一日一成语【27】sugar the pill

sugar the pill

pill—药片。药是谁都不喜欢吃的东西，因为大家都知道药总是苦的，但是如果在药片外面包上一层糖衣，那么吃起来就不觉其苦了。sugar解作“糖”，但在这个成语中它转化为动词，意即：“包上糖衣”。在生活中常会有一些令人不快、难以接受的事，这样的事就好比是难以入口的苦药，如果人们把话说得好听一些，那就好比给这颗苦药涂上了一层糖衣。除了sugar这个动词外，另外还有一个动词gild(镀金)也可以用：

The slow students are reluctant to go the remedial class designed specially for them. The principal has to sugar the pill by saying that the purpose of such a class is to give the students more chances to practise with the help of a more experienced teacher.
那些成绩较差的学生都不太乐意到那个专为他们而设的辅导班去，校长不得不说些好话，他说这个班的目的是在有经验的老师的帮助下给学生更多的实践机会。

As the next section in the history textbook is especially dull, the teacher, just to gild the pill, is going to show a film related to that section.
由于历史书中下一节的内容特别枯燥，老师决定放一部有关的电影以提高大家的兴趣。