一日一成语【79】play ducks and drakes with

play ducks and drakes with

duck这个词大家都知道是“鸭子”的意思，但未必知道duck指的是“母鸭”，相对的“公鸭”，即是drake。Play ducks and drakes是一种大多数孩子都玩过的游戏，它和鸭子无关，却和水有关，在河滩边或湖边，孩子们在地上捡一些小石片，然后往水面上扔，比谁的石片在水面上跳得远。这种游戏就是play ducks and drakes。但加上介词with，作为一个成语来用，play ducks and drakes with却具有“挥霍，滥用”的意义。间或也有人说play at ducks and drakes with或用动词make来代替play的：

Right after his father’s funeral, he started to play ducks and drakes with the money he had come into.
他父亲的丧事刚办完，他就开始挥霍他所继承的钱。

We should make the best use of the limited fund we have raised. No one is supposed to play ducks and drakes with it.
我们应该好好使用筹集到的有限的基金，谁都不应随意滥用。

If we go on making ducks and drakes with the natural resources on earth, we’ll soon have to pay for our irresponsible actions.
如果我们再这样滥用地球上的自然资源，很快我们就要自食恶果。