作者：李景莉

58. crocodile tears

crocodile是"鱷魚",tears就是"眼淚"。 英文里的crocodile tears和中國人常說的"貓哭老鼠假慈悲"是一樣的意思。crocodile tears這個(gè)習(xí)語來自一個(gè)古老的神話,說是鱷魚往往發(fā)出一種哭的聲音來引誘那些它們要吃的動物,然后一邊吃一邊流眼淚。這當(dāng)然不是事實(shí),但是這個(gè)說法已經(jīng)成為常用語。請看下面的例子:

The truth is that Peter never liked his rich Uncle John. But you should have seen his crocodile tears when the old man died and left him a million dollars!彼得從來都不喜歡他那有錢的叔叔約翰,這是事實(shí)。可是那老人去世的時(shí)候給他留了一百萬美元,你可真該看看彼得當(dāng)時(shí)那假流淚的樣子。

下面這個(gè)例子說的是一位政客:

In his speeches the mayor always puts on a big show of crocodile tears for poor and homeless people, but I don't see him doing anything to help them. 這位市長在講話時(shí)總是裝得好像他對窮人和無家可歸的人非常同情。但是,我并沒有見到他做些什么來幫助他們。

59. sob story

sob是"哭泣"的意思,story就是"故事"。sob story的意思就是"某人編造一個(gè)令人傷心的故事來贏得別人的同情,甚至于讓人給錢來幫助他"。下面是一位女士在描述她聽了一個(gè)sob story以后是怎么受騙的:

Usually I don't give money to beggars. But this nice young man told me a sob story about needing money for a bus ticket to see his dying mother, so I gave him two dollars. 一般我是不給乞丐錢的。但是,這個(gè)看上去挺不錯(cuò)的年輕人告訴我他需要錢坐公共汽車去看他那快要死的媽媽。他說得這么悲慘,我就給了他兩美元。

世界上好心人真是不少,下面這個(gè)例子又是一個(gè)人上了sob story的當(dāng):

On my way to work, a man stopped me and said he hadn't eaten for three days so I gave him a dollar. But on my way home I saw him get into a new car and drive off and I knew now he had told me a sob story. 在我去上班的路上一個(gè)人擋住了我,對我說,他已經(jīng)三天沒吃東西了,所以我給了他一美元。可是,我在回家的路上看見他上了一輛新車后就開走了。我這才知道他說的事全是假的。

60. hot potato

美國人很喜歡吃土豆,特別是剛從烤箱里拿出來的一個(gè)個(gè)熱氣騰騰的土豆。hot 的意思是"熱"或"燙",potato就是"土豆"。熱的土豆固然好吃,但是它會燙你的手,你會想法兒馬上甩掉它。 hot potato作為習(xí)語,它的意思就是"難題;棘手的問題;難以應(yīng)付的局面或人"例如:

The question of whether to raise taxes to cut the budget deficit is a real hot potato for a lot of politicians. 是否用增加稅收的方法來減少預(yù)算赤字的問題,對于許多政客來說是一個(gè)棘手的問題。

下面這個(gè)例子是一位律師在給另一位律師提供建議:

If I were you, I'd drop that client like a hot potato. He's always suing somebody for something, but he usually loses and he doesn't pay his lawyer's bills. 假如我是你的話,我就把那個(gè)難以應(yīng)付的顧客馬上甩掉。他老是為了什么事去告別人,可是他總是輸給別人,還常常不付律師費(fèi)。