分类： 英语习语趣谈

本栏目由李福兵原创编写，Eyre绘图。

兩淅淅沥沥的下着，油纸伞下漂亮的女孩转身而逝，只留下茫然的男主角望着她远去的背影…多感伤的分手!这是我们在电视剧里常见的分手镜头。对了你知道在英文中“分手”怎么说吗？

在英文中人们常用 break up with someone来表达“分手”的意思。Break 意思很多，主要指“打破、破裂或停止”，即stop，put an end to. Break up 本身也是一个片语，用的很普遍，指finish, stop happening. 从字面意义上一看，与某人的关系破裂了，意思就是指分手了。If you break up with someone, then you end a relationship with him or her, especial, when you are head over heels in love. 注意这里的介词用的是with!下面我们将看一个例子:

I never said a word about my decision to break up with her.
(译文：我从没有说过决定要和她分手的话。)

爱情是浪漫的，但婚姻却是现实的，看看下面这段话是如何描述的，之前，先介绍一个生词mortal blow，它的意思是“致命的打击”。

Rose and Jim have been dating for five years. There is a serious obstacle on the path to marriage though they like each other so much. As a painter, Jim has no big house and furniture. All in all, he has no money. He is afraid that Rose will break up with him, which can be a mortal blow.
 (译文：罗斯和吉米交往了五年，他们彼此都喜欢对方，但在结婚的路上有一个严重的障碍，作为一名画家，吉米没有大的房子和家具，总之没有钱，他想罗斯会与他分手的，那将是一个致命的打击。)

在第十三讲中，我们曾学过一个与 break相关的片语：break one’s word, 它的意思是“失言，不守信”。这里顺便复习一下。

下面我们来学习这一讲的第二个片语：cut the apron strings.
Apron指围在腰上的围裙，如果你每天做饭洗碗就不会对它陌生。从字面上讲，整个片语的意思是“切断围裙带，”这究竟是什么意思呢？大家知道，一个人想独立了，就不会再让别人为他们洗衣做饭。这正是这个片语意思的来源，我们可以翻译为“切断父母的影响，”即独立起来，不再依赖。看看英文解释：

An apron is something one wears in the kitchen in order to keep their clothes clean. A piece of cloth hangs in the front. Two strings are attached to the cloth and are tied around the body at the waist. Being tied to one’s mother’s apron strings means that you have not grown up or have not become independent of your mother. Therefore, to cut the apron strings means to become independent of one’s mother.

还是看看例句吧!

Our parents have much more knowledge and experience than we have, so we should respect their advice when deciding important things instead of cutting the apron strings.
(译文：父母有比我们更多的知识和经验，所以当作重大决定时我们应该听取他们的意见，而不是置之不理。)

注意，在这个翻译中我们用的是“置之不理”，而不是“切断父母的影响”，主要是文章翻译时作的修改，这样更符合汉语的习惯，其意思是相同的。

After Sam going abroad, he couldn’t deal with all things very well, and always called her mother every day. He couldn’t cut the apron strings.
(译文：Sam出国后，许多事情都不能处理，总是每天打电话给母亲，他不能切断父母的影响。)

结束语：今天我们学习了两个片语。Break up with someone意思是“分手。” cut the apron strings意思是“切断父母的。”响俗话说恋母情结的男人惹人烦，所以要独立起来，做一个自主的男人吧!

本栏目由李福兵原创编写，Eyre绘图。

万籁俱寂，夜深人静，窗外的细雨沙沙的打在梧桐树上，远方的亲人不知过得还好不好。家乡位于一个四面绕水的小岛上，想想生我养我的母亲河，童年的一幕幕映入脑海…离开故土故然心伤，然男儿志在四方，只是岁月匆匆，想起滔滔东逝的江水，不禁感叹：逝者如斯夫。

I always say when I have more time，I’d like to catch up on spending more time with my parents.
（译文：我总是说当我有更多时间的时候，我要赶出多点的时间陪陪女友。）

是的，时间就像流水一般，失去的不再来，所以一定要catch up on something you have to do. 对了，这里的catch up on something 意思是“赶上某事，赶赶时间把某事完成”。 Catch up 这个片语大家都知道是“追赶（come to; overtake）”的意思。如：You have to work hard in order to catch up with the rest of the class. 而catch up on something常指赶赶时间完成原本应该做而暂时没有做的事情。 The idiom means to do what needs to be done because you have not been able to do it until now. Fox example:

Now, I need to catch up on cleaning my bedroom, reading as well. But I think, the most important thing is to catch up on sleep. That’s the best bet.
(译文：现在我需要打扫我的寝室，赶一赶要读的书，但我想最重要的还是赶一赶睡眠，这是最佳选择。)

俗话说得好，时间就是袋子里的水，要靠挤才出得来。我们必须找出时间来catch up on something, 看看下面这个句子是如何鼓励我们的：

It’s not difficult to find extra time. I have the feeling the time to do may already be there if something to catch up on is truly important. The only thing we have to do is to track the time down.
（译文：找点额外的时间并不难，我有这样的感觉：如果一些需要赶赶时间来完成的事情很重要，时间总是有的。我们唯一要做的就是把它找出来。）

在这个例句中，我们看到了另一个片语track something down, 它的意思是“追查某事、寻找某物。”track是“足迹”的意思，我们知道，看到足迹就能追踪到留下足迹的人或动物，所以这个片语应该很好理解吧！它也可以写作track down something. To track someone or something down means to find them after a long difficult search, especially by following evidence that has been left behind.

让我们看一看英文解释：

Tracks are marks left in the ground by the feet of animals or people, or by the wheels of vehicles. If you track animals or people, you try to follow them by looking for the signs that they have left behind, like their tracks in the ground or other signs that they were there. To track someone or something down means to find them after a long difficult search as they didn’t want to be found. For example, police track criminals down. Investigators track the truth down.

从上面这段话我们可以看出，这个片语主要指通过一些努力，克服一些困难或根据一些证据、线索而查到、找到。接下来再看两个例子：

The police have tracked down the escaped convict.
（译文：警察已追捕到逃犯。）

I always tried to track down different restaurants to eat Chinese food when I was abroad.
（译文：当我在国外时总是尽力找些不同的地方品尝中国菜。）

结束语：在这一讲里，我们主要围绕时间话题为大家介绍了两个片语。catch up on something的意思是“赶上某事，”往往有补充、补偿的意味在里面，如赶作业，赶瞌睡等。Track something down的意思是“寻找某物、追查某事。”

本栏目由李福兵原创编写，Eyre绘图。

人们常说天生我才必有用，在英文中有一个描述人们业务较精，能力很强的片语与这个说法有点类似。这个片语是you’re a natural. natural当名词用时，是指“天生的专家，非常适合于……的人”，所以要称赞对方的能力很強，或是对某方面学有专精，表现优异时，你就可以夸奖他说you’re a natural. The idiom refers to someone who is good at doing something without having to try hard or practice. For example:

Toney, I can’t believe it. You spent two days working out your whole assignments for the summer vocation. You’re a natural.
(译文：托妮，我简直不能相信，你花了两天就把整个暑假作业做完了，真是个天才。)

相反地，若是对方做什么事都不行，完全没有天分可言，你就可以说You just don’t have it.所以一下子我们就学了两个片语呢。

Believe it or not, you just don’t have it, but Tom is a natural. He has been working hard to get his new company ready for opening in a foreign country. He not only placed an ad for workers in the newspaper，but also arranged interviews with some of them. All in all, things are really coming together!
(译文：信不信由你，你做什么事都不行，但Tom却是个天才。他很努力的在为外国的新公司开张做准备，他不但把招工广告打在报纸上，还安排和应聘者的面试，总之，一切真的是步上了轨道。)

上面这个例子中，我们又看到一个新的片语：Come together. 你知道它是什么意思吗？come是“来，来临，到达”的意思，together是“一起，共同”的意思，所以这个片语原义指“集合、相交、聚集在一起，”也常来形容对立双方消除分歧。但在上面的例句中，这个片语表示的意思是“所有的一切都步上轨道了，都准备就绪了。” when people have prepared well of all things they must do in order to try and achieve something, we can say they come together. 如：

Sydney’s Harbor Bridge, one of the most famous bridges in the world, looks so beautiful. I have decided nearly all the details to climb it. All are coming together nicely.
(译文：悉尼港口大桥，世界上最著名的大桥之一，看起来美极了。我已做好了攀登的各种准备，一切都步上了轨道。)

由于这个片语在表达“步上轨道”时往往指正在发生的事情，所以常用进行时态，如：

All things are coming together. I have ready prepared to go to visit my father-in-law.
(译文：一切都步上了轨道，我已经准备好去看望我的岳父了。)

结束语：在这一讲里，我们主要学习了两个片语。一个是you’re a natural, 意思是“你真是个天才。”下次奉承别人就可以用用它！第二个是come together, 意思是“准备好一切，一切都步上了轨道。”如果今天是重阳节，记得提上好酒好肉，让一切步上轨道去看看老丈人吧！