汉语中常说的“整整齐齐, 井然有序”与英语中的apple-pie order意思极为相近，可追溯该词来历时，还有一段小故事！英语中与apple-pie order相反的词是哪个呢？走进下文，我们来一起看看！

　　The expression apple-pie order means in perfect order, very well organized. Nobody is sure where and when the expression apple-pie order began.

　　Some say that Scottish and English writers use the expression a long time ago. Others say it was first used in the northeastern American states known as New England. The housewives (家庭主妇) of New England cut their apples in even slices (薄片). Then they filled pie pans with them in an organized way—row upon row. As one writer said, the women of New England love to have everything in its place. This perhaps explains why it is generally believed that the expression apple-pie order began in New England.

　　Another old expression describes the opposite condition—wild disorder. That expression is apple of discord (不一致). It comes from ancient mythology(神话). The myth says that all the gods and goddesses were sitting around a table to celebrate the marriage of Thetis and Peleus. One of the gods—Discord was a troublemaker. He threw a golden apple on the table to be given as a prize to the most beautiful goddess. It was not an easy decision to make. How could they choose among Juno, Minerva and Venus? Paris (帕里斯，特洛伊王子) was given the task of deciding. He decided to give the golden apple to Venus. Juno and Minerva were very angry and threatened him. This, the myth says, began the long Trojan War (特洛伊战争).

　　At one time the tomato was called a love apple. That was a mistake. This is how the mistake happened. In the sixteenth century, Spain imported tomato from south America after Spanish explorers had landed there. Spain then exported tomato to Morocco. Italian traders carried it to Italy. The Italian name for tomato was pomo de Mauro. When French growers imported it from Italy, they thought de Mauro meant d'amour, the French word for love, and so pomo d'amour became the apple of love.

　　People believe many things about the apple. One belief is that it has great powers of keeping people healthy. A very common expression is “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Another belief is based on fact. The expression is “One rotten apple spoils the barrel.” When an apple begins to go bad, it ruins all the other apples around it in the container. The expression has come to mean that one bad person in a group can cause everyone to act bad.

　　(文/孙海霞； 英语辅导报高一版 04~05学年度第22期；版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)