Tighten your belt
刚刚才发薪水,有人提议这个周末大家一起上馆子打打牙祭。我因为想要减肥,好穿新近买的一条短裙,推辞说: “No, I dont think I can make it. I want to tighten my belt.”
后来,Mary悄悄地问我:“如果你最近手头不方便的话, 我能帮你什么忙吗?”
不会啊,不是早晨才发了薪水吗?我被她问得一头雾水,解释半天才弄明白。原来, “tighten my belt” 是指经济拮据,必须节衣缩食度日。例如: “The harvest was bad last year, we all had to tighten our belts.”
Whipping boy
大家可能对 “scapegoat”的意思非常熟悉,但是对 “whipping boy ”可能并不熟悉,实际上二者的意思非常接近。
Whipping boy 的比喻义就是“充当替罪羊的人或物,代人受过”。这个短语在实际中用途颇多。如:“ one right way to teach reading……To support phonics instruction and make the advocates of whole language the whipping boy does a disservice to our schools and teachers” (摘自1997年《时代周刊》);
又如:“Building 31 also is not immune from the siege mentality that generally can mark Microsoft. re very much a whipping boy in the academic community”
With bells on
周末准备开个Party,给朋友们发了请柬,收到的回信大都写着:“I would be there with bells on.” 这一句话弄的我不知道他们是来还是不来,是不是都要送我一个铃铛(bell)。
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