Easy comenever go过目不忘记单词 |
http://www.sina.com.cn 2003/09/04 15:26 厦门日报 |
对牛弹琴(2) 中国古天文学中,ox是二十八宿之一,十二生肖第二位。早在《古诗十九首》中便已有牵牛星(the Herd-boy Star——Altair)的记载。每年农历(lunar calendar)七月初七被称为中国的“情人节”(Saint Valentine's Day,圣瓦伦丁节),因为牛郎织女(the Herd-boy and the Weaving-girl)在这天要突破银河(the Milky Way)的阻隔,“鹊桥(Magpie Bridge)相会”。两人更成了两地长期分居而爱情坚贞不渝的典范。 金无足赤,“牛”无完“牛”。任你ox有千般好,也难免有不尽如人意的地方:牛脾气(stubbornness;obstinacy;bull-headedness)就不怎么讨人喜欢;人要是牛气(arrogant;overbearing),就显得过于傲慢;称道士(Taoist)为“牛鼻子老道”更是大不敬;钻牛角尖(to take unnecessary pains to study an insignificant or insoluable problem)也要不得;被关“牛棚”(cattle shed)滋味如何?自然是“往事不堪回首”!“牛鬼蛇神”(monsters and demons;指forces of evil邪恶势力)就更不是好东西了;地狱(the Hell)里的“牛头马面”(Ox Head and Horse Face)也让人避之惟恐不及;就连答非所问也得叫做“牛头不对马嘴”(horses' jaws don't match cows' heads——irrelevant)! ox大哥可真是比窦娥还冤啊! ox, cow, bull用法包罗万象,且让咱们先睹为快: 1.″Do you know that the black ox has trodden on Mary's foot?She was cowedsintosfishing out all her money by a robber last night!″ 译:“你知道吗?玛丽可倒霉了!昨晚她被劫匪吓得掏出了所有的钱!”注:The black ox has trod / trampled on somebody's foot.指“灾祸已降到某人头上”,又指“某人已到老年”——敢情人变老真不是好事!是啊,被健硕的black ox踩上哪怕一脚,也一定没啥好事:真不啻是踩上了一堆牛屎(cow-pat)。 cow一副懦弱(cowardly;cowhearted胆小的)的模样,cow somebody简直就是使somebody变成cow,无怪乎cow somebodysintosdoing something是“胁迫某人(做某事)”的意思,真是“词”不可貌相! |
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