第79讲 走捷径、抄近路 Cross the line & Cut corners

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上一讲我们曾提到一个例句：

In many situations it is important to go with the flow. You need to be flexible to others’ behaviors. But sometimes you have to stick to your colors when they cross the line.
(译文：许多情况下顺应众意是重要的。你需要对其它人的行为放松些。但有时当他们做得过分时你必须坚持自己的观点。)

在这个句子中有一个片语cross the line, 它的意思是“逾越了分寸、做得过分”。从字面上理解，穿越了界线，跨过了界线，不正喻意“逾越了分寸”吗？。If you say someone crosses the line, you mean what he or she has done is too fulsome and does not suit with his or her status.
作为一个秘书，必须要把握好分寸，既要发挥好自己的作用，又不能逾越了分寸。从下面的这个句子中，看看别人是如何埋怨一个逾越了分寸的秘书的：

He is only a secretary, but when our leader is on a business trip he always crosses the line and shouts at everyone. Everybody scorns him for his behaviors.
(译文：他只是一个秘书，但当我们的领导出差时，他总是逾越分寸，对每个人都大吼大叫，每个人都蔑视他的行为。)

英语学习是一件很苦的事情。许多人想尽一切办法总是想找到一些好方法，希望能在短时间内把英语掌握好，也就是想抄近路，走捷径。

Don’t try to cut corners when learning English. Stepping every step steadfastly is right attitude.
(译文：学英语不要想法抄近路。踏实的走好每一步才是正确的态度。)

在这个句子中我们看到一个片语cut corners，通常它的意思是“节省开支，节省力气”，不过如果我们在上面的例句中仍然这样翻译就显得不妥当了，在这里我们译为“走近路，抄近道”。The idiom means to do something in a way that saves time, effort, or money, but that also results in it not following the correct procedure or rules for doing something, for example:

We have to cut corners to keep the question clear. The best way is to hang up this picture, which explains what the question really means.
(译文：我们必须用个省事的办法把这个问题弄清楚。最好的方法是挂上这幅图，它解释了这个问题的真正含义。)

结束语：我们在做某些事情时可能抄近道、走捷径(cut corners), 但我们做任何事都不能逾越自己的分寸(cross the line)。