第89讲 脸蛋上的鸡蛋 Have egg on one’s face & Fly in the face of sth.

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对美国的州长竞选，我唯一的印象就是马克吐温笔下丑陋而尴尬的情形。在英文中有一些片语的由来就与美国的州长竞选有关。比如由于竞选者在演说中被鸡蛋击中这一现象就出现了一个比较传神的片语：have egg on one’s face.

Gerry once claimed to be the best worker in the office, but that time, he failed to work out a task. He really had egg on his face.
（译文：Gerry曾声称是办公室里最好的员工，但那次他却没有完成任务，真是丢脸。）

Have egg on one’s face的意思是“极为丢脸，狼狈不堪”。在美国，当州长竞选候选人在公开发表演讲时，有些反对候选人的人为使其当众出丑，常向候选人扔鸡蛋，使其狼狈不堪，这就形成了表示“极为狼狈”的片语：have egg on one’s face. If someone, especially someone in authority, has egg on their face, they have been made to look stupid by something embarrassing. For example:

He had got 40 points himself during a basketball match. He thought he would become a great hero in his team, but he ended up having egg on his face.
（译文：他在一场篮球比赛中独自获得40分，他想他将成为队中的英雄，结果却以狼狈收场。）

昨天下班感觉很累，所以去做了一下头部按摩，可临走前发现自己没有带钱包，真是have egg on my face呀! 最后我向老板许下“明日补上”的诺言，老板也相信我不是一个违背诺言的人。 “违背诺言”在英文中我们常用breach of faith来表示，但今天我们要向大家介绍另一个表达方法：fly in the face of something. 先看下面的例句：
 
I didn’t believe everything he said because what he said flied in the face of all the evidence.
(译文：我不相信他说的所有话因为他说的全都违背所有的事实。)

片语fly in the face of something的意思是“违背”。fly有飞越、逃脱的意思，用在这个片语是为了加强语气。The idiom means to be the opposite of what most people think is reasonable, sensible, or normal. 注意，它常含有“公然违抗、悍然不顾”的意思。For example:

I find this hard to believe since it flies in the face of all the principles of game.
(译文：我发现这真难以置信，因为它违背了所有的游戏规则。)

结束语：今天路过新华书店时参与了一项万人拒绝盗版的签名活动。我平生最痛恨的就是盗版的东西了，这些制作盗版的人们简直违背（fly in the face of something）了最起码的良心。所以每当看到他们被打击得狼狈不堪（have egg on one’s face）的时候，心里就很痛快。