世博习惯用语【28】On Pins And Needles 如坐针毡

On Pins And Needles

Definition: to be very nervous about something happening

【世博精解】

在中文我们说很急切、很紧张地想知道某事进行的情况，会用“如坐针毡”，而英文则说“如坐针钉”：Be on pins and needles. 当你很紧张地等待某件事情的结果时，你可能就会on pins and needles,如：We’re on pins and needles waiting to hear whether she got the job. 或者，当你担心可能会有坏事发生时，你也可能很紧张，胆战心惊，不知如何是好，e.g. Dad lost his way today and it has him in such a bad mood that our whole family is on pins and needles. 其实，还有一个惯用语叫做 have pins and needles, (If someone has pins and needles in a part of their body they feel slight sharp pains in it, usually just after they have moved from being still in one position for a long time).它和紧张没什么关系，指的是因缺乏血循环，使身体某位部麻木而造成的不适感，也就是我们平常说的“发麻”，比如说 I’ve been sitting on my leg for the last hour and now I’ve got pins and needles in my foot.

Example dialog :

A: Hi, how are you doing at work?
嗨，工作怎么样？

B. There had been a rumor that someone was going to get fired, but we didn't know whom it would be; so the whole office was on pins and needles all day.
据说公司有人要被开掉，可我们又不知道是谁，所以办公室的人成天都坐立不安的。