第86讲 脸上一巴掌 On the face of it & A slap in the face

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人脸部的表情是很丰富的，而且也是最吸引人的地方。难怪在英文中，与人的脸部相关的片语很多，在接下来的几讲里我们就给大家介绍几个。今天我们要学习的第一个有关“脸”的片语是：on the face of it，先看下面的例句：

On the face of it, what you said is completely correct, but you will find that it is wrong if you analyze it carefully.
(译文：从表面上看，你说的完全正确，但是如果你仔细分析的话，它错了。)

片语on the face of it意思是“从表面上看”。从字面上看，这个片语的意思指“在某物的脸部上”，这不正是“从表面上看”的意思吗？The idiom is used to say that something seems true but if you think seriously there may be other facts that are not clear. 当我们说有些事情可能正确，但是仔细一想时就发现这些事情中还有一些不太清楚的地方时，我们就可以用这个片语了，如上面的例句。

接下来我们再看另一个例句：

She has good looks, intelligence and dancing ability. Not only do teachers praise her, girls admire her, but boys love her as well. On the face of it, she seems almost perfect. But below her surface, deep in her heart, she still has some terrible secret, which has not been concealed.
(译文：她长得漂亮，人又聪明，擅长跳舞。不但老师们称赞她，女孩子们钦佩她，而且男孩子们喜爱她。从表面上看，她几乎是完美的。但是在她的外表之下，在内心深处，她仍有一些不为人知的可怕秘密。)

今天我们要学习的第二个片语是a slap in the face. 首先来看下面的例句：

Jasper white is a great football player but he always says that his team wouldn’t have won any games without him in whole tournament. That was a slap in the face to his teammates.
(译文：Jasper white是一个优秀的足球运动员，但他总是说在整个赛季如果他的球队没有他就不会赢得任何比赛。对他的队友来讲这就是一个侮辱。)

片语 a slap in the face的意思是“侮辱、侮辱之举”。A slap本来的意思是“一巴掌”，字面的意思是“如同被打了一巴掌”。如果一个人被给了一巴掌，就可见其难堪了，所以我们把这个片语译为“侮辱、侮辱之举”。The idiom refers to an action that seems to be deliberately intended to offend or upset someone, especially someone who has tried very hard to do something.

再看一个例句：

When Karen found out that his direct manager had delivered his task that he was trying to work out to one of his workmates, it was like a slap in the face.
(译文：当Karen发现他的直接领导把他正在努力完成的工作转交给他的一个同事时，就像被打了一巴掌一样。)

当然这个句子也可译为：当Karen发现他的直接领导把他正在努力完成的任务转交给他的一个同事时，它就像是个侮辱。不过译为前者显得更传神一些。

结束语：现在的名人尤其是那些影视名人从表面上看(on the face of it)个个光鲜亮丽，可是在幕后，他们的辛苦经历又是多少人所经历过的呢？当她们开个人演唱会时没有人来捧场，当他们看到零零星星的“歌迷们”无精打采的表现时，会不会觉得像是脸上挨了一巴掌(a slap in the face即侮辱之举)呢？