2018/4/28 14:26:00
和翻譯公司一起跟著小動物學(xué)習(xí)英語（二）
來和翻譯公司一起跟著小動物學(xué)習(xí)英語
Monkeys are often associated with mischief and defiance in English: maybe your little brother is monkeying around, or your friend’s a bit of a cheeky monkey. This euphemism – there’s some debate over what the original missing word was (a monkey's what?) – captures both those characteristics.
Monkey（猴子）在英語中經(jīng)常和惡作劇以及蔑視相關(guān)：也許你的小弟弟正在胡鬧，也許你的朋友有點(diǎn)厚顏無恥。這種委婉語都是抓住了這些特征。對于原始詞匯a monkey's 后面究竟是什么詞匯也存在一些爭論。
例如：
"I don't give a monkey's what he thinks – I'm not doing it."
“對于他怎么想我并不在意，我并沒有那樣做”。
6. Like a rat up a drainpipe 形容快速且急切
If you move like a rat up a drainpipe, you move extremely fast.
如果你的行動like a rat up a drainpipe，表示你移動速度很快。
Pity the poor rat – a shrewd but shunned animal in Britain, where it's often said that "you're never more than six foot away from" one. Rats are known to be able to squeeze through the tiniest of openings and are often found in sewers, so this expression is, as the Brits would say, spot on.
可憐的老鼠值得同情——在英國老鼠是一種精明但人類極力躲開的動物，但在英國人們常說，“你距離一個老鼠的距離不會超過六英尺”。老鼠因為能夠擠過狹小開口并經(jīng)常在下水道中被發(fā)現(xiàn)而被人類熟知。所以這個表達(dá)在英國較為流行，英國人常會使用。
例如：
‘Where did Steve go?’ – ‘I don’t know – he just took off like a rat up a drainpipe.’
“史蒂夫要去哪里？”-“我不知道，他只是離開得很匆忙”。
7. Be up with the lark 很早起床
The lark has a special place in British wildlife – its silvery song inspired the piece that, according one recent poll, has become the country's favourite piece of classical music. We have long associated the lark with daybreak, even before Shakespeare wrote the lark, the herald of the morn: a person who gets up early is known as a lark, as opposed to an owl who prefers to stay up late.
百靈鳥在英國野生動物有特別的位置——它銀鈴般的歌聲啟發(fā)了一支樂章的譜曲，并且這首樂章在最近的投票中當(dāng)選英國民眾最受歡迎的古典音樂。在莎士比亞寫云雀之前，我們便一直將百靈鳥與黎明聯(lián)系在一起，百靈鳥代表著早晨起床很早的人，相反，貓頭鷹更常用來代表熬夜的人。
例如：
"We were up with the lark this morning because we had a plane to catch."
“我們今天很早起床，因為要趕一趟航班?！?br />
"On Christmas Day, my sister and I would always be up with the lark."
“在圣誕節(jié)，我和姐姐總是起得很早?！?br />
8. The lion's share 事物中最大的一部分
The lion has been a symbol of England for more than nine hundred years, and traditionally represents bravery and strength. We see the shadow side of these qualities, however, in Aesop's fable of this name, which tells the story of a lion, a fox, a jackal, and a wolf who go out hunting together. After dividing their prey into four equal parts, the lion claims all the spoils for himself.
九百多年來，獅子一直是英國的象征，傳統(tǒng)意義上代表勇氣和力量。然而，我們總是看到這些品質(zhì)的陰暗面，伊索寓言中，講述了一只獅子、一只狐貍、豺和狼一起打獵的故事。它們之后將獵物分成四個相等的部分，但獅子占有了所有的戰(zhàn)利品。
The British expression used today has a slightly different meaning: if you get the lion's share of something, you get most of it (rather than all of it).
但今天使用的英式表達(dá)中含義有輕微的不同：如果你“get the lion's share of something”，表示你獲得了某事物的絕大部分（而不是所有）。
例如：
"Well, I think you got the lion's share of the cake there, Pete!"
“好吧，我認(rèn)為你得到了蛋糕的絕大部分，彼得！”
"She'll get the lion's share of the payout – the rest of the money will go to charity."
“她將獲取支出中的絕大部分，剩下的將捐給慈善機(jī)構(gòu)?！?br />