Playing the Lute to a Cow 對牛彈琴 In ancient times was a man who played the zither very well. Once, he played a tune in front of a cow, hoping that the cow would appreciate it. The tune was melodious ,but the cow showed no reaction, and just kept on eating grass. The man sighed, and went away. This idiom is used to indicate[5IndIket]reasoning with stubborn[5stQbLn]people or talking to the wrong audience。
運動英語小典故:10個最常見的表達
英語中有許多慣用語 (idiom)都是源自各種運動術語。這些慣用語除了用做字面的意思之外,經(jīng)常還含有隱喻(metaphor) 的意思。
[田徑]track and field jump the gun:(字面)偷跑。田徑比賽時,裁判還沒有鳴槍,選手就搶先起跑了。(比喻)過早采取行動。如果用在合唱,某人提前唱出某音時,就是“放炮”。
[美式足球]American football Monday morning quarterback: (字面)周一早晨的四分衛(wèi)。美國電視在足球季的每個星期天都會轉播一場比賽。由于是現(xiàn)場節(jié)目,結果立刻分曉。等到第二天早晨看了報紙才發(fā)表‘真知灼見’,為時以晚矣?。ū扔鳎?事后諸葛亮;放馬后炮。
[拳擊]boxing have a glass jaw: (字面)有個玻璃做的下顎。在拳擊賽中,下顎像是玻璃做的,一被擊中就不支倒地。(比喻) 不堪一擊。
[馬術]horseback riding get on one's high horse:(字面)騎上一匹高大的馬。從前,馬術師自以為騎馬的人高高在上,所以比用腳走路的人優(yōu)越。(比喻) 擺出傲慢的態(tài)度;擺高姿態(tài)。
[高爾夫]golf not up to par: (字面)沒有達到標準桿數(shù)。高爾夫球戲中,每一洞依難度及遠近有一標準桿數(shù),例如第一洞的標準桿數(shù)是四桿。因此,桿數(shù)越低越好。若擊出超過標準桿數(shù),沒有達到一般水平,就是 not up to par. (比喻)做事情沒有達到應有的標準;也可以說是失常。注意:up to par 不用于肯定句。
[斗牛]bullfighting take the bull by the horns:(字面)斗牛比賽時,斗牛士常握著牛角以扳倒牛,這是一項艱難又危險的動作。(比喻)采取果敢的行動應付艱難的局面;面對困難采取行動。雖然字面的意思上像是中文里的‘執(zhí)牛耳’,而‘執(zhí)牛耳’的英文卻可以用 rule the roost [roast] 來表達。
[游泳]swimming sink or swim: (字面)遇到河流時,沉到水底或游泳逃生。 (比喻)不成功便成仁。
[網(wǎng)球]tennis The ball is in your court.: (字面)該由你發(fā)球了。許多運動的場地以網(wǎng)隔開,并由雙方輪流發(fā)球,像網(wǎng)球、排球、羽毛球等。(比喻)輪到該你負責了;輪到你采取行動了。
[賽馬]horse racing neck and neck: (字面)賽馬時兩馬頸部同時抵達終點,即以平手論。(比喻)并駕齊驅(qū);不分勝負;不相上下;不分軒輊。
[籃球]basketball The game isn't over until the fat lady sings.: (字面)胖婦人未唱歌前,比賽不算結束。這是達拉斯小牛隊前教練 Dick Motta 的一句名言,指一場比賽緊張激烈,不到結束時刻,仍然勝負未卜。在歌劇中,往往在結束前的高潮便是由一位身材豐滿的女聲樂家表演。胖婦人開始唱歌是比喻比賽將要結束。(比喻) 比賽不到最后一刻不知鹿死誰手。
這是我查到的
There are several possibilities on why it's called the Adam's Apple. One is derived from a Garden of Eden story, about Adam eating the forbidden apple and part of it getting stuck in his throat.(It does look like a small round apple) It could also be a mistranslation between Hebrew and Latin; in Hebrew "tappuach ha adam" means male bump. In Latin it's translated to "pormum adami." That's very likely the real story since there are many mistranslations from Latin to English, or Greek.
原文說了好兩種可能 但是確切的來源無從考證。
原文連接在這里:
/called-Adam's-apple/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=8711765
我覺得后面那個連接的下面一點有一個人的回答靠譜一點
As everyone knows:
""Adam's apple" is a reference to forbidden fruit in the biblical book of Genesis and in the Qur'an. Though neither text mentions the laryngeal prominence or even an apple specifically, popular tradition traces the origin of the prominence to a piece of the forbidden fruit becoming caught in Adam's throat."
"The laryngeal prominence is merely the protrusion one sees of the thyroid cartilage making up the body of the larynx. Some suggest that the reason for the laryngeal prominence usually being more prominent in males is that the two laminae of the thyroid cartilage that form the protrusion meet at an angle of 90° in males but that angle is usually 120° in females. This theory, however, seems more like conjecture when the fact is taken into consideration that with most women with a large laryngeal prominence appear no different from those seen on men."
他說這個是從wikipedia上面找到的
英語小故事—The Real Princess 小學403字 There was once a prince who wished to marry a princess; but then she must be a real princess. He travelled all over the world in hopes of finding such a lady; but there was always something wrong. Princesses he found in plenty; but whether they were real princesses it was impossible for him to decide, for now one thing, now another, seemed to him not quite right about the ladies. At last he returned to his palace quite cast down, because he wished so much to have a real Princess for his wife.從前有一位王子,他想找一位公主結婚,但她必須是一位真正的公主。
他走遍了全世界,想要尋到這樣的一位公主??墒菬o論他到什么地方,他總是碰到一些障礙。
公主倒有的是,不過他沒有辦法斷定她們究竟是不是真正的公主,她們好象總是有些地方不大對頭。結果,他只好回到自己的皇宮來,心中很不快活,因為他是那么渴望著得到一位真正的公主。
One evening a fearful tempest arose, it thundered and lightened, and the rain poured down from the sky in torrents: besides, it was as dark as pitch. All at once there was heard a violent knocking at the door, and the old King, the Prince's father, went out himself to open it.It was a princess who was standing outside the door. What with the rain and the wind, she was in a sad condition; the water trickled down from her hair, and her clothes clung to her body. She said she was a real princess.有一天晚上,忽然起了一陣可怕的暴風雨。天空中風馳電掣,大雨傾盆而降,四周一片漆黑。
就在這時,響起了一陣劇烈的敲門聲,老國王自己去開門。站在城外的是一位公主。
可是,天哪!經(jīng)過了風吹雨打之后,她的樣子是多么難看??!水沿著她的頭發(fā)和向下面流,她的衣服粘在身上。她說她是真正的公主。
Ah! we shall soon see that! thought the old Queen-mother; however, she said not a word of what she was going to do; but went quietly into the bedroom, took all the bed-clothes off the bed, and put a little pea on the bedstead. She then laid twenty mattresses one upon another over the pea, and put twenty feather beds over the mattresses.Upon this bed the Princess was to pass the night.是的,這點我們馬上就可以考查出來。 老皇后心里想,可是她什么也沒說。
她靜靜地走進臥房,把所有的被褥都搬開,在床榻上放了一粒豌豆。然后她取出二十床墊子,把它們壓在豌豆上。
隨后,她又在這些墊子上放了二十床鴨絨被。這位公主夜里就睡在這些東西上面。
The next morning she was asked how she had slept. Oh, very badly indeed! she replied. I have scarcely closed my eyes the whole night through. I do not know what was in my bed, but I had something hard under me, and am all over black and blue. It has hurt me so much!Now it was plain that the lady must be a real Princess, since she had been able to feel the little pea through the twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. None but a real Princess could have had such a delicate sense of feeling.So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a real princess; and the pea was put in the museum, where it may still be seen, if no one has stolen it.豌豆公主 第二天早晨大家問她昨晚睡得怎樣。 啊,不舒服極了! 公主說, 我差不多整夜沒合上眼!天曉得我床上有件什么東西?我睡到一塊很硬的東西上面,弄得我全身發(fā)青發(fā)紫,這真怕人!現(xiàn)在大家就看出來了。
她是一位真正的公主,因為壓在這二十床墊子和二十床鴨絨被下面的一粒豌豆,她居然還能感覺得出來。除了真正的公主以外,任何人都不會有這么嫩的皮膚的。
因此那位王子就選她為妻子了,因為現(xiàn)在他知道他得到了一位真正的公主。這粒豌豆因此也就被送進了博物館,如果沒有人把它拿走的話,人們現(xiàn)在還可以在那兒看到它呢。
The Dog in the Manger出自《伊索寓言》(Aesop's Fables),有一篇狗站馬槽的故事,說的是一頭狗躺在堆滿稻草的馬槽里,狗是不吃草的動物,而當馬或牛一走進稻草時,這頭狗卻朝著馬,牛狂哮,不準食草動物享用。
因此,“狗站馬槽”就成了一個家喻戶曉的成語而進入英語中,常用來比喻a person who prevents others from enjoying sth that is useless to himself; a churlish fellow who will neither use a thing himself nor let others use it,諷刺那些占據(jù)說職位或某些物質(zhì)卻不做事的人。
The Dog in the Manger is a fable attributed to Aesop, concerning a dog who one afternoon lay down to sleep in the manger. On being awoken, he ferociously kept the cattle in the farm from eating the hay on which he chose to sleep, even though he was unable to eat it himself, leading an ox to mutter the moral of the fable:
People often begrudge others what they cannot enjoy themselves.
The phrase is proverbial, referring to people who prevent others from having something that they themselves have no use for. A typical example is the child who discards a toy — until a sibling tries to play with it. Then the first child becomes possessive about something they no longer wanted.
A twist on the story was used by Charles Schulz in a "Peanuts" strip, in which Lucy van Pelt acquires a baseball card of Charlie Brown's favorite player, and she refuses to give it to him. After he leaves disconsolately, she decides she doesn't really like the card that well, and throws it away.
In Spanish, the story is called El Perro del Hortelano, or The Vegetable Gardener's Dog.
The metaphor is also attributed to Jesus in The Gospel of Thomas by comparing the dog with the Pharisees.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dog_in_the_Manger
A man from the State of Zheng bought shoes)Once upon a time , a man in the State of Zheng went to the market to buy a pair of shoes. Before he left for the market, he had measured his feet with a piece me straw. However , he couldn't find the measurement because he had left it at home . So he had to say sorry to the owner that he had to go home for it, which confused the owner why he didn't try the shoes on with his own feet . The man smiled to the owner , " I would rather believe in the measuremens than my own feet."。
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