:我简直不敢相信你吃完了所有的零食,你真是狼吞虎咽呀!)
这里,片语make a pig of oneself 的意思是“狼吞虎咽。”与之意思相同的词有overeat, be edacious等。从字面上看,这个片语的意思是“某人一顿吃掉了一个猪”,即to eat a lot during a meal(in the way that a pig would be eaten),所以用来形容“狼吞虎咽”是不是很贴切呢?The idiom refers to someone who eats too much or eats more than their share. For example:
A: I don’t enjoy eating with Matt. He has no table manners at all.
B: Yeah, he makes a pig of himself every time he goes out.
(译文:
A:我不喜欢和麦特吃饭。他一点餐桌礼仪都没有。
B:对啊,他每次出去吃都狼吞虎咽的。)
女人要是生气了可不得了,她们中有的一生气就拼命的买零食来吃,有的则疯狂的买东西。幸亏我的那位喜欢的是前者,她要是也来个疯狂购物,我可就惨了!我想真是这样,我会沉不住气的。沉不住气在英文中我们可以用lose one’s cool来表达,看看下面的例句:
I lost my cool and goggled at Hans when he bothered me during my talking.
(译文:我沉不住气而瞪着Hans,(因为)他在我说话时打岔。)
cool有冷静、沉着的意思,顾名思义,片语lose one’s cool就是指一个人失去冷静,大发脾气的意思,相当于 get angry or upset. To lose one’s cool means to stop being calm in an annoying or frightening situation.
Sammy was a real gentleman who never lost his cool. But this time, you really offend him. I don’t know what he will do.
(译文:Sammy是很有绅士风度的一个人,他从来没有大发过脾气。不过这次你真的冒犯他了。我不知道他会怎么做。)
结束语:小时候家教很严。到亲戚朋友家做客,父母总是教育我们要注意礼仪,见面要及时称呼长辈,吃饭不能狼吞虎咽(make a pig of yourself), 说话不能太大声等等。曾经就有一次到大姨家做客,饭做晚了,肚子饿得不行,于是一开始就狼吞虎咽的。父亲瞪了我几眼,我全然不知。后来回到家里后的情况,你就可想而知了──父亲再也沉不住气了(lost his cool),给了我一阵封建礼教的奚落,最后还叫我自己去给他找根鞭子…,哎,我的悲惨世界!