地道美語表達(dá)-小荷才露尖尖角

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    從小父親就教育我們廉者不受皆來之食,不過人家好心給你的東西,即使再不好,也不要吹毛求疵。隨著技術(shù)的不斷發(fā)展,現(xiàn)在的許多電腦程序都很大,最近從網(wǎng)上下載了一些英語資料,40G的硬盤就顯得小了。去市場(chǎng)上再買一個(gè)又覺得太貴,朋友正好想換一臺(tái)機(jī)子,所以把他的那個(gè)20G的硬盤送給了我。本來覺得難為情,現(xiàn)在流行的都是80G的硬盤了,拿20G來做什么,不過還是不要吹毛求疵的好. 對(duì)了,這里我就告訴大家一個(gè)相對(duì)復(fù)雜一點(diǎn)的片語:don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
    先看一個(gè)例子:
    Recently, one of my friends presented me a 20G harddisk. It is not as good as a larger one, but don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, it’s better than nothing!
    (最近,我的一位朋友送了我一個(gè)20G的硬盤。它是不如一個(gè)更大容量的硬盤好,但不要吹毛求疵,它總比一個(gè)也沒有好。)
    這里片語don’t look a gift horse in the mouth的意思就是我們常說的“不要吹毛求疵”。它主要用在別人送你禮品時(shí),你覺得不好,而要求你不要挑剔禮物的不足或缺點(diǎn)。這在口語中很常見。朗文電子詞典的解釋很明確:The phrase is used to tell someone to be grateful for something that has been given to them, instead of asking questions about it or finding something wrong with it.
    再看一個(gè)例子:
    When I was a child, my grandfather once gave me a small toy, I had found it impossible to resist the temptation to say “It is too small, I don’t like it”. But my father immediately reprimanded me severely: “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, boy!”
    (當(dāng)我還是小孩子時(shí),祖父曾送我一個(gè)小玩具。我忍不住說“它太小了,我不喜歡?!备赣H立即嚴(yán)厲的訓(xùn)斥了我“兒子,不要對(duì)禮物吹毛求疵!”)
    讀書時(shí)有位同學(xué)曾送過我一幅山水畫,當(dāng)時(shí)覺得不怎么好,不過我沒有對(duì)這禮物吹毛求疵,而是感激的接受了。當(dāng)時(shí)這位同學(xué)在繪畫上雖然沒有什么卓越的成就,不過已經(jīng)顯現(xiàn)出其天才的線條表現(xiàn)力,而且在全國(guó)青少年繪畫比賽中已經(jīng)嶄露頭角了。對(duì)了,這里”嶄露頭角的”,可以用英文up-and-coming來表示。
    Landscape painting exerts a peculiar fascination on a great many people, for most of them enjoy collecting famous works even it is created by an up-and-coming young artist. Needless to say, they must have cherished the hope that one day they will be amply rewarded.
    (山水畫對(duì)許多人來說有一種特殊的魅力,因?yàn)樗麄冎械脑S多人都喜歡收集名畫,即使是出自一位嶄露頭角的年輕畫家之手。不用說,他們抱有這樣的希望,即終有一天,他們的努力會(huì)取得在豐碩的成果。)
    片語up-and-coming 本來意思是“即將來臨的,即將浮現(xiàn)的”,當(dāng)用來形容一個(gè)人或物時(shí)指新興的,才出現(xiàn)的,剛嶄露頭角的。當(dāng)我們使用這個(gè)片語暗含有這個(gè)人或物即將變得成功,出名或即將流行起來的含義,用英文解釋是:likely to become successful or popular. 朗文電子詞典中有個(gè)非常貼切的句子,讓我們來看一看。
    Many up-and-coming young players have trials for the national football team.
    (許多嶄露頭角的年輕足球運(yùn)動(dòng)員有了到國(guó)家隊(duì)試腳的機(jī)會(huì)。)
    結(jié)束語:今天我們介紹了兩個(gè)片語,所舉句式,結(jié)構(gòu)皆相對(duì)復(fù)雜,請(qǐng)大家仔細(xì)琢磨,不要囫圇吞棗。第一個(gè)片語don’t look a gift horse in the mouth意思是不要對(duì)禮物吹毛求疵,不要挑剔禮物的缺點(diǎn),我想這對(duì)我們來說是我們是否有修養(yǎng)的一個(gè)評(píng)判標(biāo)準(zhǔn)吧!第二個(gè)片語up-and-coming意思是新興的,嶄露頭角的,一直以來足壇上、樂壇上都有這些up-and-coming people呀!