第28讲 远在天边 近在眼前 Squeeze in something & Under one’s nose

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珍惜时间就是珍惜生命。工作再忙，事情再多，我们也不应该浪费时间。生活中有许多珍惜时间的楷模，他们总是在日理万机的情况下，仍然挪出时间来陪伴家人。看看下面的句子是怎样说的：

Although heavy work keeps Tom busy and tired, he always squeezes in time to spend with his wife and children.
(译文：虽然繁重的工作让Tom忙碌和疲惫，但他总是挤出时间来和妻子与孩子们共处。)

在上面这句话中，我们看到一个片语squeeze in something，它的意思是“挪出时间做某事。”Squeeze本来就是指挤压的意思，squeeze the water out就是我们常说的挤出水来的意思。有句俗话说时间像袋子里的水，要靠挤才能得到。所以用squeeze in something来表达“挤出时间做某事”很形象吧! To squeeze in something means to manage to find some time to do something. For example:

Training a few hours a day and traveling often to competitions kept me busy. But I always managed to squeeze in time per day learning English.
(译文：一天几个小时的训练再加上时常到各处参赛让我非常忙碌。但我总是设法每天挤出时间学习英语。)

学会挤时间才能很好的利用时间做一些该做的事，也才能迈向事业的顶峰(climb the ranks)。当然如果整天忙忙碌碌，有时难免会昏了头。比如眼镜明明在鼻子上却到处找，就在书桌抽屉里的钢笔怎么也发现不了。朋友们有过这种经历吗？看看下面的句子是如何来描述这种情形的。

It took me lots of time to find my pen, which was just under my nose.
(译文：我花了很多时间找我的钢笔，当找到时，它就在眼前。)

在这个句子中出现了一个片语under one’s nose, 它的意思是“近在眼前”。 If something is right under someone's nose, they cannot see it even though it is very close to them. 在鼻子下面的东西你是不是不容易看见？所以这个片语包含有近在眼前却熟视无睹的意味。上面的例句正好说明了这种情形，当然对于一些不好的现象的出现，人们也可能熟视无睹。If something bad or illegal happens under someone's nose, they do not notice it even though it is happening very close to them and they should have noticed it. For example:

People always don't pay attention to some phenomena that's been under their noses for so long, such as environment pollution.
(译文：人们总是不注意一些长久以来近在眼前的现象，如环境污染。)

结束语：工作几年了，总想“常回家看看”，但苦于腾不出时间(squeeze in something)。父亲来信说他一年一度的期待越来越来渺茫。我准备回信告诉他：今年一定会回来的，而且会带个准媳妇! 可是翻转了整个书桌也没有找到钢笔，急得像热锅上的蚂蚁，正准备放弃时，呵，原来它近在眼前(be under my nose), 只是被夹在了书中了。