月度归档： 2022年9月

本栏目由李福兵原创编写，Eyre绘图。

对美国的州长竞选，我唯一的印象就是马克吐温笔下丑陋而尴尬的情形。在英文中有一些片语的由来就与美国的州长竞选有关。比如由于竞选者在演说中被鸡蛋击中这一现象就出现了一个比较传神的片语：have egg on one’s face.

Gerry once claimed to be the best worker in the office, but that time, he failed to work out a task. He really had egg on his face.
（译文：Gerry曾声称是办公室里最好的员工，但那次他却没有完成任务，真是丢脸。）

Have egg on one’s face的意思是“极为丢脸，狼狈不堪”。在美国，当州长竞选候选人在公开发表演讲时，有些反对候选人的人为使其当众出丑，常向候选人扔鸡蛋，使其狼狈不堪，这就形成了表示“极为狼狈”的片语：have egg on one’s face. If someone, especially someone in authority, has egg on their face, they have been made to look stupid by something embarrassing. For example:

He had got 40 points himself during a basketball match. He thought he would become a great hero in his team, but he ended up having egg on his face.
（译文：他在一场篮球比赛中独自获得40分，他想他将成为队中的英雄，结果却以狼狈收场。）

昨天下班感觉很累，所以去做了一下头部按摩，可临走前发现自己没有带钱包，真是have egg on my face呀! 最后我向老板许下“明日补上”的诺言，老板也相信我不是一个违背诺言的人。 “违背诺言”在英文中我们常用breach of faith来表示，但今天我们要向大家介绍另一个表达方法：fly in the face of something. 先看下面的例句：
 
I didn’t believe everything he said because what he said flied in the face of all the evidence.
(译文：我不相信他说的所有话因为他说的全都违背所有的事实。)

片语fly in the face of something的意思是“违背”。fly有飞越、逃脱的意思，用在这个片语是为了加强语气。The idiom means to be the opposite of what most people think is reasonable, sensible, or normal. 注意，它常含有“公然违抗、悍然不顾”的意思。For example:

I find this hard to believe since it flies in the face of all the principles of game.
(译文：我发现这真难以置信，因为它违背了所有的游戏规则。)

结束语：今天路过新华书店时参与了一项万人拒绝盗版的签名活动。我平生最痛恨的就是盗版的东西了，这些制作盗版的人们简直违背（fly in the face of something）了最起码的良心。所以每当看到他们被打击得狼狈不堪（have egg on one’s face）的时候，心里就很痛快。

本栏目由李福兵原创编写，Eyre绘图。

现实生活中人们的性格是各种各样的，有的豪放，有的内向，有的慷慨。我的一位朋友就很“梗直”，总是直接向别人表达他自己的看法，毫不隐瞒。

Hank, one of my friends, is very frank. He always says words from his heart to everyone’s face.
(译文：我的一位朋友Hank很率真。他总是把心里话直接告诉别人。)

这里我们看到一个片语say something to someone’s face，它的意思是“直接向某人说某事”。Face本来是指脸部，把一些事情放在脸上当然就容易看出来啦，所以这个片语用来表示“直接明了地把某事向某人说明，一点也不隐瞒”。注意，当我们用这个片语时常含有不太情愿的感情色彩在里面。To say something to someone’s face is to criticize someone or say something unpleasant directly to them instead of saying it to someone else, for example, if you were not welcome, you knew others wanted you to get out of the house even though they didn’t say it to your face.

再看一个例句：

I’d never say it to her face, but her new dress really looks terrible!
(译文：我永远也不会直接告诉她。但她的新裙子确实看起来糟糕透了！)

同事最近给我介绍了一位女友，那天一同吃过晚饭后，他们叫我带她到本单位的生活区走一走，又是八月十五，花前月下，甚是惬意。不料，她突然惊叫一声。我一看，天!是一条蛇。下意识的，我一手就抓住了那条蛇的也不知是什么部分，只是感觉到抓到了它，但根本就不敢看，我想这次我是死定了。尽管如此，我还是假装很勇敢的样子，毕竟是在女生面前嘛。对了，这里的“假装很勇敢”在英文中有一个比较传神的表达：put on a brave face:

When I saw a snake winding to bushes, I was putting on a brave face, but actually I was quite scared.
(译文：当看到一条蛇缠绕在灌木丛中时，我假装很勇敢，但实际上我很害怕。)

片语put on a brave face的意思是“假装很勇敢”。Put on是我们熟悉的片语，除了“穿上衣服”的意思外，还在“装出，假装”的意思，所以片语put on a brave face意思就是“装出一副勇敢的面孔”。这个片语常用来表示做出表情，以不让别人看出他的懦弱尤其是不让别人看出他的痛苦或担忧等。To put on a brave face is to pretend that you are happy when you are really very upset or worried. For example:
 
The president put on a brave face yesterday and struggled to get back to normal after last week’s poisoning affair.
(译文：上个星期的中毒事件后，昨天校长假装若无其事并且极力的恢复常态。)

结束语：最后我才知道那条蛇是条假蛇，是同事故意捉弄我的。他看到我吓变了色的脸，毫不隐晦（says it to my face）的告诉我，他是为了考验我的胆量才开的这个玩笑。不过毕竟我假装很勇敢（put on a brave face）的样子还是博得那位姑娘的好感。

本栏目由李福兵原创编写，Eyre绘图。

现实生活中总有一些人由于急剧增长的名誉或取得的重要成就而骄傲起来，这时他们就可能栽个跟头了。看看下面的句子是如何描述这种情形的：

The football player is great. They say, “Pride goes before a fall”. Years of constant success and popularity are about to blow up in his face.
(译文：这名足球运动员是很优秀的。有句话说“骄傲在失败之前”。多年来长久的成功和声望就要使他栽跟头了。)

这里的片语blow up in someone’s face的意思是“使某人栽跟头或使某人做事失败”。这个片语主要用来描述突然间的、没有预期到的做事失败或栽了跟头。If something you have done or planned to do blows up in your face, it suddenly goes wrong. 再看一个例句：

Harry is very proud of herself. She always tells others that she is the best one. But now, it is kind of funny watching the presentation blow up in her face.
(译文：Harry很骄傲，她总是告诉别人她是最好的。但现在看到她难堪的样子真是有趣。)

正如汉语中的一句名言所言“骄傲使人落后”。很明显，骄傲之后接踵而来的就是跟头了。对了这里的“很明显”，我们可以用一个相对复杂一点的片语来表示：as plain as the nose on one’s face. For example:

Harry is one of the best players. That is as plain as the nose on your face. But he doesn’t deserve all the credit for the great progress our team has made. Other players worked hard too.
(译文：Harry是最好的选手之一, 那是很明显的。但我们不该把球队取得的巨大进步归功于他一个。其他选手也做得很努力。)

片语as plain as the nose on one’s face的意思是“很明显、很明显的”。Plain本来就有“简单清楚，明白朴素的”之意，所以从字面上看这个片语的意思就是指“像某人脸上突起的鼻子一样清晰明白的”，这就是我们常说的“很明显、很明显的”之意了。If you say something is as plain as the nose on one’s face, you mean it’s very clear. For example:

He is very nervous. That is as plain as the nose on your face, because he stands awkwardly in front of the microphone for several minutes and says nothing.
(译文：很显然地，他十分紧张,因为他在麦克风前局促不安地站了好几分钟而没有说一句话。)

结束语：在英文写作中我们有时需要用不同的词汇来表达同一个意思，这样的文章才显得生动。很显然的（as plain as the nose on one’s face），当我们表达“很显然的”意思时，我完全可以用it is very clear，也可以用it is obviously，但在一篇多处需要表达这个意思的文章中，如果你总是使用这两个简单的片语就易栽跟头了（blow up in one’s face）。请记住还有另一个表达as plain as the nose on one’s face，注意，它是个副词片语，而且在句子中一般起插入语的作用。